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The Scorch Trials: Maze Runner Trilogy, Book 2
- By James Dashner
- Genre: Science Fiction
Common Sense Media says
Teens are pawns of evil adults again in violent sequel.
Parents say
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that, just like The Maze Runner, this sequel shows teens in a dark-dark dystopia where adult "scientists" put them through horrific trials, supposedly to help save humanity (but there's little evidence of this). The publisher says this series is for ages 12 and up, but it's even darker and more violent than other popular dystopian reads geared toward 14 and up. Teens get decapitated in pitch-blackness, killed by lightning (the burns and a severed leg are described), attacked by a city full of mad diseased people who turn cannibal when they're too far gone, drugged, kidnapped, shot, pitted against each other, and, worst of all, when they think the nightmare is over they are manipulated by the "scientists" all over again.
What's the story?
Safe and sound -- that's what the survivors of the maze thought they were at the end of The Maze Runner. But that was just phase one. The "rescuers" are disposed of gruesomely (or is it an illusion?), and the government agency WICKED is back in control, forcing the remaining teens to endure the Scorch Trials: a two-week 100-mile march through a pitch-black tunnels, punishing desert, and, worst of all, a town full of crazed diseased people, who, if they're far gone enough, would love to eat them for breakfast. New revelations come out before the death march begins -- many of them tattooed directly on the boys' necks. Thomas' tattoo says he's supposed to be killed by Group B, the group of teen girls who survived an identical maze. And worse than that, Theresa is stolen from his group and sent to Group B, suddenly pitting him against his closest friend. Worst of all, all the teens are told they have the dreaded disease and need to finish the trials in order to get the cure or suffer madness and death.
Is it any good?
Teens who read THE SCORCH TRIALS just for the adventure and don't mind pointless carnage in a darker-than-dark dystopia will find a fast-paced read. Readers who look a little deeper will be depressed by the grimness of it all and struck by some nagging logical flaws. A government agency killing off teens? How can they really be getting anything from that? They could just swoop them up before the last lethal second and take them out of the trial instead. Why make machines that decapitate the teens in pitch-blackness? It shows that these people are sadistic, not scientific. The teens -- and readers -- are strung along, believing it will all make sense in the end. Memories will return and it will all be for the greater good. Really? Decapitation machines? The last book in the trilogy has a lot of explaining to do ...
What families can talk about
Families can talk about what a dark dystopian world this is. How is it different from other books you've read? Do you think the characters have anything to live for? Do you think scientists would be justified in killing human subjects for any reason?
Do you think all the violence in this book kept the story exciting or made the whole idea of teen test subjects too implausible?
What do you think the teens left alive will find out if their memories are ever restored?
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AGE
I loved it!
The scorch trials is one of my favorite books. I like this book even more than the first one. It amazed me how the kids in the book knew how to get through some of the toughest challenges.
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AGE
GREAT BOOK, BAD REVIEW...
When I read this, i was thoroughly appalled. 14? I read this when I was 11, and it didn't scar me. It IS perhaps for kids twelve and up, be the person who wrote this review blew it WAY out of proportion. Yes, lightning stricks do occur, but the person lives afterward. Thomas gets shot, battered and beaten, as do the Gladers. As for the sexual content, nothing that's not in a pg-13 movie. the language is 0, if you don't count the made up words like shuck and slinthead, etc. Overall, this is one of the best book series ive read, and you should,too.
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AGE
SSSCCCCAAARRRRYYYY
VERY SCARY i read the first chpater of the book in the back of the maze runner and couldnt sleep for a week... please do not read this book!!
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Kid, 12 years old
February 22, 2012
AGE
One of the best trilogys ever!
14?! 14!? Whoever though 14 was an appropriate age is wrong. Most YA dystopian fiction is like this. Cranks (zombies) plauge the world, created by sun flares. The only language is their made up words (shuck slinthead, etc.), and the occasional actual swear word and "bloody." Thomas and the other gladers get beaten, eaten, and die. Thomas gets a rusty bullet in him. The book runs on violence and gore. Its a book you can't pit down. I can't wait for The Kill Order!
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| Author: | James Dashner |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Science Fiction |
| Publisher: | Delacorte Press |
| Publication date: | October 12, 2010 |
| Number of pages: | 368 |
| Hardcover price: | $17.99 |
| Paperback price: | $9.99 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 12 - 17 |
| Read aloud: | 17 |
| Read alone: | 17 |
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