SPOILER ALERT!!

Although the prose isn't fabulous and character development could be better, overall I really liked this series, and the thought behind the first two books in particular is great.

Now for my issues with the ending of The Death Cure.

It's not that I don't like Teresa, but her character never did a whole lot for me...she ironically seemed as much of a pawn for the plot as she was a pawn for WICKED, though the author simultaneously tried to make her embody a strong force of rebellion. Brenda is a little bit better in my opinion, but not by a whole lot. The female characters in this series are definitely lacking.

But anyway, Newt was by far my favorite character and I was so crushed when he died. I sort of saw it coming but also thought that it had been another Variable from the beginning and he wasn't even infected. I understand Dashner killing off ONE of the characters he did (Chuck, Newt, OR Teresa), but all three seemed excessive. Amidst all of the action from Grievers and Cranks ("Hello, noses!" -- scared the crap outta me), the deaths of innocent Chuck and the very noble character of Newt seemed out of place and kind of cruel in a world that certainly didn't need any more shock value. Like I said, I could understand one of them...maybe Chuck's death actually was necessary to propel the plot forward and stir up Thomas's internal issues with WICKED. Side note -- I really liked what Dashner did with Gally throughout the series. However, I think the plot could have remained intact without Newt, a lonely boy who deserved at least a small shred of happiness perhaps more than any of the others, being infected with the Flare and having to beg one of his best friends to kill him. After his displays of gut-wrenching madness, Newt's final words: "Please, Tommy, please" make it even more emotional as the author reminds you that he's slowly stripped away the humanity of one of the best humans in the whole trilogy, and one line later Newt ends up with a bullet in his head. It's poignant, but also pretty sickening. Maybe that's what he was going for, I don't know.

As for Teresa's death, it seemed a little cliche to me and just reflected the fact that her whole character was somehow not developed quite right from the very beginning. Supposedly, she was a key player in terms of WICKED and Thomas's past (and present), but her death was extremely sudden and hardly any time at all was given to mourning her. At least with Newt we sort of saw it coming. In some twisted way, it almost seems like her death marked an opportunity for Thomas to really move on, not have to choose between her and Brenda (the whole romance thing is an element that doesn't really work anyway), and wipe any guilt from his conscience.

Let me make it clear again that I REALLY LOVED THIS SERIES OVERALL. It has some serious issues, but it's certainly a page-turner and has some great characters like Newt, Minho, Chuck, Gally, and Aris -- who I wish Dashner had not just sort of let slip into the background in the third book, because he seemed like an interesting character.

I can live with Newt dying. I can live with Teresa being a strange, detached character whose dialogue seems forced and who dies without having her relationship with Thomas reconciled at all. The one thing that really frustrates me is that, even worse than Suzanne Collins with Mockingjay, Dashner sacrificed character development for action towards the end and killed some of his best (or potentially best) characters in order to sloppily resolve the plot.

Just like Prim dying in Mockingjay, Dashner has committed the crime of creating a horrific dystopian world and then also murdering the only emblems of hope within that dark world, then finishing it with a rushed ending that somehow allows the main characters' pain over past events and some creepy misplaced paradise to coexist.