BookSelf

★★★☆☆ Better than most of the Maze Runner books, this prequel lacked new material, created plot holes that didn't exist before, and added little to the existing characters. What makes it better, then, you ask? It wasn't rushed. Time was allowed to pass. While that time was often a little confusing (characters acting very different than their ages implied), it was over all much better than the constant action of the previous books. Also, lest I forget: Teresa is the worst. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★☆☆ This follows seemingly random characters as they attempt to survive the initial sun flares and then the Flare virus that destroyed the world prior to The Maze Runner . It's grittier than the trilogy is, actually showing who and what the Cranks really are. I really enjoyed the descent into madness that MC Mark goes through (I'm trash for that kinda thing) and found a lot of the imagery much better than anything in the trilogy. Unfortunately, the characters sucked. Mark was basically just Thomas but with a sliver of a personality, and the whole memory loss thing with Trina was pretty unnecessary and didn't add anything. Alec was fun and probably my favorite character but was still a random addition. None of the deaths were impactful, but I was surprised just how far some of the more intense stuff went. Over all, it was a fun read but not necessary to the trilogy in any way. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★☆☆ After the train wreck of The Scorch Trials, my expectations were very low, but because the movies were so different for these last two, my curiosity was sufficiently piqued. Suffice it to say, I'm pleasantly surprised for the most part. The first half was dismal, pretty much just as bad as the second book. At one point, Thomas literally just sits there staring at something bad happening while everyone else is flipping out Brenda is yelling at him to go, and he just stares and sits and gets caught because of it. It was completely ridiculous. But then things got better with Newt's character, who'd always been the best character in the series. He brought more genuine emotion and set the story on a better track, and I found myself actually enjoying the book by the end. And Brenda became a human being! Yay! Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★☆☆☆ Oh my this was complete crap. At least the first book was enjoyable. I don't really have too much to say other than that the movie is completely different but way better in every way. An ideal example of this is Brenda's character. In the movie, she is an actual person and I quite liked her, in the book, she's ridiculous and instalovey, with extreme moments of inappropriate for the situation and uncalled for "sexual tension" with Thomas. She doesn't feel like an actual human being in any way. The plot, besides all that, is nonsensical and confusing. I don't understand WICKED's plan whatsoever. There's a lot of "what" that makes no sense but even more confusing is the "why". This doesn't feel realistic at all. It would make more sense if WICKED was just a psycho cult torturing the Gladers just for kicks and giggles. And why on Earth do all the cranks introduce themselves as cranks? Wtf? It's jus...

★★★★☆ Honestly. I don't have too much to say about this. I watched all the movies first and really enjoyed them. I feel like they (at least in the case of the first one) pretty accurately represented the books (at least the atmosphere and most plot points), so I don't really have any new feelings. In some ways, I think I might actually prefer the movie. The writing style was alright; very easy to read, but a little too simple for my tastes, but I suppose it's perfect for a reluctant reader. The world is definitely the best part. I was always pretty confused about the explanations in the movies about why the Maze even exists in the first place, and the book definitely did a much better job there. Character-wise, I'm fairly neutral. I liked Thomas but feel that he's also fairly generic. I'm pretty sick and tired of female protagonists, so it was nice to read about a boy for once, in a story that I'm sure was great for young male readers, who ar...