The Maze Runner, the trilogy – James Dashner ~ ☕☕☕☕☕

Hello everyone!

I decided to do this review today to dispel any kind of prejudice about it.
Indeed, I have heard too many times fantasy fans underestimate this trilogy, but, as fantasy lover, I must say that it is EXTRAORDINARY!

So, please, forget the movies, and read this review without prejudices. This saga truly deserves a chance.

I have deeply loved this saga, but what is it about?

The story is set in a dystopian world where, as a result of solar storms, a disease, that destroys the brain making people mad until it leads them to death, has spread: the Flare. In this trilogy, we follow the adventures of a group of kids, the “Gladers”, who, unknowingly, are part of an experiment run by an organization, the W.I.C.K.E.D. (prophetic name), whose goal is to find a cure to the terrible illness.

The kids will face many difficulties, many tests, many “monsters” till the beginning of the third and last book, The Death Cure, in which, after discovering everything W.I.C.K.E.D. has ever done, they act their way out of the organization’s clutches and, at the end, manage to overthrow it.

But first things first, let’s go in the right order.

These three books are very different from each other.
Indeed, we could say that each book represents a precise state of mind of the Gladers.

The first, The Maze Runner, is the book “of the mystery”.
None of them remembers who he was, they remember absolutely nothing but their names and they have no idea how to escape from the maze imprisoning them in the glade they live in (from which the name “Gladers”).
At the end, leaving the labyrinth, they come out from absolute ignorance, they start having an idea – even if vague – about what is surrounding them and some memories start coming back, especially to Thomas, the main character.

After this, we have the book “of the confusion”, The Scorch Trials.
The Gladers find themselves in a world which is alien to them: they have no memory about the Flare and running into those who are afflicted by it, the Cranks, is to say the least disturbing.
Moreover, they do not really know where they are going, they do not understand why W.I.C.K.E.D. treats them like that, betrayals, revelations and many other events follow one other, making Glanders’ ideas more and more confused.

At the end, there is The Death Cure, the book “of the revelations”.
Finally, doubts are dispelled, pasts restored and… The situation gets worse.
They find out that most of them are immune to the Flare, but NOT EVERYONE.
Some characters have to face this terrible disease, Thomas and others ally with the “Right Arm” (an organization anti-W.I.C.K.E.D.), someone comes back from the past… There is one turn of events after the other.
Thomas finally understands whom he can trust and whom he cannot and truly understands (and accepts) his role.

And, above all, this is the book where W.I.C.K.E.D.’s plans drastically change tack and become implemented.
Last final project of the chancellor Ava Paige, president of the W.I.C.K.E.D., comes true.

Is this a good thing or is it not?

James Dashner does not say that, he prefers to leave an open ending.
The ambiguity  permeating this trilogy, the continuous merger of justice and injustice, “the injustice which is intrinsic to justice itself”, all these features shall ensure that you cannot safely establish if there is or there is not a happy ending.

It entirely depends on the point of view you chose.