The Scorch Trials Book Response

Book Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Year of Publication: 2010
Number of Pages: 360

I. Plot Summary-Thomas and the rest of the Gladers get out of the maze and are challenged with another set of trials. The Scorch Trials. WICKED challenges them by putting them into a desert full of cranks and other crazy people. All of the Gladers have to fight there way through to try and get the cure for their disease that WICKED infected them with. Thomas has all hope that they will reach the cure, but doesn't realize exactly what is going to come. He faces many challenges, and doesn't know who he can trust. The only thing he does know, is that he has to get the cure, or he will die.
II. Literary Elements
A. Narrator-Third Person. "She spoke to him before the world fell apart." p.1
B. Protagonist-Thomas. He is technically the leader of the Gladers and tries his best to help everybody in any way he can. He never goes down without a fight, and is always the first person to stick up for what he believes in. "He ran forward on instinct, pushing past several Gladers who seemed frozen by fear, moving toward the inhuman sounds."p.74
C. Antagonist-WICKED. They are the "government" that put all of this together after the scorch. They are responsible for everything happening to these people. "Thomas tried to hold it together, tried not to think about how WICKED could wipe memories." p. 356-357
D. Setting-"In front of him, a flat pan of dry and lifeless earth stretched as far as he could see. Not a single tree. Not a bush. No hills or valleys. Just and orange-yellow sea of dust and rocks; wavering currents of heated air boiled on the horizon like steam, floating upward, as if any life out there were melting toward the cloudless and pale blue sky." p.95 The mood created is that it is very hot and uncomfortable where they are at, and that it may be hard to survive in.
E. Conflict-Thomas and the Gladers vs. WICKED- The Gladers fight to survive through what WICKED puts them through. "Well, if WICKED can create Grievers, they can create plenty of other freaks of nature that might be worse."p. 106
F. Theme- The theme of this book is that no matter what anything or anyone throws at you, keep fighting for what you believe in and what you need. "It had to be another phase of the trials, and this time he'd fight to change things-to end it all." p. 355
III.Reflection- I liked this book alot because it was very interesting and really tied into the first one. It definitely reminded me of The Maze Runner because all of the people in this book were exactly how they were in the first, and the author did a great job of incorporating other people in this book along with them. It would make a great movie because it has all of the elements of a good story and plot line and I think many people would love to see this book in action. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys books like The Maze Runner or Enclave or The Hunger Games. It did end the way I expected because I figured that their would be yet another trial.