The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner, Book 2) Kindle Edition

I am a huge maze runner fan. I read it just to prep for the movie, since Dylan O'Brien is playing the lead who happens to be my favorite actor. I didn't expect to be into this series that much, but I am addicted. It is the best trilogy I have read, and I'm on book three now, and The Scorch Trials is probably my favorite of the series thus far.This picks up immediately from where everything left off in The Maze Runner, and what makes it so good is you don't have to wait for the action to pick up. This book isn't like the first one where you had 150 pages of calmness with little spurts of adrenaline (which is still wonderful) and then 200 more of on the edge of your seat page turning. This one is more like 50 pages of confusion and calmness, then 300 pages of edge of your seat page turning. It is a fast read, with so much action in it that I'm surprised it is only 360 pages. It has everything the first book had, action, a slight hint of horror (not really scary but definitely some scenes get your blood rushing and clinging to every moment) and friendships form and some are broken. In this book, the basic synopsis is (and I'll try to not have any major spoilers in this) but basically, WICKED has the gladers getting ready for the second phase of the trials. This is to cross a 100 mile stretch of land and get to the safe haven. They have been inflicted with the Flare, a disease that threatens life as we know it, and getting to the safe haven will grant them a cure. Along the way, they encounter numerous people with the flare that are crazy and are trying to kill them (as the flare seems similar to rabies, it makes it's host go insane and become aggressive and want to kill everything in it's path before finally killing it's host), along with many other situations like abandoned cities, underground tunnels, silver globs that can kill you, more of wicked's mechanical monsters, and the sun that can give you 2nd degree burns in seconds, no shelters, and nothing but desert for the 100 miles. It is brutal. Friendships are tested, some no longer can be trusted. Some act out in times of desperation, threatening the system. New characters are introduced, and once more Dashner gives us some awesome names like "rat man". Who can be trusted? Can anyone be trusted? Who is telling the truth? Are there more out there? Who is secretly working against the group for wicked? Can we cross the scorch as a group, or can we not even trust those we thought had our backs? What is freaking going on!!!! You have to read to find out!!!! This book is insane, and so much better than book one. It is the perfect combination of action and confusion. And by the end, you may find yourself have a slight feeling in your heart that wicked is good. (But that may or may not last long, I'm not sure having just begun book 3.)If you give book 1 at least a 3 or 4/5, you will love this one too, and then love the entire series. This is probably the second best book I have read to date, after TFiOS. But it is so close to knocking that one down, which I didn't think for me personally would be possible. I love this book sooooooooo much. It is much more cliffhanging and puts you on on the edge of your seat so much more than book one.One note: I like to put this in there in case you haven't read book one, or any of TMR seires. People keep comparing this to THG and Divergent. This is a trilogy that stands completely on its own. The only major similarities are they are trilogies, it is a world that isn't how we know it today, and it does revolve around a group of teens. I can see slightly more similarities with Divergent, and can see why people make this argument, but it is still an amazing journey and I got much more out of it. It is a wild story, one I can't even fathom how Dashner came up with it. If one makes the argument it is just another HG or Divergent, they need to wake up. It is to me, better than both of these series. The basic run down of the entire series is a group uses a group of kids to conduct experiments on their brains in order to develop a cure to a disease that threatens human existence. They do this by sending these kids into impossible situations to observe their behavior, even if it means they will die in the process. If this sounds like THG or Divergent, someone needs to reread the series. Read it, its awesome and so much better than these two other trilogies, both of which I completely loved.

"The Scorch Trials" is the second book in the dystopia trilogy/series by James Dashner. As the sequel to "The Maze Runner," Dashner continues with the story of Thomas and the rest of the gladers and their recent escape from their captors. Things change dramatically when it was revealed by WICKED, the Orwellian big-brother group responsible for their predicament, that their flight was a part of a series of trials, and that their escape marks the end of Phase One. Outside of the Glade, Phase Two begins, and a whole new set of trials awaits them, what was referred to as the "Scorch Trials." Just like that, the gladers were off and running again.The action starts a lot sooner in this book than the first book, which made it that much more addicting to read. Instead of running around in the maze, now they have to run 100 miles across the Scorch to reach a safe haven. The premise of this test is simple: Make it, or die. The objective is clear, but the conditions are much more difficult. Instead of battling Grievers, they now have to face Cranks (those that suffere from the Flare), the environment, and each other. Along the way, we catch glimpses of Thomas's history, and the ultimate realization that everything is not what it may seem. Who is telling the truth? Who is friend or foe? Will they make it through the Scorch and to safety? Will Thomas remember his past, and will his past reveal his purpose? I couldn't help but feel sorry for the characters as they struggle to define what is real, and what is safe. They thought they left their troubles at the Glade, now they have to face a whole new set of more perilous and more challenging trials through the Scorch.One criticism is that I was hoping for a bit more development of the back-story. How did such a technologically advanced world succumb to what seems to be a biological defeat? Memories can be modified, creatures can be created, yet no explanation for what or how people are suffering from the flare, and the solution is to put kids in a maze, fake an escape, and then have them running 100 miles in the desert? I am eagerly anticipating the answers in the final book.I am still impressed with Dashner's simple and straightforward writing style, and the ability to create an operatic plot. The storyline is detailed yet absorbing, and maintains the reader's interest. The ideas and situations have a unique blend of novelty and simplicity. For fans of young adult dystopia, this series has validated its position as a bona fide must-read book. Is WICKED good? Or is WICKED not to be trusted? Hopefully we'll find out in the third book. Highly recommended.