(Image from Indiebound)

(Note: While this review will not contain spoilers for The Scorch Trials, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from The Maze Runner. As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

Thomas and the other Gladers thought beating the maze would be the end - of their confusion, of their suffering, of their fear. They thought wrong. Escaping the maze brought a little respite, but not much and not for long. Now they are, once again, fighting for survival in a treacherous arena, under the watchful eye of WICKED. Once again, they have no choice. Once again, they're battling for their lives.

In The Scorch Trials, James Dashner continues expanding the world he introduced in The Maze Runner. It's a world gone wrong, a world where the too-hot sun beats down on the Earth, relentlessly frying everything in its path. It's a world where a deadly virus has been unleashed, ravaging the few humans that remain. It's a world controlled, but not totally, by WICKED. As Thomas and the other boys navigate the strange landscape, they will encounter everything from zombies to blistering heat to homicidal, man-made monsters. If they survive, they win both information and freedom. If they don't, well, death might be a kinder alternative to life in this crazy new version of the world.

While The Maze Runner offers some heart-pumping action, The Scorch Trials kicks it up a notch. Or two. Or ten. The book's an intense, action-paced thrill ride that just doesn't stop. Ever. I raced through it as fast as I could to see if - and how - the Gladers would survive this impossible challenge. WICKED's cruel manipulations throughout the "trial" make the story even more twisty and turny. I loved all the conflict and intrigue, so much so that I almost didn't realize how little the overall plot advances in this volume of the series. Because, really, we don't learn a whole lot about WICKED, its intentions, or even the overall state of the destroyed world. A little bit, yes, but not a lot, which left me a mite disappointed in a novel I otherwise really enjoyed. Still, I'm counting down the days until October 11, when The Death Cure makes its appearance, and all the answers are finally revealed. All I can say is, WICKED, you've got some 'splaining to do ...

(Readalikes: The Maze Runner by James Dashner and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins)

Grade: B-

To the FTC, with love: I bought The Scorch Trials with some of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.

(Image from Indiebound)

I've tried to write a summary for Monsters of Men, the last book in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, but nothing's coming out quite right. The description on its jacket, however, lays it all out perfectly, I'm going to cheat and use it:

In the electrifying finale to the multi-award-winning Chaos Walking trilogy, the choices of one boy and one girl will decide the fate of a world.

As a world-ending war surges to life around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all throughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desparate desire of the many. The consequences of each action, each word, are unspeakably vast: To follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of the one you love most or thousands of strangers? To believe in redemption or assume it is lost? Becoming adults amid the tumoil, Todd and Viola question all they have known, racing through horror and outrage toward a shocking finale.

Good, right? As is this series - all the way to its very satisfying end. And, really, that's all I have to say about it. I love these books. Read them. Amen.

(Readalikes: The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness)

Grade: A-

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language (no F-bombs), violence and mild sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find

1. The Scorch Trials - James Dashner
2. The Stand - Stephen King
3. Under the Dome - Stephen King
4. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
5. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
6. The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness
7. Monsters of Men - Patrick Ness
8. Restoring Harmony - Joelle Anthony
9. Sapphique - Catherine Fisher
10. The Dead-Tossed Waves - Carrie Ryan
11. The Dark and Hollow Places - Carrie Ryan
12. The Wind-up Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
13. The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood
14. X-Isle - Steve Augarde
    
    Wish me luck!