Turner Garland

Turner Garland
The Scorch Trials
James Dashner
Science Fiction
Just Right
Just Finished

1. I have recently finished The Scorch Trials by James Dashner. This is the second book in the series and I really loved it. The ending was filled with emotion and it was very unpredictable. After taken from his own group (group A), Thomas is dragged all the up the face of a mountain by group B. Thomas and his group were given two weeks to reach a safe haven over the mountains. They were forced to travel across the most burned out section of the entire world which is called the Scorch. The Flare, a deadly disease, has taken over most of the world and cranks now run all the towns and cities. Thomas and his friends travelled through a large city filled with these crazy, diseased people trying to make it to the mountains on the other side of the scorch. At the base of the mountain is where they met up with Group B. Thomas's best friend Teresa is there and Thomas is so happy to see her. When Teresa, beats him and puts him in a bag, then drags him up the side of a mountains, Thomas is beyond confused. What he thought was his best friend/girlfriend ended up seeming to hate him. Thomas was dragged all the way up to where the girls had camped and he was tied to a tree there. The girls said that Wicked had instructed to them to kill him, and especially Teresa was fond of the idea. Thomas pleaded that he shouldn't be killed, and finally he convinced the girls that Wicked telling them to kill him was just a test. They let him go but Teresa was not happy and stormed off. With the debate solved the group of girls and Thomas headed off towards the safe haven. After a while of hiking Thomas, who was at the back of the group hears someone calling his name from the forest, it was Teresa. Not really thinking Thomas follows her into the woods. Thomas followed Teresa through the woods and eventually she came to a stop. Then, when Thomas thought that he had been betrayed enough, Teresa tells him that Aris is right behind him with a knife, and will kill him if he try's to get away. The two force Thomas into a small cave. Thomas makes an attempt to escape once and manages to get a good shot of Aris in the Stomach, but it is not enough. Eventually Teresa and Aris get Thomas into a small room and shut the door on him. Thomas gets knocked out by some sort of gas and when he wakes up and calls for help Teresa and Aris are right there. Teresa cry's that she had to and that she is so sorry but wicked had told her, she and Aris had to capture him. Thomas eventually believes them but he still doesn't have complete trust in the two. From the high vantage point that they are on (the high mountain) they can see the other groups. After an extremely long hike down the mountain and into the valley, Thomas, Teresa, and Aris meet up with the two groups and explain that everyone is okay and that they are all on the same team. They realize that they had stopped next to a small flag in the ground that said safe haven. Suddenly the ground starts shaking and soon there are massive creatures with odd bulb growths on them surrounding the two groups. They fight and fight and the creatures are finally all dead and along with them, a few of the members from the groups. Having battled and risked their lives the teenagers are ready to get out of the awful place. Tired and exhausted Thomas sees a huge space ship like vehicle approaching them and soon it lands on the ground. The groups run toward the ship and board it and they are told that they are all safe.

2. Just like the first book in the series, The Maze Runners, I loved this book. I don't think it was quite as good as The Maze Runners  but I still really, really liked it. Just like the first book Dashner made every single chapter a cliff hanger and it made it basically impossible to put down. This book was full of action and a lot of the book was a mystery. The Gladers never really knew what they were doing or why they were doing it. I like they way that Dashner starts out his books by having the characters know nothing to by the end of the story knowing a lot. The characters were especially interesting in this book. The only way that the group could have made it across the scorch was to work together. They needed to work together or they would all end up dying. This made the book very interesting to read. Throughout the entire book new characters were introduced and this caused tensions to rise. To deal with other characters Thomas and his friends had to be especially strong to survive and get through encounters with possibly dangerous people. The theme of betrayal also made the book very interesting and fun to read. While reading this book, I think I got angrier than I ever had before at the characters for betraying Thomas. All of these factors add up to create one of my favorite books of all time.

3. Like I mentioned before Betrayal is a key theme throughout this book. This theme shows Through the characters in the all parts of the book. One example of Betrayal is when Jorge and Brenda decide to travel with Thomas and his friends to go to the safe haven. They are part of a large group and agreeing to go with Thomas is betraying their own group. Jorge and Brenda's Group is smart though and they realize what they are trying to do. They blow up the building hoping that it kills them. Another example of betrayal is when Teresa and Aris trick Thomas and put him in the chamber. Teresa had been Thomas's best friend from the Maze and know she hurt him and threatened to kill him. Aris also was a friend of Thomas, and when he and Teresa beat him and throw Thomas in the chamber, Thomas is only felt betrayed. The theme of betrayal made the book a lot more exciting and made it even harder to put down.

4. My favorite character from The Maze Runners was Thomas, and he still is my favorite. I think that he is a really great character and he is definitely one of the reasons I love this book so much. He is funny, romantic, strong, and also can be very caring. I like how even with all that is going on around him he still is romantic and also humorous. He always makes sarcastic comments or jokes that lighten everything up. Thomas is in probably one of the worst situations that you could be in but he still try's to make it fun and enjoyable. Thomas is a natural leader and I really like that quality of him. He leads the group even though Minho is the true leader. Without a character like Thomas this book would certainly no be as strong.

5. My least favorite character is Teresa. At the beginning of the story and also in The Maze Runners Teresa was one of my favorite characters, but after what she did to Thomas, I really stopped liking her. I don't understand how she could be one of Thomas's best friends and then turn on him like that. When she and group B were taking Thomas from his friends she was very, very brutal and beat him without reason. I know that she says that she had to do it and that Wicked had told her and Aris to get Thomas in the chamber, but she did not have to be so cruel about it. Before she was one of my favorite characters, but after she betrayed Thomas, I don't think I or Thomas will be able to forgive her.

6. I thought that the ending of this book was fairly predictable, but it was still good. There is a third book in the series so I didn't think that anything would happen to Thomas or his close friends. I wish that something more substantial had happened at the end though. It was exciting but predictable. I didn't like how easy it seemed at the end. After fighting the weird creatures only a couple of the group members died and none were close to Thomas. At the end of The Maze Runners chuck dies which is a huge shock, and also half of the Gladers die fighting the Grievers. I still  really liked this book but it would have been even better it had had a stronger ending.