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A review by egbella
The Kill Order by James Dashner
3.0
I remembered liking this book a bit better than I did on the re-read. I'll give it three stars, as I don't necessarily dislike it, but also wouldn't feel inclined to recommend it.
Pros:
~ Plenty of action, and I had no trouble reading the whole thing in a day.
~ Pretty well-paced
~ The whole thing with Deedee
~ The dreams/flashbacks showing what happened right after the sun flares
~ Hints of where WICKED originated from
~ Alec (I just like grumpy, but soft-hearted mentors okay?)
~
~ Getting to see another set of characters deal with this new world.
~ The glimpse of Thomas at the end.
~ Occasional humor. A few spots actually made me smile.
Cons:
~ Horror-level violence and gore. I don't think it's worse than the later books of the original trilogy, but something to be aware of. If you're squeamish (like me), some scenes may bother you.
~ The physical focus of Mark and Trina's relationship. Personally, I don't agree with the choices they made, but besides that, it felt very flat and shallow. And kissing when you're supposed to be quarantining is...not smart. The motivation may be understandable but still.
~ The end felt a tad rushed to me?
~ Overall, the characters felt pretty underdeveloped (Trina is the bland but beautiful female, Alec is the grumpy soldier mentor, Mark is basically Thomas, and the rest lacked a lot of distinguishing characteristics). I didn't care much about any of them and would have liked to know them better.
~ Not necessarily a con, but definitely more action-focused than anything else. Some people may prefer that, but I would have liked some more depth from the characters and world too.
~ Some of the dialogue actually made me cringe. A combination of not fitting the characters well, and being repetitive I think.
~ Not as much explanation or world-building as I hoped for. I would have liked to see more of the origins of WICKED and what the world was like closer to when the sun flares hit.
~ Occasional humor, again. I know I haven't been in their situation, but some of it seemed too flippant, to the point of being tasteless and cruel. And a little crude, although that's not new to this series.
Overall, I don't dislike this book, but it could have been better. It's intense, action-packed, and offers some interesting tidbits about the world - just didn't measure up to its potential, in my opinion.
Pros:
~ Plenty of action, and I had no trouble reading the whole thing in a day.
~ Pretty well-paced
~ The whole thing with Deedee
~ The dreams/flashbacks showing what happened right after the sun flares
~ Hints of where WICKED originated from
~ Alec (I just like grumpy, but soft-hearted mentors okay?)
~
Spoiler
The characters' battle with the Flare and slip into insanity. Heartbreaking but really well done.~ Getting to see another set of characters deal with this new world.
~ The glimpse of Thomas at the end.
~ Occasional humor. A few spots actually made me smile.
Cons:
~ Horror-level violence and gore. I don't think it's worse than the later books of the original trilogy, but something to be aware of. If you're squeamish (like me), some scenes may bother you.
~ The physical focus of Mark and Trina's relationship. Personally, I don't agree with the choices they made, but besides that, it felt very flat and shallow. And kissing when you're supposed to be quarantining is...not smart. The motivation may be understandable but still.
~ The end felt a tad rushed to me?
~ Overall, the characters felt pretty underdeveloped (Trina is the bland but beautiful female, Alec is the grumpy soldier mentor, Mark is basically Thomas, and the rest lacked a lot of distinguishing characteristics). I didn't care much about any of them and would have liked to know them better.
~ Not necessarily a con, but definitely more action-focused than anything else. Some people may prefer that, but I would have liked some more depth from the characters and world too.
~ Some of the dialogue actually made me cringe. A combination of not fitting the characters well, and being repetitive I think.
~ Not as much explanation or world-building as I hoped for. I would have liked to see more of the origins of WICKED
Spoiler
and why their predecessors made the choice to release the Flare~ Occasional humor, again. I know I haven't been in their situation, but some of it seemed too flippant, to the point of being tasteless and cruel. And a little crude, although that's not new to this series.
Overall, I don't dislike this book, but it could have been better. It's intense, action-packed, and offers some interesting tidbits about the world - just didn't measure up to its potential, in my opinion.