Me and my friend bought these on our kindles (great value bundle - all four for a tenner!) as we have wanted to read them for a while. I'm really glad I didn't buy them all in paperback.
I did not like this series. As a avid YA reader I'm used to far-fetched story lines but this one just did not sit well. I found it extremely difficult to get into the books and although I persevered with the series I didn't particularly enjoy the journey. I found Thomas irritating quickly - and downright couldn't stand him at the end of The Scorch Trials. Okay Teresa hurt him and betrayed him, however if she didn't do what she did the WICKED were threatening to kill him! Granted you'd be a bit hurt but he needed to get over himself and realise that potentially she'd saved him dumb butt.
The storyline in general seemed rather poor and it was none stop and draining to read. You were trying to second guess everything constantly and by the middle of the second book you didn't trust anything you were reading because it was probably going to get twisted and warped in the next few chapters. I gave up paying attention in the third as I just could not be bothered any more.
The maths in the series also appears to be awful (which is driving my friend crazy - it's amusing to watch). We know they were in the maze for two years, so 23 plus Teresa were sent in after the original group, which we are lead to believe was a small group and most of those have perished. There are around a dozen graves, but that only accounts for about half the dead gladers as most the bodies were never recovered. So lets say that's 24 dead, which basically negates the new arrivals every month. We know around 30 make a break for the Griever hole (21 making it through the hole) but they left some in the Glade who didn't want to try to escape. Lets say they left about 10. That means that there were forty gladers once Teresa had arrived. I do not consider forty people a small group to kick start the experiment. If someone has some clarification on this it would be much appreciated!
All that being said (and more I just cannot remember) there were parts I liked. Mainly characters such as Minho, Newt, Brenda and Jorge. I thought they were great and Brenda was very realistic and forward which was entertaining. She really wore her heart on her sleeve. I found Aris extremely wet, but I did actually quite like feisty Teresa, and had I been in her shoes in The Scorch Trials I would have done the exact same thing. As tough as she appeared she was equally caring and I think the boys treated her extremely harshly. I did love Chuck, as annoying as he was he was great and lovely and although I didn't like the end of The Maze Runner, I thought it was great the way Chuck stopped being scared and sacrificed himself for someone he loved. Then I read The Death Cure and got really really annoyed. If he did it off his own back then great - but WICKED seizing control of his body and forcing him to step forward? No. Not on. That just takes the cruelty in the series to a whole new level (I know that was probably the point but doesn't mean I have to like it).
Has anyone else had a similar experience with the series?
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