The Death Cure: Analysis

The book I chose to read was called “The Death Cure”. This book is the third sequel in “The Maze Runner” series and it continues Thomas’s and the Rest of the Gladers journey against the Flare. In the beginning of the book, Thomas has been placed in an empty room with only small meals coming from a slot in the door every day. “Complete isolation. For over three weeks now… Alone in an unbearable silence, with unlimited time to think about the disease rooted inside of him: the Flare, that silent, creeping virus that slowly took away everything that made a person human.” (Dashner 1). In “The Scorch Trials”, the second book in the series, Thomas and his friends had been told that they had all contracted the Flare, and in order to be cured they had to venture through the Scorch and make it to the "safe haven" where they will be treated with the cure for the Flare. But Thomas had believed that they had been lied to, and that none of the Gladers and himself actually had the Flare. 
So when the Rat Man (a reappearing character from the previous books in the series) tells Thomas that he does have the Flare but is immune to it, Thomas actually felt shocked because he hadn’t expected that answer. “The Flare virus lives in every part of your body, yet it has no effect on you, nor will it ever. You’re a member of an extremely rare group of people. You’re immune to the Flare.” (Dashner 10). The man then goes on to explain how WICKED had been formed and also why they had placed the Gladers and the subjects from Group B into the Maze, forced them to pass through the Scorch Trials and caused them to go through so much pain and loss. "Everything done to them--every cruel trick played, every deceit, every monster placed in their paths--it all had been part of an elaborate experiment. And somehow it was leading WICKED to a cure." (Dashner 11). 
WICKED had been formed for the purpose of finding a cure to the Flare. So to do so they had set up experiments with the Munies, which is what the people who were immune to the Flare called. They picked out the best and brightest out of them then erased their memory and placed them into the Maze where they would analyze the "subjects". WICKED performed this scenario with two groups; one with the Gladers put into the Maze, and another one was with Group B, who were put into an identical Maze but this time the population was all female. They wanted to analyze the Munies brain patterns and see what made them different from everyone else, or more specifically made them immune to the Flare. So they put the subjects through many tests, first the Maze, then the Scorch Trails and now they had just completed phase three which was a different test for everyone, and for Thomas it was complete isolation. But what Thomas doesn't understand is why suddenly WICKED it willing to tell them everything after just lying to them repeatedly. How is he supposed to know if what hes being told is the truth, or just another lie? 
I infer that throughout the book WICKED will gather more information and data to complete the cure for the Flare. " Everything we've done up till now has been calculated for one purpose and one purpose only: to analyze your brain patterns and build a blueprint from them. The goal is to use this blueprint to develop a cure for the Flare. The lives lost, the pain and suffering--you knew the stakes when this began. We all did. It was all done to ensure the survival of the human race. And we're very close. Very, very close." (Dashner 8). They' so close, all they need to do is finish phase four of the trials so that they can gather the last of their data to create the cure and save the human race. 

Reading Skills: The Kill Order

The book that I read was called “The Kill Order”, which is the prequel to “The Maze Runner” series. In this book there are four main characters named Mark, Trina, Alec and Lana. They all live in the same community in the woods after the fled from the sun flares. “Bodies litter the floor, naked and burned. Screams and cries of pain pierce his eardrums and echo of the walls. People are limping about, arms outstretched, their clothes on fire and their faces half melted like wax. Blood everywhere. And an impossible surge of heat washes through the air” (Dashner 49). This quote describes the scene that Mark and Trina had just witnessed right after the sun flares had hit. The sun flares were a natural disaster that scorched most of the earth and made it too dangerous to live on anymore. I could make a text to world connection using this text because the sun flares relate to global warming. They both deal with destroying the earth and affecting it in a negative way. 

Another connection I could make using this book would be a text to text connection. In “The Kill Order” the author explains about a disease called the Flare. This is a disease that the Government had specially created so that they could introduce it into the population and hope that it would kill of a good amount of people. They created this disease so that they could decrease the population therefore decreasing hunger and starvation levels as well, because there were too many people for the amount of food that was available to satisfy. The government thought that as soon as the Flare did its job for them, they would get rid of the disease by using an “antidote”. But their plan backfired because by the time the disease had done its job, it had also mutated meaning that their “antidote” wouldn’t work to stop the new disease. “The more he saw, the more numb he grew to the strangeness of the new world. This sickness that had been spread on purpose… He saw a women jump of a roof and land, broken, on her front steps. He saw three men drawing circles in the dirt and jumping in and out of them, like kids playing a game… A woman eating a cat. A man chewing on a rug… Two kids throwing rocks at each other as hard as they could, bloodied and bruised from head to toe. Laughing all the while.” (Dashner 261). So this would make a connection to “The Scorch Trials” which is the second book in the series and it talks about how the people who were infected by the disease (known as Cranks) went completely insane. They became crazy and unpredictably dangerous, because you would never know what they would do. One second  the Crank would just be minding its own business, and the next it could suddenly start attacking you. "The Scorch Trails" also talking about the Gladers journey through the land that was struck by the sun flares which connects to the setting in the boo of "The Kill Order". 

The Maze Runner: Book Review

The Maze Runner is now by far one of the best books I have ever read. The author, James Dashner's significant use of diction and imagery made the book more enjoyable and interesting to read. The Maze Runner is a science fiction book that includes a bit of mystery and a touch of romance. The author was very descriptive while he wrote, which really brought this story to life. I was able to paint vivid pictures in my mind so that I could imagine the book like a movie in my head. Also Dashner's techniques of characterization made me feel like I actually knew the characters personally and allowed me to make connections with them. If I was to rate this book on a scale from one to five, I would definitely rate it a five because of how creative and thrilling the story was. I would recommend this book to mostly kids ages thirteen and up because of the wide range of vocabulary used and also because the story contains many plot twists so you would need the ability to keep up with the story. On my account, I loved the book with all its suspense and action. The story was so unique and unlike anything I've ever read before, which made the book just that much better.

