Day 16, and The Death Cure

I was having trouble making progress on Gunlord, and so rather than just not write, I've been spending the last few days on other projects.  I finished a chapter and started another in my mid-grade time-travel adventure.  I submitted a chapter from it to the writing group last week.  I felt encouraged to pursue it when the reaction I got was, "Cyborg chimpanzee?  Cool!"  The story is all worked out in my head, so now all I've got to do is put it to paper... and figure out how to end something in 60,000 words or less.  Those mid-grade novels don't let you take up too many pages.  Also, what has been keeping me up the last couple of nights, (because my freak'n brain won't just go to sleep with all the awesome thoughts swimming around up there) is a new project that seemed to come out of nowhere.  I've had some characters worked out for a while, just waiting for the right story to pop them in to, and the workings of that right story have all the sudden decided now, when I should be finishing Gunlord, was a good time to knock me on the head and get my attention.  So my NaNoWriMo is getting spread out over a few stories.

The good thing, though, (and I have to keep reminding myself that it is a good thing, despite part of me wishing I wouldn't have had this creative bubble burst until Gunlord was finished) is that I'm writing.  I'm excited to write.  I want to write.  I have to write.  I can't stop thinking about writing.  This is such a welcome change from the last few months.

For those of you wondering, (all two of you) Gunlord is NOT getting shelved.  I'm way too invested in that story, and I know it kicks ass.  So yes, it will be finished.  I plan on writing the first three chapters or so for this new project, and then shelving it until Gunlord is done.  I don't outline, and so I have to hurry and get the bones of this new story down before it goes away.  Gunlord's ending has been in my head since I began writing it.  All that is needed is the time to get it typed.  Of course, that's the hard part, right?

Seven gods, I wish I was cashing checks for good ideas.  I seem to be bursting at the seems with them right now.

And now for the book review.  Death Cure, here we come!

  
This is my favorite cover of the series.  I don't know why, other than I really like snowy mountains.  Can't get enough of them in Skyrim right now.  Anyway, I have finished the final book in James Dashner's trilogy and all I can say is I'm tired.  Very, very tired.  I'm glad it's over.

The Death Cure (TDC) was quite a bit better than its predecessor.  If you haven't read my reviews of The Maze Runner, and The Scorch Trials, take a look at them in my backlog.  You'll see I was more than upset at the way the second book turned out.  Even though I think TDC was an improvement over TST, I wasn't satisfied with how it all panned out.

I read on Dashner's blog a few days before TDC released that he had been waiting years to tell readers this part of the story.  My response: really?  Why?  You've been waiting to tell people for years about a handful of teenagers that run around, making the dumbest decisions at every turn?  You've been waiting to not keep promises you made in the first book you wrote in the series?  Seems kinda, I don't know... weird, if you ask me.

I'm not as passionate in my disappointment in TDC as I was with TST.  Mostly because I wasn't expecting much going in to the third book.  But also because I liked several things about the final book.  I was surprised when Thomas became a little more active, rather than reactive.  That was a nice change.  Also, (SPOILERS) I liked that he didn't want his memories back.  It seemed true to his character.  And (MAJOR SPOILERS) I liked that Thomas and Teresa didn't have a reconciliation at the end.  Thomas never fully trusted her again until she got crushed under a building saving him.  I was with Thomas hating her all along after what she did to him at the end of book two.  I guessed she'd die early on, but it didn't bother me so much that it was predictable.

My favorite character of the series: Newt.  He seemed the most... in pain.  I felt sorry for him.  Orson Scott Card says the character in the most pain should be the POV in any given story, but I don't know if that would have worked out so well in this one, given what happens with him and Thomas.

The main reason I'm not jumping for joy over TDC is that it was just boring.  And the build up of Thomas taking on Wicked never pans out.  Sure, he fights a bit toward the end of the book, but I was expecting much more from all the build up.  This is where I think Dashner didn't fulfill his promises.  Thomas never took Wicked out, the terrorist group, Right Arm, did.

I could go on for a while longer, but I don't really care to.  TDC was a better book than TST, but it was a bit anticlimactic for me.  Longer series tend to end with a let down, (Harry Potter) but I was hoping Dashner would go out with a bang.  More like a punctured tire.

Oh well.  I think that if some decent writers got a hold of this they could make an enjoyable movie out of it.  I think I heard The Maze Runner had been optioned.  Here's hoping the script writers take out all of the fake swearing.  

The Death Cure gets 1.5 stars out of 5