Review: The Scorch Trials

Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 360
Series: Maze Runner #2
Rating: 4.5 stars
**Warning: Possible Spoilers for The Maze Runner**
From the book jacket: 
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 done 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?

--------------

I'm going to try to avoid too many spoilers for The Maze Runner, but the premise of this book is based on the fact that in the end of the first one, they escape from the maze, so that's kind of a big spoiler right there (although maybe not...I dunno, guess it depends how you look at it). Anyway, The Scorch Trials is set in the Scorch, which is basically post-apocalyptic Mexico. Thomas and the other Gladers race against time and the mysterious Group B, apparently composed entirely of girls, to get to the mysterious "safe haven" within two weeks. If they fail, their lives are forfeit.

I felt like The Scorch Trials did an excellent job of maintaining the same sort of feel as the first book but without blatantly repeating itself. I loved the new characters (particularly Brenda), although I'm still making up my mind about Aris. I loved finally seeing what the outside world looks like. James Dashner has created a fascinating post-apocalyptic dystopian universe, and I know I for one am absolutely fascinated by WICKED and I can't wait for the final book in the series so I can find out what's up with WICKED.

My one complaint is that the walking through the desert started to drag in places, but on the whole, it was really well done and it very rarely slowed down. It kept me turning pages, eager to find out what happened. And just to put this out there: Thomas is a kick-butt protagonist. Seriously, he's awesome.

The Scorch Trials is well-crafted and exciting (although if you haven't read The Maze Runner, you should definitely read that one first) and I cannot wait for the final installment, The Death Cure. I absolutely recommend it!

Links: 
James Dashner's website/blog

Review: Birthmarked

Title: Birthmarked
Author: Caragh M. O'Brien
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Pages: 361
Series: Birthmarked Trilogy #1
Rating: 4 stars
From the book jacket: 
In the future, in a world baked dry by the harsh sun, there are those who live inside the wall and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. Gaia has always believed it is her duty, with her mother, to hand over a small quota of babies to the Enclave. But when Gaia's mother and father are arrested by the very people they so dutifully serve, Gaia is forced to question everything she has been taught to believe. Gaia's choice is now simple: enter the world of the Enclave to rescue her parents, or die trying.

-----------------

Birthmarked took me a while to get into it and at first I was afraid I wasn't going to like it. I really wanted to like it, because it came really highly recommended by some of my best friends, but it was just really slow getting started. Of course, that might have been because it took me ages to read any of it thanks to school, but it just felt painfully slow.

Fortunately, it got better. Much better. By the time I got to the end, I was completely ignoring everything around me so that I could keep turning pages. I wanted to know what happened. The characters were only part of it - I liked Gaia, but she was kind of slow sometimes; my favorite was definitely Leon - and the plot was well-crafted but it's hard to get a whole lot of variation in dystopian fiction; it's always someone fighting the system. I think what made this book for me was the world that Caragh O'Brien created.

Those who live inside the wall are privileged and have everything they need. Those who are born outside the wall, are born healthy, and are one of the midwife's first three babies of the month can be advanced - taken inside the wall, to be adopted and raised as an Enclave child. Those like Gaia, who are scarred or imperfect or simply unlucky, live outside the wall - a much harder, less privileged life. Gaia is training to be a midwife like her mother, and has learned all of her mother's traditions and practices. So when her parents get arrested, Gaia is asked to unravel the coded birth record that her mother left behind.

I really loved the set-up with the code (which I solved before Gaia did! At least partially...I was excited) and the DNA testing and everything. Birthmarked was not my favorite book ever or anything, but I definitely enjoyed it once I got into it. I was afraid there wasn't going to be a sequel, because the ending could go either way (I don't think that's too spoilery), but fortunately the author's website says that it's going to be a trilogy. I'll certainly be looking for book two once it comes out!

Links: 
Caragh M. O'Brien's website

Review: Fever Crumb

Title: Fever Crumb
Author: Philip Reeve
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 325
Rating: 3.5 stars
From the book jacket: 
There is a great secret lurking in Fever's past. A secret only Fever can uncover.

Fever Crumb has been adopted and raised by Dr. Crumb, a member of the Order of Engineers, where she serves as an apprentice. At a time when women are not seen as reasonable creatures, Fever is an anomaly, the only girl to serve in the Order. Soon, though, she must say good-bye to Dr. Crumb to assist archaeologist Kit Solent with a top secret project. The assignment involves a mysterious room that once belonged to Auric Godshawk, the last of the Scriven overlords, and Fever must help unlock it. The Scriven, not human, ruled the city some years ago but were hunted down and killed in a victorious uprising by the people.

As Fever's work begins, she is plagued by memories that are not her own, and Kit seems to have a particular interest in finding out what they are. All Fever knows is what she's been told: She is an orphan. But whose memories does she hold? And why are there people chasing her, intent on eliminating her? Is Fever the key to unlocking the terrible secret of the past?

----------

Fever Crumb came highly recommended by one of my best friends, and although I didn't love it, I did enjoy it and I can definitely see why she liked it. The characters are fun and likable (or, in the villains' cases, distinctly unlikable), the story-world is very well-developed, the story is intriguing, and it's funny. One thing I particularly liked: in this new post-apocalyptic world, they use a lot of our words to mean different things, and "blog" is a swearword! Also, someone has discovered Harry Potter and decided that he is an "old world prophet." I was so amused.

At the start of the story, Fever is the only female apprentice to the Order of Engineers, and she's been recruited by an archaeologist to help him with a very secret project. Engineers are trained to always be rational and ignore all emotions, so living with Kit and his children is appalling to Fever: they're the most unreasonable people she's ever met. But she's becoming unreasonable too, it seems, because she keeps remembering things that she's never seen before.

Her strange memories aren't the only thing strange about her. Fever's eyes are two different colors, and those that remember the reign of the Scriven are convinced that she is a Scriven, returning to destroy them. The only logical solution is to destroy her first.

There were a lot of times in this book where I wanted a better idea of what Fever was thinking and trying not to feel - I wanted to see more character development and I felt like the story was kind of predictable in places. But that aside, Fever Crumb was a fun futuristic story with an interesting take on post-apocalyptic England and characters that are endearing and enjoyable. I'm not recommending it with all the love in my heart, but I do think it's a worthwhile read.

Links:
Philip Reeve's website/blog