The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner #2) – James Dashner

Title: The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner #2) by James Dashner
Publishing Info: October 12, 2010 by Random House Publishing Group
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: June 24, 2012
Related Posts: The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3), The Kill Order (The Maze Runner #0.5)

    Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. 
     Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch. 
     There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.
     The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. 
  Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off. 
  There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers’ destruction—and they’re determined to survive.

Breaking It Down Further: Having escaped and/or being rescued from the Maze, the Gladers are relieved to be away from that awful place. But things are just about to get worse – Knowing that WICKED is behind all of the Trials and challenges that they have been put through, they’re not done with the Gladers yet. They must now venture through the Scorch – a burning hot and brutal desert wasteland – to get to the “safe haven” where they just might have a cure for The Flare. But can the boys believe this mysterious entity that is WICKED, or will the trials go on forever? Or will they even survive the blistering Scorch and hungry, almost zombie-like Cranks?

Man!! I thought THE MAZE RUNNER was making my mind race and search for answers… THE SCORCH TRIALS was even more mind-bending and action-packed!

**Warning: If you haven’t read The Maze Runner, there maybe be some spoilers in my review!**

We pick up in the same facility in which WICKED deposited our heroes and right away, they begin to feel the elements of the tests and confusing and impossible occurrences that really make them question who exactly these people are and what kind of power they have. And let me tell you, I was right along there with them. I was dying to know who this Big Brother, powerful group was and we know from book #1 that they’re putting everyone through this to try to save humanity. But how? Why put them through all kinds of grueling tests and scenarios? What good will it do? All these questions, all throughout the book and just dying to find answers!

We find out there is a second group — an almost identical test group — and now the boys are faced with another dilemma — Trust them or not? We really see Thomas’s leadership skills come out in this book as his knowledge and flashes of memories from before start to grow. Sometimes I almost forget that they’re supposed to be teenagers because it’s a lot of battling and reasoning, and with us knowing that Teresa & Thomas were working with WICKED before they were put into the maze, we know that they’re very intelligent and highly special for some reason.

I gotta say, the land of the Scorch amazed me. Every time I read one of these dystopian or post-apocalyptic novels, I just wonder how the author comes up with this stuff! It’s so interesting to see what comes out of their minds and what kind of dangers they invent. The boys have a lot to keep up with as far as defense goes with the opposing group, and now harsh elements of a wasteland world as well as the diseased and infected Cranks who get more and more vicious the further the disease progresses.

It was actually quite violent and really full of adventure and action, so much that I couldn’t tear myself away. I carried on as fast as my reading could take me because I was so intrigued by what was at the end of their journey, who would survive it, as well as trying to pick up clues and put them together about what really happens once they reach the safe haven.

Definitely action and intrigue are the driving forces of this book, and without describing the whole book, that’s all I can really say about it! You just have to read it and get swept away with the story and the adventure. I really couldn’t put it down! I will say that it was way better than THE MAZE RUNNER, as much as I enjoyed that book and it left me so anxious to read the third!

5/5 stars
Yep. I’ll give it 5 stars! I was captivated by and utterly drawn into this book!

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