Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Burn, Betrayal, and…. Love Triangle?

By: Rachel Ohm
Many of you who read Scorch Trials by James Dashner know about the burning of the sun, and Teresa’s bitter betrayal. However, did any of you see the love triangle between Thomas, Teresa, and Brenda? When I read Scorch Trials I couldn’t believe the author tried to make a love triangle. They’re all fighting for their lives; they don’t have time for love! I thought the author tried a little too hard to make the triangle part of the story, and by the end of the book you can totally tell he’s going to make that into a big deal in the next book. To me, it was a bit Hunger Games-ish. The story is great as is, but then the author tried to make it appealing to a wider reader base by adding a ridiculous, and not needed love triangle.

So basically here’s what happens in Scorch Trials! The Gladers were rescued, and given food and shelter. They’re thinking this is awesome, they finally escaped, and could now live normal lives.  Boy were they wrong! The next morning all their ‘rescuers’ were strung up and deceased. However, what they are later told is that was all fake! They are then told by WICKED that they have two weeks to get to this so called ‘safe haven.’ If they don’t go, they die; if they do go, there is a high chance of death. They also find out that there is an all-girl team called Group A, and that they were Group B. They went through the same Glade process that the guys did! Crazy right! Skipping ahead, this girl group is lead by none other than Teresa. She tricks Thomas multiple times until he feels utterly devastated and betrayed. Supposedly this would give WICKED some kind of brain pattern that they needed.

As these two weeks go by the gladers are given all sorts of obstacles and challenges. At the end when they get to the ‘safe haven’ they are greeted by monsters (worse than the grievers) and after they destroy them a helicopter arrives. They all run to it (almost missing it) and get on. A officer/guard dude wanted the Cranks that had joined their group to be thrown out of the plane, but Thomas wouldn’t let them go. The officer finally agreed and they were fed and fell asleep. Thomas wakes up in a white room and has no idea what’s going on. The End. Talk about a huge cliffhanger!

At my Book Club’s monthly meeting we discussed what everyone thought about the Scorch Trials and the consensus was that the book had too many plot twists, Teresa was a son of a nutcracker, and that everybody hated Teresa. I don’t blame them, Teresa stunk! However, she did what she did because WICKED said they would hurt/kill people if she didn’t! I would have done the same thing if I were in her position. If I were Thomas… I don’t think I’d ever be able to forgive Teresa even if what she did was fake. It was too much mind meddling, and trust breaking! There’s also the issue of the love triangle. Most kids in our club didn’t like Teresa and were all for Brenda. Others didn’t like the love at all, and thought it was unneeded. I personally like Teresa, but after what happened, I would want Thomas to choose Brenda.

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