For the Guys - Book Review: The Scorch Trials

I Fridays I like to highlight and review books that would be great for guys.  I find tons and tons of girl books, but those boy books are much harder to come by.  Yes yes girls might like these books too, but they are really great "guy" books.  Today I have a book review.

Title: The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner #2)
Author: James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Summary

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to. 

In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal. 

The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. 

Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

My Review

Ok it has been my summer of tough books in a series.  The first of The Dark and Hollow Places.  Now this one.  Now I don't mean tough as in bad; instead I mean tough to read because the characters go through some hard things.  That is the complete and utter case in The Scorch Trials.  Now in The Maze Runner the Glade was bad just because they didn't know how they were or where they came from, but they were fed and safe if they stayed out of the maze.  All safeness seems gone now.  Instead there is nothing but harshness - from the fireball of a sun to dust storms with a twist and cranks (nasty sick people) they are hit over and over and over with dangerous events.  It just never stops, and that got hard to read!  I mean I just wanted a breather - a break from the horrors or questions or confusion, but it doesn't come. I think James Dashner sat up night scheming up wicked (haha WICKED) ways to torture Thomas and the other Gladers.  And worse, right when you think you can take a deep breath - you can't!  This is a book where the saying "trust no on or nothing" really really applies.  You can't!  Let me repeat that - YOU CAN'T!

Poor Thomas and of course Teresa, Minho, Frypan etc, but really this was a book about Thomas.  You live inside his head and with him you swirl in his confusion.  Some of his past is coming back, but that is only raising more and more questions.  He doesn't know what he did and why.  He knows what WICKED has told them, but should he trust it?  He knows he knew Teresa, but can she be trusted?  James Dashner does an    awesome job making you feel this confusion that Thomas feels.  Sometimes, unfortunately, you are dragged (literally at points) along with Thomas and you, the reader, are frustrated and confused and everything Thomas feels.  It's great because it really makes the story more real to you, but also it makes it tough to read.  And I'll tell  - this never lets up.  And if you think it does, don't trust it! Thomas felt this way right up to the last word in the book, and so does the reader.  I liked Thomas a lot in this book.  He knows he's the focus, or at least a big one, but he doesn't act all big and important.  Instead he steps back when he knows he needs to and let others take the lead.  That makes him more likable.  But more than that, he just seems more confident, mature and strong in this installment.  He shows growth.

I will for sure want to read the last book, The Death Cure, but I'll need to prep myself.  After this book I know what a ride Dashner will bring me on and I better be prepared.  Can. Not. Wait!!

Final Thought:  Tough, full of questions still unanswered, nonstop fight
Best stick-with-you image:  the giant metal balls
Best for readers who:  Like nonstop action either mental or physical
Best for ages: 12+

For the Guys?  YES YES YES!!!!  Great book for the boy readers.  Thomas is a male character many boys will relate to and like, plus the non-stoppedness (like that word) of it will drag them along.