Book Review: The Death Cure

Title: The Death Cure.
Author: James Dashner.
Series: Yes, #4.
Pages:325.
Source: Purchased.
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers.
Published Date: 10/11/11.
Links:
Goodreads.
Barnes and Noble.

Summary:

"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?"

My Thoughts:

With The Maze Runner coming out in just mere months, and having read The Death Cure many weeks ago, I figured it was about time I started writing my review and finally have it posted. I guess it took me so long to force myself to sit down and start discussing my opinions, because I had no clue what my opinions were!

I absolutely loved The Maze Runner, SO MUCH that I even forced my boyfriend, who NEVER reads, to read it, and tell me everything think he thought about it. When it came to The Scorch Trials, I loved it just as much! I was so happy that there were no signs of second book syndrome, and I gulped that one down just as quickly as I did with The Maze Runner...still trying to convince my boyfriend to read it...

But when it came to The Death Cure I was nervous. Many bloggers said that they didn't find this one as satisfying as they did the first two, and were disappointed in it. After reading The Death Cure, and knowing what all those reviews were talking about, I see where they were coming from.

The Death Cure takes off right where The Scorch Trials ends, the Gladers are at the WICKED facility where they are offered their fully restored memories through a surgical procedure. At first Rat Face gives them the option to opt out, and keep their memories in the past. But after only three Gladers decide to deny his offer, Thomas, Newt and Minho, Rat Face gives them a rough wake up call the next day, by strapping them into the surgery chair anyways.

Thomas is completely surrounded by guards and knows that there is no way out of this, even Brenda and Jose who Thomas relied on are actually working for WICKED. But before he can even register, Brenda has a plan to get him, and the two others out.

The five escaped, realizing that Teresa and the other Gladers have already left as well. When the group of five run into Gally, and are informed that he works for a rebellion group called The Right Arm, they discuss their plans of taking WICKED down, and Thomas plays a huge role in it.

Thomas is supposed to go back to the WICKED compound and sacrifice himself for science and when he does he discovers that more munies (people who are immune to the flare) have been captured and sent into the maze. The Right Arm wants to blow the whole place up, and even after being offered a train ride to safety, Thomas knows he has to save his friends, and the people in the maze....

Final Verdict:

OHH GOODNESS, where do I start?

There was so much that happened in this book and I have no idea how I'm going to fit it all into a single review, without it being ten miles long. So I'll keep it short and make bullet lists.

What I LOVED:

• Thomas! As always, he was amazing! In The Death Cure, Thomas did have a few tough things to do and watch. He had to witness his best friend, Newt turn into a Crank and shoot him in his head (Newt asked him to), and he watched the girl he was crushing on in the first two books die.
• Brenda and Jose, and the fact that they were actually working for WICKED! I had no idea, and I would have never guessed!
• That Gally came back, and played a pretty BIG role!
• But most of all I loved that we got to see some of the outside world. That we witnessed how things were being run between munies and cranks being seperated. That the Right Arm was rebelling and planning to take down WICKED. I liked going outside of the maze, to see the world Thomas and the Gladers were living in and facing!

What confused me:

• The Gladers not wanting their memories back. I understand that no one wants Rat Face working on their brains, but who wouldn't want their memories back? The entire first two and even the third book, you wonder what happened to you, who you are, and why you're even a part of this, but given the chance you don't want to find out? HUH?
• Thomas's lady friends. Thomas had a thing for Teresa most of the first book and second, and had a thing for Brenda in the second and third book. But how can you just skip away, holding hands with Brenda, right after Teresa died? Thomas spent so much time contemplating and thinking about both of them, that I feel Teresa sacrificed herself, to let Thomas be with Brenda? Just a weird way to go. "Oh Teresa, she's dead, want to go out now Brenda?" "Teresa, who?"
• The government and it's choices. Why would the government release this Flare, to "control" people...without ever testing it? Without ever learning what some of the side effects would be? Like...I don't know...turning into a CRANK!!

Final Comments:

• I want to read The Kill Order!! This story revolves around two different main characters when the Flare first started to spread! I'm dying to see how the world came to such a horrible state! 
• Is it September YET?
• Uhh, once I watch The Maze Runner, I can die happy...!