The Scorch Trials: Maze Runner, Book 2

I am a huge maze runner fan. I read it just to prep for the movie, since Dylan O'Brien is playing the lead who happens to be my favorite actor. I didn't expect to be into this series that much, but I am addicted. It is the best trilogy I have read, and I'm on book three now, and The Scorch Trials is probably my favorite of the series thus far.This picks up immediately from where everything left off in The Maze Runner, and what makes it so good is you don't have to wait for the action to pick up. This book isn't like the first one where you had 150 pages of calmness with little spurts of adrenaline (which is still wonderful) and then 200 more of on the edge of your seat page turning. This one is more like 50 pages of confusion and calmness, then 300 pages of edge of your seat page turning. It is a fast read, with so much action in it that I'm surprised it is only 360 pages. It has everything the first book had, action, a slight hint of horror (not really scary but definitely some scenes get your blood rushing and clinging to every moment) and friendships form and some are broken. In this book, the basic synopsis is (and I'll try to not have any major spoilers in this) but basically, WICKED has the gladers getting ready for the second phase of the trials. This is to cross a 100 mile stretch of land and get to the safe haven. They have been inflicted with the Flare, a disease that threatens life as we know it, and getting to the safe haven will grant them a cure. Along the way, they encounter numerous people with the flare that are crazy and are trying to kill them (as the flare seems similar to rabies, it makes it's host go insane and become aggressive and want to kill everything in it's path before finally killing it's host), along with many other situations like abandoned cities, underground tunnels, silver globs that can kill you, more of wicked's mechanical monsters, and the sun that can give you 2nd degree burns in seconds, no shelters, and nothing but desert for the 100 miles. It is brutal. Friendships are tested, some no longer can be trusted. Some act out in times of desperation, threatening the system. New characters are introduced, and once more Dashner gives us some awesome names like "rat man". Who can be trusted? Can anyone be trusted? Who is telling the truth? Are there more out there? Who is secretly working against the group for wicked? Can we cross the scorch as a group, or can we not even trust those we thought had our backs? What is freaking going on!!!! You have to read to find out!!!! This book is insane, and so much better than book one. It is the perfect combination of action and confusion. And by the end, you may find yourself have a slight feeling in your heart that wicked is good. (But that may or may not last long, I'm not sure having just begun book 3.)If you give book 1 at least a 3 or 4/5, you will love this one too, and then love the entire series. This is probably the second best book I have read to date, after TFiOS. But it is so close to knocking that one down, which I didn't think for me personally would be possible. I love this book sooooooooo much. It is much more cliffhanging and puts you on on the edge of your seat so much more than book one.One note: I like to put this in there in case you haven't read book one, or any of TMR seires. People keep comparing this to THG and Divergent. This is a trilogy that stands completely on its own. The only major similarities are they are trilogies, it is a world that isn't how we know it today, and it does revolve around a group of teens. I can see slightly more similarities with Divergent, and can see why people make this argument, but it is still an amazing journey and I got much more out of it. It is a wild story, one I can't even fathom how Dashner came up with it. If one makes the argument it is just another HG or Divergent, they need to wake up. It is to me, better than both of these series. The basic run down of the entire series is a group uses a group of kids to conduct experiments on their brains in order to develop a cure to a disease that threatens human existence. They do this by sending these kids into impossible situations to observe their behavior, even if it means they will die in the process. If this sounds like THG or Divergent, someone needs to reread the series. Read it, its awesome and so much better than these two other trilogies, both of which I completely loved.

First off, this is a young adult dystopian future book. It wasn't written as a deeper look at society, or to find the layers upon layers of meaning throughout the novel. Don't go into the book thinking that it is. Approach these books as a teenager looking for some entertainment, and you won't be disappointed. I know a lot of people - namely, adults - have very different opinions on this book - on this entire series, actually. I've read several reviews on this series that have torn it apart - citing many different reasons. Some say the characters are all the same and there is little to no character development. I completely disagree. In the first book - The Maze Runner - all of these characters are thrown into the same situation with no memory of life before it. These boys are all gonna seem a little bit the same. It's the nature of the beast - they're in survival mode. But even though they're all in the same situation, I feel that there were many differences in their personalities & I felt closer to some than others. I liked some characters, but certain characters I hated, yet I still understood the characters' motivations. Any book that can illicit that sort of emotional response - hating or loving characters - is a good book IMHO. And it's really interesting to see how these characters have evolved from the beginning of book one, to the end of book two - the ones who made it, anyway. The story was also an interesting one. I'm pretty sure I've never read a book like this one. And I'm also pretty sure that no other "monsters" in any other book gave me nightmares - yet, I had a couple scary nightmares about Cranks - especially after reading the tunnel part. Speaking of Cranks, I've read many reviews that have called Cranks "zombies", and have said that these books are zombie books. Again, I disagree. If I remember correctly, zombies die & come back to life as the "undead" & try to create other zombies by biting them or eating them. The biggest difference is that Cranks aren't dead. They can also be hurt & killed - even if they're not injured in the head. Another big difference is that they can talk - which, IMHO, makes them that much scarier. Dashner has really come up with an interesting "monster" - a very scary, panic-inducing monster. I was definitely terrified of their unpredictable behavior. But there's also the antagonist - WICKED. So, really, there are two kinds of "monsters" or villains, and you aren't quite sure who is worse!Anyway, I hope I haven't spoiled anybody's reading experience in fact, I hope to enhance it. I read the book in spite of the reviews, and because I didn't agree with them, I had to write a review for myself. I've finished the series, and I have to say, I was entertained by it. (Maybe I'm just easy to please???) I hope you enjoy these books, too!!Oh! One quick note: these books are GREAT if you have a young teenager - especially a boy - who is a reluctant reader.

This book really kept me interested as it had a very interesting storyline.

Was worried the used books would come damaged. They weren't at all... great condition.

I really enjoyed this book, it was really fun to read about Thomas, Newt and Minho traverse across the scorch., but I will say that I sort of resent Teresa a bit. I think it would be nice to see Thomas meet Chancellor Paige, but I would like to see a scene where Teresa and Thomas are talking, and Thomas slaps Teresa in the face. I think she kind of deserves it to be honest.By Andrew age 11

Great Book!Read the first one and was tempted to buy the second!I'm a huge fan and had watched all the movies before but the books are 👌 terrific!

Simply amazing and gripping! Can't stop reading. If you've read book 1, you can't miss no. 2. And not the others too.

I very much loved this book. Friendship is always part of the game, and know is love. Cant wait to read the third one.