The final book in the trilogy has a very apt name as Thomas, and the Gladers seem to have finally reached the end of their journey with WICKED. Their minds will be removed of the Swipe, the cure is near.

But it is WICKED, and Thomas, Newt and Minho don’t plan to accept their explanations or offers to bring back their memories. No way are they going to give them a chance to mess with their minds again even if they say they have a cure.

But WICKED isn’t planning to let them go so easily so with Brenda and Jorge’s help, they break out to the wastelands of the apocolyptic real world to find a potential safe haven because there may be no chance for a cure, but there is a chance for the surviving immunized to be safe and rebuild.

A lot happened in this book. Even though it was just over 300 pages, it felt like it could be split into parts given the amount of travelling Thomas and co. go through from horror movie-esque WICKED HQ to the deceptively idyllic Denver back to WICKED and the Maze in a real full circle moment. Nonethless, the fast pace carries the book as it emphasizes the race against time (for the cure, against bounties, their sanity, etc.).

Plus the change in location allows for readerss to see how different people view WICKED and the events that have culminated to this moment, illustrating the sins of the government in misprioritizing the cure rather than focusing on preventing the spread, thus allowing the spread of Crankheads and putting the healthy and immune as a vulnerable minority to be further exploited. As it has been repeated, in focusing on the cure, WICKED lost sight of the goal to protect the human race that is still sane.

Speaking of human, Thomas went through some. . . I have to say it, shit. Just hard shit and all the trauma that he has gone through has turned him much more hard than the idealistic kid he was in the beginning. I won’t say he’s broken, but after a pivotal moment in the later half of the book, you can see the change in him. He has seen the worst of the world and he can no longer trust people or life to not turn to crap even though the ending is somewhat happy, you can feel the bittersweetness of him asking if the cost was worth it.

The book also points to Thomas having a savior complex, debatable, but adds to Thomas’ shift in demenour and puts his actions into a new perspective in my opinion.

Besides, Thomas, Newt has the second best development even though his arc is heartbreaking. This is a non spoiler blog so I won’t divulge more than that but it is just tragic and impacts Thomas and Minho the most.

Brenda and Jorge get more chances to shine as contributers to their tiny WICKED-break out squad, providing insider knowledge that Thomas, Minho and Newt wouldn’t know since being isolated in the Maze and memory swiped.

As for Teresa, she’s still there and Dashner continues to play around with whether she’s playing Thomas or not for her own advatage but even she gets a semi-redemption. I found it okay and cliche, but it’s there to provide some nuance that Teresa isn’t as heartless as she seems. Just more pragmatic compared to the more impulsive Thomas.

So, it’s final over for better or for worse. Dashner’s trilogy plays with the worst humanity has to offer-full of deception, extremism, violence, and questions of survival, trust, autonomy and friendship with a scifi twist.

4 stars.