The Kill Order by James Dashner - Ashley's Review

My Pre-Reading

The Maze Runner series is probably one of my favorite dystopian YA series out there. Everything about it was just fantastic, and I was so excited to find out that Dashner had written a prequel novel for the series. I had so many questions about the world, and the Flare, and WICKED that were still unanswered by the end of The Death Cure, and I was hoping that The Kill Order would be able to answer most if not all of them.

I really was no disappointed. Although The Kill Order has a completely new cast of characters, and the world is a little different (people are still trying to figure out what in the world has happened rather than trying to figure out how to cure it or how to live with it), but it still managed to give insight into the world of The Maze Runner. The characters are still just as interesting, and my heart still broke for them whenever something didn't go their way or something went wrong within their little group. 

I really enjoyed that the story was presented almost like a flashback - you start out meeting Thomas, and you  end with Thomas and Teresa, but neither Thomas nor Teresa are anywhere to be found within the bulk of the story. This time, we're focused on Mark and Trina and Deedee and all of their friends, in their attempt to find out what is happening with this disease is that's been shot down on them and why anyone would want to infect other people with it. 

Although there were times when I didn't really like Mark (the story pretty much follows him and his thoughts), I thought it was really interesting the way we were able to see into his dreams/memories of when the sun flares first destroyed the Earth, and to take this journey with him to locate his friends and try to save them. Dashner did an excellent job portraying Mark's emotions, as well as creating dynamic, round supporting characters. 

The plot was fast-paced and very much like that in the other Maze Runner books, so it was nice to have that consistency even though we had to become adjusted to characters we had never seen before. Most of my questions were answered over the course of the book, although some were still left open-ended and The Kill Order raised even more. But it was still a very satisfying read. 

I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of the Maze Runner trilogy, as well as to fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and other dystopian YA series. 4/5 to The Kill Order, and I hope you go pick up this series soon if you haven't already!

--Ashley