The Death Cure by James Dasner

Published: October 2011

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Pages: 322

Copy: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.



What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.


The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.


Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

I love it when a good trilogy ends well, don't you?  I really enjoyed 'The Maze Runner' and 'The Scorch Trials', so I was anxious to see what James Dashner would come up with for the final installment in the trilogy.  If I'm honest, I don't think 'The Death Cure' was quite as adrenaline filled as the first two, but the tension level remained fairly high right through the book, and I for one, was not able to work out what WICKED wanted Thomas for.  Of course once I got to the end I thought Duh! It seemed so obvious, in hindsight.  Perhaps that's the sign of a good book? Or may'be my synapses just weren't firing right - like the cranks!

All our favourite characters are back - Thomas, Brenda, Minho, Teresa, Newt, Frypan, I could mention more but that would be spoilers.  The things that these poor kids have to go through!  I wouldn't want to be  in their shoes for anything. There were some interesting twists in the plot that I didn't see coming and others that I did, but really upset me anyway.  Mr Dashner manages to write in a way that grabs the readers attention and doesn't let go.  None of the characters were over the top, and, to me at least, seem incredibly real and plausible. Their reactions are many and varied but never seem contrived.  There is so much mental manipulation going on that it is surprising any of them come out of the ordeal unscathed. In a nutshell - exciting, action-packed, emotional and riveting. A great final chapter to a great trilogy.

All in all, a trilogy that I would recommend to anyone who likes excitement and dystopian/apocalyptic fiction, but especially to any reluctant male readers - you will change your mind about reading after this trilogy.  I'm even going to add an ISU tag because there is so much going on with the different characters and how they handle tenuous situations.  Enjoy - I know I did.