He grabbed the knife off the floor and dove toward Hans, lashing out with the blade. But whatever was controlling Thomas seemed to release adrenaline inside him his strength overcame Minho’s and he threw the boy off. Minho pressed down, tried to get his legs in position to sit on Thomas’s back.
His body bucked and fought to free his arms. Then something ignited inside him, making his midsection arch upward. His insides boiled with the desire to relax-to help Hans do what he needed to do. For you.” He almost spat the word, looking directly at Thomas. “I can’t believe I ever worked for those people.
The older man knelt down next to Thomas and Minho. “It won’t stop until Hans fixes him,” Brenda said. He felt the tension in every single muscle. Thomas wanted to smile-but his face couldn’t follow even a simple command. “I’m not getting up until they let your mind go.” He hovered over him, heaving to catch his breath. “Get off me!” Thomas yelled, not sure if they were his own words or WICKED’s.īut Minho had pinned Thomas’s arms to the ground. “I’m not letting you kill anybody,” his friend said.
He crashed to the floor and twisted to see Minho. “I ca-” Before he could finish, someone slammed into him from behind, knocking the knife from his hand. But his arm started to rise, the knife gripped tightly in his balled fist.
Thomas pictured the internal workings of the mechanism in his brain as minuscule instruments operated by minuscule spiders. “I was worried about this,” Hans murmured. “I can’t … let you … do this,” Thomas replied. Thomas guessed Hans was his main target-that the fail-safe would attack whoever was attempting to remove his implant. Just as he did, Hans came through the doorway, and his eyes widened. Throw it.”įor one second Thomas was terrified that that was exactly what he’d do, but instead his body turned back around to face the opposite direction. “Gonna throw that thing just like Gally did to Chuck? Do it, then. There was a weakness to it, and (*MINOR SPOILER*) I felt like it made the Trials seem a bit redundant.“You gonna kill me, slinthead?” Minho asked. I was slightly disappointed by it, but then again I don’t know how I would have done it differently. I must say the ending was sort of clichéd, without giving away any spoilers. Considering so much had changed and been revealed since the first book, it was nice to be reminded that the Maze was where it all started, and it was rather fitting that we should be reminded of it in the end. It was both strange and wonderful to, amongst the chaos, stop for a second while Thomas remembers his short but eventful time in the Glade.
One thing I did love was the references to the first book. These ‘Cranks’ had a much more zombie feel than previously shown in the series, as they were seen more as the crazy, virus infested people in The Scorch Trials and were now seen to – well, let’s just say one of Minho’s lines was, “That guy was eating a person. Dashner’s take on zombies (or rather, ‘Cranks’) was explored a lot more in this book than in The Scorch Trials, particularly with certain information about the Flare being revealed in this novel. It was like a love triangle that was trying not to be a love triangle, so it got confusing.ĭespite the clichéd feel, I did rather enjoy the zombie aspect of the book. Granted, I don’t think it was particularly Dashner’s intent to write a romance, but romantic feelings were heavily insinuated at times, so if you’re going to start something like that, you have to see it through and delve deeper or just don’t do a romance at all. It was also difficult to understand Thomas’ struggle between Teresa and Brenda at some points because it was not explored very deeply. I got the impression that Thomas, Minho and Newt were supposed to be the ‘golden trio’ of the series, but their relationships felt weak and, well, underdeveloped. It is sort of the same issue I’ve had throughout all of the books whereby I felt more character development was needed. However, there were also moments that went by so fast that they felt emotionless and bleak. There were thrilling moments that made my heart rate pick up and stopped me from putting the book down in gripping, fast-paced action sequences and heart-breaking decisions. It’s difficult to put my opinions down in words because, quite frankly, I had mixed feelings throughout the novel.