The book is about a boy named Thomas, who finds himself in an unfamiliar "world" with no memories at all about his life. He wakes up in a place called the Glade and notices that its entire population is made up of only males. Those who live in the Glade are known as Gladers, and Thomas befriends some of them and they explain to him about their community. Each person has an assigned job that they tend to and once every week they get a shipment of supplies from an elevator which they call the Box. The Glade is surrounded by doors that separate them from the Maze. The doors close every night so that they would be protected from the Grievers, which are dangerous and violent creatures. The Glader's main goal is to find a way out of the Maze, so they send out Runners to explore it and make maps to see if there is any way to escape. As soon as Thomas learns about the job of being a Runner, he thinks that that would be the assignment he would like to take on. So the next day after Thomas arrives in the Glade, there is another arrival. But this time its different, this time its a girl. She says that she has a message to deliver and then falls into a coma right after she enters the Glade. What does this mean to the Gladers now? How will the arrival of the girl affect the Glade? Will Thomas and and the rest of the Gladers find a way out of the Maze?

The City of Bones: Theme and Summary

A theme is the main idea or central message of a piece of writing, and it can also display a lesson to the reader. One of the themes in the book The City of Bones, was that sometimes loving someone can be harmful to yourself. This theme occurred numerous times within the book and got built on as the characters kept experiencing difficulties among themselves. The book included many themes, but I would say that this theme would be the most important because of how much the book revolved around it and by its frequent occurrence in the story. Two of the main characters in the book, Jace and Simon, fell in love with Clary, the third main character in the book. Simon and Clary had been best friends ever since they were kids. He had always loved Clary and would do anything for her or anything just to be with her. But Clary had never noticed that Simon had felt this way about her and just continued on loving him like a brother. On the other hand Jace had grown up being taught that to love is to destroy. His father had taught him a lesson of not to love something completely, "'and he never forgot what he learned: that to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed.'"(Clare 206). So as Jace started to fall  for Clary, he was reluctant and a little frightened at first but then tried to over come those obstacles and show her how much she meant to him. "'Jace can be a jerk , but he--' Loves you, she was about to say, and stopped." (Clare 479) This shows how Jace's outlook on love changed throughout the story. In this quote Alec is explaining to Clary how different Jace has become ever since he met Clary because its the first time that Jace had ever allowed himself to love anyone.

At the beginning of the book Clary just lived a normal life with her single mother, Jocelyn and her best friend Simon. One night when Clary and Simon had gone to a club called Pandemonium, Clary notices some people that no one appears to see. She leaves Simon to go investigate the people and witnesses them murder a teenage boy, who she later learns was a demon in disguise. The next day she meets one off the invisible people again named Jace. As he explains to her about him being a shadowhunter and why he doesn't understand how a mortal can see him, she receives a distressed call from her mother warning her not to come home and to stay at Simon's house for the night. But forgetting about her mothers warnings Clary rushes home to see whats wrong, with Jace running right behind her. When she enters her home she notices that its unlocked and finds that her mother is missing. She then sees something moving in her apartment and has her first encounter with a demon who she kills even though she hasn't even had any training. This increases Jace's curiosity about her and he decides to bring her to the Institutes when he lives and learns so that he could introduce her to his tutor. After his tutor examines her further and learns a little bit more about her past and family he concludes that Clary has shadowhunter blood running in her veins. From that point on Clary's life becomes completely different. Her friends, her family and her home all change after learning who she really is.

The City of Bones: Characters

There were multiple main characters in this book, but I would say that overall the two main characters would be Jace and Clary. Jace is a teenage shadowhunter, which is someone that hunts demons for the greater good of the regular people, who are referred to as mundanes. He usually acts very over confident which rubs off on people the wrong way and makes him seem like a jerk. "Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Jace shoot her a look of white rage - but when she glanced at him, he looked as he always did: easy, confident, slightly bored." Jace's ability to control his emotions aided him into becoming one of the best shadowhunters his age. Also his strikingly good looks and muscular build added to his angel like appearance. Even though he can be rude at times he knows he will always have his brother Alex, and sister Isabelle at his side. Jace had been adopted into their family and began to live in the institute after both his parents had died. I think that he would be a perfect example of a dynamic, round character. I think this because in the book the author introduced the character to the reader so well (through indirect characterization) that I could imagine that I had already known him for a long period of time. Also Jace had experienced many changes throughout the book such as learning more about his family and his past which will never allow him to be the same again.

The second main character in the book was a girl named Clary. She's a fifteen year old that lives with her single mother. Her father had died before she was even born so she never really had a connection with him. Her mother is a professional painter and that artistic ability had gotten passed down to Clary as well. At the beginning of the book Shes lived a normal, human life all up until she meets Jace Wayland. One day when she was at a club with her best friend Simon, she sees a small group of people that no one else sees. So she goes to inspect them and meets Jace, Isabelle, and Alec. They then introduce her to the world of shadowhunters, demons, and warlocks. But before Clary can go confront her mother about all the new things she learned about herself, shes finds that someone had come and kidnapped her. "I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them." As she continues to search for her mother, Jocelyn her shadowhunter instincts begin to kick in and her "third" eye gives her a whole new perspective of the world. Clary would be another good example of a dynamic, round character in the book because of how drastically her life changed from being a regular person to a shadowhunter, who she has believed her entire life was just a myth.