"The Scorch Trials" Trailer

 The Maze Runner Series book review

Hellooo everyone!

Soo, this week all fans of the Maze Runner Series got to see their first glimpse of the new movie "The Scorch Trials" coming out in September 2015. :)
We´ve been waiting for the trailer since the beginning of the year and after a long time of being confused about when it will be published we finally got it on tuesday this week. I was really excited and thinking it would be a teaser I was soo surprised when I was watching a really long trailer. So if you want to check out the trailer, you can do that here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLQr57yRM9w

Just from watching the trailer everyone who has read the books can tell that they have changed quite a lot in the movie but I for one am really excited and looking forward to go and watch it in September.
So, in line with this topic I would like to give a quick spoiler-free book review of the Maze Runner Series by James Dashner.

Newt - Subject A5 - The Glue Fanart by SarahvP

As some of you may already know (by reading the book or watching the movie) "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner is about a boy, Thomas, who at the beginning of the book finds himself in a box which brings him into the middle of a maze with several other boys. All of them have lost their memory and Thomas is very keen to find out what this is all about. No one wants to tell him anything at first but after a while he discovers that the other boys have been there a very long time without finding a way out. The maze is a very dangerous place and until then no one has ever survived a night in it. Thomas gets curious and then tries to become one of the runners so he himself can explore the maze and maybe find a way out or some answers to all the questions he has. By the time Thomas arrives in the Glade many weird things happen and seem to go wrong and when the box comes up another time with a girl, Teresa, in it who is supposedly "the last one ever" things become really strange and the boys have to act quickly before they all die.
"The Maze Runner" is actually my favourite book of the series because it still has this kind of innocence. There is this big mystery about the maze and the memory loss and there is still plenty of options on how the story could end and why these things are done to the boys. It is a very tense book and also quite funny. When Thomas gets stuck in the maze for the night while trying to help Minho getting Alby who has been stung by one of the dangerous creatures (called Grievers) back to the Glade before the doors close it gets really thrilling. You wonder what is going to happen next and if he can get through the night without being killed.
I also really liked it that James Dashner created new words like "shank" or "shuck" to avoid real swearing in the books. And in contrast to others who may find it confusing or weird I enjoyed learning about this new world in the Glade where they have jobs like "runners", "slicers" or "medjacks" and use names like "Greenie" to welcome the newbies in the Glade.
What I asolutely love about the books are the characters and their interaction. My favourites are the Second-in-Command, Newt, and Keeper of the Runners, Minho. They´re very loyal to Thomas and I just love the way the three of them act together with Newt, who thinks about the cleverest way to solve a problem and sarcastic Minho who always says what he thinks.
I give this book five out of five stars. [*****]

Minho- Subject A7- The Leader Fanart by SarahvP

Next on to "The Scorch Trials" of which the movie trailer came out this week. In the sequel to "The Maze Runner" the group of Gladers remaining are finding themselves supposedly saved until a man informs them the world is in a catastrophical state where a dangerous virus called the Flare spreaded. He also tells them that every single one of them is infected with it and that they had to complete a two week journey through the Scorch Trials to get to a save haven where they would receive a cure. Of course this journey is everything but easy as they have to get through a dark tunnel with head-eating metall balls, a desert in which heavy storms are normal and have to deal with so-called Cranks who are way past the Gone (which means that they have cought the Flare and are more Zombie than human). The group gets seperated more than once which I didn´t really like as this way you would only have Thomas´s point of view and don´t know what happens to Minho and Newt during that time. There are also some new characters such as Aris who was the only boy in a Glade full of girls which they discover has also existed, and Jorge and Brenda, two people infected with the Flare who agree to help the Gladers find their way to the save haven with the hope to also receive the cure for themselves.
In my opinion it was a bit annoying that you had the feeling that every single thing they do no matter how small it is is planned by the organization who put the boys in the maze and that the Gladers don´t really get to choose what to do or how to act. Personally I also didn´t like that Teresa was now called "the Betrayer" and acted really weird. I especially didn´t like the chapter where she had to betray Thomas. (I don´t want to give too much away but if you´ve read the book you may know which scene I am talking about.) To me that scene didn´t make any sense and I could not quite understand what it had to do with the rest of the plot. (If anyone has an explanation for it I am very interested in hearing your opinion. :))
All in all I didn´t like "The Scorch Trials" as much as "The Maze Runner" but I still enjoyed reading it and following the characters on their adventures to find a solution to all their unanswered questions.
"The Scorch Trials" therefore receives four out of five stars. [****]

