The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner #2) by James Dashner // Book Review

Rating: 3/5; It was okay. I liked it.

Release Date: October 2010

Background: Book #2 in the Maze Runner series. Check out my thoughts on Maze Runner #1. Don't you just love the book covers?

** can be spoiler-y if you haven't read the first book **

Synopsis:
Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.
In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.
Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.
The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

Thoughts:

This one is a lot more bloody and gory than the first. Things start to get slightly more "real" for the small amount of people left. They have to, as before, fight for their survival. Unlike the previous book (what a GREAT start), this one is really slow and was hard for me to get through. I expected non-stop action/misadventure as these kids fight to save their lives, but instead we get a bunch of planning and hiding. I'm sorry, but that bored the heck out of me. Come on James, step it up. Please, please, have the third book blow me away like the first book did. There were a few "scenes" with the Cravers/zombies and a few with new monsters/creations that were very fun/nail biting, but sadly, this only occurred about a handful of times. I'm the type of person that likes these "scenes" to happen often. That's just my personal preference. At the very least, I prefer there not to be anything slow going on. 

I recommend you guys skim often and understand that things get a bit boring in this one. Another thing that irked me was all those unanswered questions (some of which still don't get answered). It was unnerving. I get that the reader is supposed to feel as lost as the characters, but sometimes it was just too much for me to be okay with. Even though I found it to be slow and slightly annoying, the last third of the book is very suspenseful and full of action/misadventures. I could not flip the pages fast enough then. It was wonderful (even though it was kind of scary and nail-biting). If you haven't begun this series yet, I highly recommend it.

I'm immensely excited to read the last book in this series!

Resembles: 

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry - because in both books we have zombies (Cravers are basically zombies)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - because of the kids fighting for survival in a post-aspocalyptic world.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami - ditto

Lost (T.V show) - because of all the annoying unanswered questions that continue to just pile up and pile up

*book was my own copy

~~T.V and Book Addict~~