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The Scorch Trails, by Thomas Dashner

The Scorch Trails, by James Dashner, is the second book in the breath taking Maze Runner trilogy. Everything was supposed to end after The Maze Runner. They were at least going to get their lives back, whatever those were. But once again, WICKED has fooled them. This time things are different, nothing is provided, unlike the Maze. The world is now a burnt wasteland, remaining governments have united, and there is a horrible disease, called the Flare, going around that slowly turns you insane. This time, they’re in the Scorch, the most burned out part in the world. They have two weeks to make it to the safe haven and WICKED has made sure the odds are against them. Thomas wonders why he is different, why has WICKED singled him out and taken extra good care of him?

James Dashner never disappoints. I am even willing to say that this was even more thrilling than the last. I love how Dashner seems to be mocking Thomas with the simple but horrible shocks and revelations. He has come up with an amazing trilogy and I am dying to get my hands on the next one! I would recommend this to teenage girls and boys who enjoy thrilling and any who enjoyed the first one cannot pass this up!

- Reviewed by Anonymous.


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Teen Speak said…
I was surprised when I read this book because I believed it was much better and more suspenseful than the first book. Dashner knows how to continue his series and this one was delivered so well. There is a lot of character development in this one and I really think that the characters are finally starting to seem real to me. I would recommend this book and this series for those who want to undergo a mind-boggling experience. - S.G.
May 6, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Teen Speak said…
After the events of "The Maze Runner", Thomas wakes up in a dormitory in the middle of the night and telepathically talks to Teresa. He then falls back asleep Soon, he wakes to find the Gladers in the midst of chaos after seeing Cranks outside of their window. They break down the doors to the place where the group ate food with their rescuers only to find them dead and hanging from the ceiling. Afterwards, they head to Teresa's room and instead find Aris Jones, a boy who is from Group B who has telepathic powers like Thomas and Teresa. Together, they leave the room and find a researcher whom they name 'Rat Man'. Rat Man tells the Gladers that they are infected with the Flare and they must cross the 'Scorch' to receive a cure.

"The Scorch Trials" is, in my opinion, a better book than its predecessor. However, this book still suffers from the same problem as the first book. There is a huge lack of character development. Most of the characters in this book seem either bland, lacking, or both. Aside from the characters, however, the author managed to drastically increase the pacing and use more sophisticated vocabulary. It also brought me back to the world of "The Maze Runner", which I enjoyed. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the first book and/or enjoys dystopian mysteries/thrillers.

Reviewed by William J., Grade 9
Montrose Library
July 17, 2014 at 4:17 PM
Teen Speak said…
The story begins with Thomas waking up in the middle of the night not knowing where he is. He then keeps trying to call Teresa’s name telepathically until she responds. When she does respond they start to talk about random things and asking one another where they are. When he wakes up and so do the others they find that they are in a room full of dead people, blocked up windows, and hung up bodies. Thomas try’s to find Teresa, but when he finds her room he sees that there is no trace of Teresa and instead sees that there is a boy there named Aris. When Aris starts to explain himself he says that he said he came from a maze and he was in a group just like the Gladers except he was the only boy out of all the girls in his maze. He also mentioned that he was part of a group called group B. While the Gladers and Aris try to find out where they are the meet a man called Rat Man. Rat Man was a very tall and tin person and he was a researcher. He explained how the maze was a plan, how they were infected with the flare, and how they would get the cure. With all this confusion they didn’t know what to do. They soon found that Newt, Thomas, and Minho had a tattoo on them. Newt’s tattoo said “Glue”, Thomas’s said “To be killed by Group B”, and Minho’s said the “leader”. Soon after Rat Man tells them they are to go and find a cure and that this is part of phase two in the WICKED project called The Scorch Trials. The Gladers were instructed to go through a device called a flat Trans. When they went through it was completely dark, and the further they got in the more dangerous it became. Metal spheres were dropping from the ceiling with sharp blades killing two Gladers, but they were finally able to get out. The second they got out it brighter than the sun, and they had to cover themselves up with what they had. As they were walking to what they thought was a city they saw that a storm was coming. At first the storm it seemed like rain, then came fierce winds and deadly sparks of lightning. Seven Gladers died in the storm, so now only eleven Gladers remained. And these eleven were left to face The Scorch Trials.

Reviewed by Anonymous, Grade 9
Glendale Central Library
October 21, 2015 at 11:02 AM
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