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Parents' Guide to

The Death Cure: Maze Runner Trilogy, Book 3

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

No sunny wrap-up to this very dark, mature series.

The Death Cure: Maze Runner Trilogy, Book 3 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 7 parent reviews

age 11+

Kind of Sad, still worth reading

Two sad deaths (SPOILER: Teresa and Newt) Disturbing scene were Newt pleads for Thomas to kill him via gun, and Thomas does. Another scene were Cranks (crazy people) attack a car, descriptions include window smashing, door smashing. Rat Man and his cronies try to kill Thomas. Still some use ofd the slang language.
age 9+

Awesome

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (7 ):
Kids say (42 ):

It shouldn't be surprising to series fans that THE DEATH CURE stays grim throughout. As answers surface, friends don't suddenly stop dying or getting manipulated by the government. The scientists keep being fanatical and nonsensically blood-thirsty and are just about always one step ahead. The world is still diseased and mad. The hopelessness gets downright oppressive after a while, even as the pace quickens toward an explosive finale.

What keeps this series from being more memorable is that oppressiveness. The dystopian world of Hunger Games has a rabid fan base because of the hope the memorable characters have of overcoming all obstacles. It's always pretty obvious in The Maze Runner that there are too many obstacles to overcome. If this was adult literature, sure, depress the heck out of readers. But this is YA fiction and even if teen readers are mature enough to handle it, they still deserve a little more optimism.

Book Details

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