The Scorch Trials: Maze Runner 2

Author: James Dashner
Genre: Young Adult – Fiction/Dystopian
Publication Date: October 12, 2010
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages:  360
Date Scoot Read: November 2010
Source: Hardcover Library Book

Scoot's Rating:  10 – Amazing! Loved it. Read it now!

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.

In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.

Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.

The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

Scoot’s Review:
James Dashner has done it again.  If you thought The Maze Runner was great, The Scorch Trials will knock your socks off.  I started this book with the intention to read it for ‘just a minute’ before bed and then I couldn’t put it down.  Where was the “book-crack” warning label?  I read The Scorch Trials in one sitting because it was fast paced and intense.  Starting directly after the end of The Maze Runner we are thrown back into the post-apocalyptic world with Thomas, Teresa, and the few remaining Gladers ... But something is wrong and everyone is thrown back into a fight for their lives.  This book was full of non-stop action, terrifying new twists and creatures from WICKED.  Heartrending moments and betrayals coming from all angles make this is a frustrating read – in an entirely good way.  Along the way we meet a few new faces and see the characters we already know and love develop in unexpected ways.  Needless to say The Scorch Trials was an all around great read and I can’t wait for the third book to be released next year, The Death Cure.