The Scorch Trials
Reviewed by Will Preston
The ordeal is not over yet…
The Scorch Trials, written by James Dashner, is the semi-exciting sequel to The Maze Runner. It is set in a burnt part of the Earth called The Scorch, and Thomas and the gladers from the previous book must cross this wasteland in hopes of finding a safe haven and a way out. They are putting their survival skills to the test once again thanks to an organization that claims they are helping society. They are known as W.I.C.K.E.D.
This book was scary, but interesting to read. The action and cliffhangers in this dystopian novel kept me begging for more, but the description of everything in the book was pretty vague. This made me put the book down a few times because it simply didn’t give me enough to create a proper visual of what’s going on, thus making it difficult to follow. For example, when Thomas and friends venture into a dark, unknown realm and a fellow glader is mysteriously killed, this is what happened next: “...a big glob of liquid was coalescing, seeping out of the metal as if melting into a large teardrop…..it detached from the ceiling and fell away. But instead of splatting on the steps at their feet, the sphere defied gravity and flew horizontally, directly into Winston’s face” (Dashner 86). At that point, it felt like I was reading someone’s dream journal.
The author’s writing style is somewhat simplistic. He doesn’t really describe things in excruciating detail nor does he use sophisticated vocabulary like in Lord of The Flies. It is mainly full of suspense and horror, even unpredictable events, and that’s what makes it such a great read. An example of this is when they meet a savage person covered in wounds (known as a “Crank” in the book) named Jorge. Not much is known about him and the Gladers have a hard time trusting him. Thomas’s friend insults Jorge and throws him to the ground when Jorge and Thomas were trying to work together to find a way out. Jorge makes a deal with Thomas, but there is an exception. “That ratty kid who junked me on the ground….He dies” (Dashner 158). This is at the end of the chapter, and it certainly leaves readers hanging.
Aside from the descriptions, the author’s imagination is astounding. This is perhaps one of the many key aspects of the book that make it enjoyable. Everything from the cast of characters to the setting is entirely original and not copied off of other books such as The Hunger Games, even though these two are both based around the theme of trust and survival. However, it can also be the worst part about the novel. The reader isn’t quite familiar with a new object being brought up and gets lost as a result. We can see this when a member of W.I.C.K.E.D informs the gladers of their next test. The instructor mentions “...a disease called the flare” (Dashner 58), and that later they “...would find a Flat Trans” (Dashner 59). It doesn’t take long for the reader to be informed about these new things.
We can definitely relate the theme of the novel to today’s society. Many people have a hard time trusting each other, but they have to pull themselves together and cooperate in order to get things done. Dashner definitely encourages people to work together and trust one another in times of disaster, like how Thomas and the Gladers did in The Scorch Trials.
Dashner, James. The Scorch Trials. Delacorte Press. New York. 2010.
