BOOK REVIEW - The Death Cure by James Dashner

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.

What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.

The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.

Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

I wanted to love The Death Cure.  I really, really wanted to love it.  I wanted it to be filled with mystery and suspense like the previous two books in the trilogy, and I wanted it to answer the questions that have been building throughout the series.  I wanted to find out what Thomas' childhood was like, and what his role in WICKED was before he entered the Maze.  I wanted to find out why Teresa made the decisions she did, and what her relationship with Thomas was like before the Maze.  Unfortunately, I did not learn any of those things in what turned out to be a slightly disappointing end to what could have been a fantastic trilogy.

Dashner continued to successfully develop confusion and mystery in The Death Cure.  Each page seemed to create more questions in my mind.  Because WICKED is an organization based on lies, I found myself constantly wondering what was the truth and what was not.  This kept me wanting to read more, with the hopes of finding out what really was going on in this post-apocalyptic world.  Intrigue-wise, The Death Cure was extremely successful.

My overall complaint with the book was how few of my questions were answered.  Based on the previous two books in the series, as well as early events in The Death Cure, it seemed as though there were some things that would simply have to be revealed in order for the series to reach a conclusion.  Somehow, Dashner managed to end the book without answering most of these questions.  The ending was acceptable, but once I actually closed the book and thought about it, I found myself unhappy with how much information I still did not know.  It felt to me as though the answers to some of these questions could have been revealed and led to a more wholesome ending than was written.

I would have been left with this sour impression of the book if it were not for the epilogue.  Wow!  I was not expecting that revelation (even though maybe I should have been...).  I'm not going to say any more about that, though ;-)

Overall, I would say that if you have read the first two books in this trilogy (The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials), then you should definitely read The Death Cure to finish out the series.  However, if you're looking for a new dystopian/post-apocalyptic series to read, I would look elsewhere.