35.12: The Kill Order, by James Dashner. (2012 hardcover)

This is a prequel to The Maze Runner series, so I'd really recommend that you start there before reading this one. I read books one and two in 2011 and book three earlier this year, and you can check out my reviews at this link and this link. Overall, this was a good addition to the series, and I look forward to what I assume will be a second prequel release--forming an eventual trilogy (pre-trilogy?) of its own--if things go according to the seemingly usual release schedule of TeenLit. 

3.12: The Death Cure (Book 3 of the Maze Runner trilogy), by James Dashner (2011 hardcover)

I'm trying to buy fewer books this year, as I've noted in earlier postings, but after the terrible book I last read, it was easy to justify my purchase of The Death Cure when I stopped in Northtown Books after brunch on Sunday. And, I reasoned, if I already have the first two books in this trilogy, don't I have to own the final one?

As you can see, this is the beginning of a very slippery slope. And that's not even when you take into account the fact that I bought two other books--one also the continuation of a series I've started and the other by one of my favorite authors, William Gibson. My friend Diqui, the most dedicated client of the McIntyre Free Public Library, pointed out that she is happy I bought these books, seeing as she too has read the others and looks forward to borrowing them from me. So, yes, the next time you see Diqui, you can let her know that she is a book-purchasing enabler. Obviously, I love her.

Truthfully, I have no regrets about falling off the book-buying wagon. I thoroughly immersed myself in Dashner's final volume of the Maze Runner series (reviewed here in entries 60 and 61) and finished within a day--even with the first week of the semester interrupting. I filled you in on the premise of the series in the earlier entries, so I'll just say that this one does not fail to satisfy. There is plenty of action, amplified by mad scientists, the crazy near-dead masses, and political extremists. And, while I sometimes tire of those evil-scientist characters--Do we really need more anti-science models in today's political climate?--they do make for smart, despicable foes. If you haven't already read The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, you should start there. If you have already done so, what are you waiting for? Get out and get a copy of The Death Cure. Or stop by and borrow mine and make me feel better about my vice.

60-61: The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials (Books 1 and 2 of the Maze Runner trilogy), by James Dashner (2009 paperback and 2010 hardcover)

I came across this trilogy in postings on the Centurions of 2011 Facebook page regarding the monthly books members have read.  Time and time again, folks commented on these books being among their favorite for the month.  With such regular recommendations, a few tantalizing details, and the promise of a maze, how could I resist trying another post-apocalyptic TeenLit series?

I'll have to say that when reading the first third of The Maze Runner, I was less than enthralled. The main character is a whiny, self-centered 16-year-old boy named Thomas, and I felt no kinship with him. Had I been trapped in the center (the Glade) of the maze with him and his 50 or so teen male cohorts, I would have wanted to smack him--and pretty much every one of them--upside the head and told him to get over himself.  Sure your memory has been wiped, sure you are trapped in a prison for unknown crimes, and sure horrific creatures lurk in the corridors waiting to kill you, but...sheesh.  Enough of the moping and discourteous behavior, Thomas.  Snap out of it!

And, of course, he does snap out of it. After all, as in all teen post-apocalyptic tales, these young folks must rise to the occasion.  Or be eaten by monsters.

By the middle of the first volume, enthrallment kicked in, and I rushed right on to The Scorch Trials, where the girls finally show up.  Rather than the surreal, obviously fabricated maze, the two teen teams now enter the real world--alternating between cities filled with insane, zombie-like Cranks, a nightmare landscape with relentless sun beating down on a desert wasteland, and torrential wind and lightening storms destroying anything alive on said wasteland.  It's a world devastated by sun flairs and an extremely contagious fatal disease. And monsters, but different monsters.

I read these first volumes in two days, and despite how busy I am preparing for this Saturday's pig roast and the looming first day of the semester, I'm going to get to Northtown Books as soon as possible to pick up the trilogy's conclusion, The Death Cure.