The Death Cure by James Dashner

I definitely like this series, but there was one thing that bothered me this entire book: Why didn't Thomas want to remember the past?? At first I understood why he tried to prevent it from happening because I didn't trust Janson (The Rat Man) any more than Thomas did. I figured that they were really trying to do something else to their brains. BUT, after we realize that WICKED did indeed want to return memories to their "test subjects", why did Thomas keep rejecting the idea? He was the mastermind (or one of them) behind The Maze after all. It seemed to me that having his memories returned would have been helpful at that point! By rejecting his memories, he was flying blind. I did not understand his reasoning. He was dependent on Brenda giving him the answers regarding the layout of WICKED, for one example, when he could have simply remembered himself. Seems to me it would have been more efficient and wasted less time. He seemed to be "running from the truth", which goes against his otherwise brave, intelligent, fearless (or at least not fearful) persona.

I liked Thomas and Brenda. I guess I didn't necessarily think that Thomas and Theresa would end up together. I thought it was sad that their prior relationship couldn't survive the deceit and brainwashing of WICKED, but Theresa didn't really have a very big part in this book so I wasn't very attached to her. I was bummed that she died though. It's not like Thomas and Theresa had a choice about their involvement in WICKED. They were children when they were chosen.

I was shocked that WICKED purposely released the virus. (I have to be careful about what I say here because I am almost finished with the next book, which is a prequel that explains a lot!) I personally think it was a terrible idea! You know what they say about "best laid plans"! Didn't the last Dan Brown novel address the same solution for population control? Yeah, bad idea.

It bothered me that Minho was such a hothead. Cooler heads prevail. He was continually losing his temper, which made most situations worse. I just wanted him to chill and use his head.

I am happy that Chancellor Paige had a Plan B! The best and the brightest and the immune can re-populate the earth - starting with Thomas and Brenda, presumably. ;) Reading this series (I really like the prequel too!), I am intrigued by the other James Dashner series: The Mortality Doctrine. I am thinking I will need to read that series too!

Wendy's Rating: ****