Sarah reading Chapter 6 of  "The Death Cure"

And now finally to the third book of the series, "The Death Cure" without giving away any major spoilers. Before reading the book I spent way too much time on tumblr reblogging gifs of "The Maze Runner" and my favourite characters Newt and Minho which I better shouldn´t have done as I read a huge spoiler and therefore didn´t even want to start reading the book.
In "The Death Cure" the remaining Gladers of both mazes are offered to get back their memory which Thomas, Minho and Newt are refusing because they still don´t trust W.I.C.K.E.D (this organization who put them in the maze and throught the Scorch Trials).(To be honest I didn´t trust them as well and I certainly wouln´t have let them messing with my brain.) So, the three of them try to escape from W.I.C.K.E.D which they manage with a little help from Brenda and Jorge. (Another side-note: I also didn´t trust Brenda because in my opinion it was a bit too easy for them to escape with her help. But nevermind.)
They follow the other Gladers who also have escaped to a city where the Flare hasn´t spread yet and they are still trying to figure out if there is something like a cure.
I really liked that in the first part of the book the story focuses on my favourites, Newt and Minho, and I think it was a tense book. I wanted to know why all the things since the beginning of "The Maze Runner" have happened to them and I wanted to be surprised by the solution... which I must admit I sadly wasn´t. After about fourty pages (I think) I wanted to throw the book out of the window. I didn´t want to read until page 250. (I will not tell you what happens there as it contains a major spoiler.) When I then came to named page I didn´t want to go on reading. (I´m still kind of in the "Stage of denial".... page 250 never happened. Nope... *gross sobbing*) But I still wanted to know how the story ended so I finished the book. The end wasn´t that unexpected but I personally can live with it. What really bugs me though is that there are a lot of things in all three books which don´t quite make sense and the more I talked about the books the more plot holes I discovered which isn´t very nice. Personally I had hoped for a more unexpected ending and a better explanation than the ultimate "Variables"-answer which as it appears is the answer to every unsolved question in the books. It´s hard for me to rate this book but because of page 250 (which by the way we will never mention again) and other things that bothered me I have to remove some stars and leave "The Death Cure" with two out of five stars. [**]

Sarah while reading "The Death Cure"

But still I really enjoyed reading the series (except for "The Death Cure" which still makes me cry and leaves me frustrated as I think about it). The series sticks to my mind and although I didn´t like "The Death Cure" as much as the other books I still have to think about it quite a lot. (I would really like to change some things about it but there´s nothing I can do except for processing my feelings about in fanart :P)

Newt Fanart by SarahvP

In conclusion I really liked the series and I will certainly go and watch the movies. I can´t wait for the Scorch Trials to come out in September and as from the trailer I figured that they have changed quite a lot of the story I´m secretly hoping that they may find a better solution than the one given in the book. As for "The Death Cure" I think I am not emotionally prepared to see that on screen (but on the other side I think I never will be, so I will just go to the cinema crying and then cry through the whole movie and then afterwards cry myself to sleep D:)

So, that´s it for todays post. I really hope you enjoyed reading it and I´m very interested in any opinions regarding the Maze Runner-Series, so just post it in the comments down below. :)

"I think it´s safe to say that the Maze Trials were a complete success. [...] It´s time now to begin phase two."

Yours,
Sarah