2012
teen, upper secondary
Key Stage 4, ages 14 -17, Dashner James, science fantasy, thriller
This is the
second book in the Maze Runner series. Thomas
and his comrades have now got out of the maze but have to face more trials. They have to cross a dessert plain to arrive at
safety. WICKED set them countless trials
and for much of the time they cannot be sure about the outside people they are dealing
with, or indeed about each other.
This actually
poses many questions for the young reader: do the young people here have free
will or are they being manipulated?
Relationships
change and no one is really sure whom they can trust. Or is this just part of what
WICKED is doing to them?
Thomas is
told everything is being done so that he and his comrades can help save the
world. A pandemic has occurred, triggered by sun spot activity and therefore
named The Flare. It gradually changes its victims form well-adjusted humans into
something that resembles the archetypal zombie. Society needs to be
reconstructed and made safe.
There is a
love interest. Thomas gets close to Teresa, with whom he communicates telepathically.
Then there is Brenda.
Aris, a male,
at one point seems to have replaced Teresa and towards the end of the novel Thomas
finds he can communicate telepathically with Brenda and Aris as well.
This second
book ends on a cliff-hanger – making us all want to tackle the next one.
The novel is 360 pages. It uses an adult font and the text is blocked. The language is quite sophisticated.
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