They’ve finally made it to the end of the experiment. They made it out of The Maze, through The Scorch, and to WICKED’s headquarters we go.
The Death Cure is the book we’ve been waiting for ever since they escaped the Maze. We’re finally going to find out how the Gladers and Group B will rebel against WICKED. Thomas is going to cure The Flare. It’s all going to happen, the question: how?
This world was the most fully formed, and I would hope it was after two other books.This book featured some basic elements of future-set stories, complete with flying cars. While no one is currently living in the Denver Dashner describes, it’s familiar enough with political strife, the Flare-ridden ghetto, and the rebellious groups that are probably just as bad as the people in power that there isn’t much new information that must be described and learned. So, we’re able to focus more on what’s actually happening in the story.
The first chapter has been THE BEST written passage out of the whole series thus far. It was so simple and real. It could’ve easily been way over dramatic, but Dashner treaded just how he should have to build on all the psychological hardships the boys have been facing without repeating the all relevant plot points. I’m starting to think it’s a strength of his to tie one novel back to the last without summarizing the entire plot.
Given the aforementioned standardness of the story, there wasn’t much that comes to mind when discussing it. Nothing was wrong with the progression of events, but they weren’t innovative either. As such, the part that sticks out the most in the story is the trip into The Flare ghetto. After Newt is taken there, we really get to see the underbelly of the world that decided this was the best way to care for the afflicted.
This might be a controversial thing to say, and maybe I’m missing some Big Point™ Dashner was trying to make, but I don’t think Thomas should have killed Newt. I’m not saying Newt should not have wanted to die, that should very much stay in the narrative. I’m saying I wish Thomas had not followed through and done it. It would have been an interesting antithesis to Thomas’ inability to save Chuck from dying, to have Thomas unable to kill Newt. Instead of stopping for a confrontation on the highway, I would have prefered if we had merely seen Newt from a distance, lost to The Flare. Thomas should have driven on knowing that he failed. It would have made Newt’s story so much more poignant.
Speaking of death, one I was happy with in terms of the story was Teresa’s. I had liked that Thomas didn’t forgive her actions from The Scorch, but also that she desperately wanted to be forgiven. I think the different views they held came from Teresa getting her memories restored, where she would have remembered all her years spent with Thomas before the experiment, and it played out well. Having her desperation shown in a final sacrifice legitimize it, for me, and made it more than a hissy fit because Thomas wasn’t being nice to her. It was an ending that made sense for her character, in my opinion.
That being said, the overall ending definitely wasn’t as satisfying as The Scorch Trials. The Gladers and the kidnapped Munies destroy WICKED and make it to a safe location in a part of the world where nature seems to be recovering. Except, was The Flare ever cured or did all the Munies rebuild society? What does that society look like? From my understanding, WICKED was former out of several governments, so was all of it destroyed in the explosion or did it try any other ways of making a cure? By the end of this book, we know Thomas’ story and are guaranteed his safety. However, all the work done in the books amount to nothing; there’s not a cure, The Flare is spreading faster and leading society to its demise, and the Chancellor dumped a bunch of people out into the wilderness somewhere. It’s implied that this is a chance to start a new world that won’t be plagued by the fear or disease of the current one. It’s supposed to read as hope for the future because it’s a new beginning, but it feels more like giving up to me. Survival isn’t necessarily success.
