The Infinite Glade

The Maze Cutter #3

by James Dashner

THE INFINITE GLADE is the explosive finale of The Maze Cutter trilogy—and the epic conclusion to The Maze Runner saga.

War has finally ignited. The Remnant Nation is done waiting. Their destroy the Godhead and everything she stands for. But as Sadina and the islanders fight to protect the Goddess—who claims to be their only hope for Evolution’s survival—the battle reveals unfathomable truths leaving behind devastation that will change the islanders' future forever.

Determined to save their friends, Isaac and Ximena—along with Old Man Frypan and Jackie—struggle to find their way back to the others when two strangers intercept them, throwing everything they thought they knew about the Cure into doubt. Following the strangers into the unknown, Frypan unearths the shocking truth behind the Cure and the secrets so many have died to protect. But what they uncover is only the beginning.

The descendants must decide between risking their lives and the safety of those they love back home to expose the painful truth behind the maze trials, or walk away from history’s darkest secrets and let the truth remain buried in the Glade forever.

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 9, 2025

About the author

James is the author of THE MAZE RUNNER trilogy and THE 13TH REALITY series. He also published a series (beginning with A DOOR IN THE WOODS) with a small publisher several years ago. He lives and writes in the Rocky Mountains.

Reviews

[chantalsbookstuff · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed the original Maze Runner series and even the first book in The Maze Cutter series, I struggled with this final book. The characters felt scattered and it was hard to really connect with them. The pacing was steady, but I was hoping for something more fast paced and gripping.

As a true Maze Runner fan, maybe it’s unfair to compare, but I couldn’t help missing the magic the original series brought into my life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Akashic Media Enterprises for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

[Mr.Rainbow.Pages]

Review coming soon!

[Emily McCormick]

September 17th, 2025: I. Freaking. MET HIM TODAY!! I got all of my books signed! Full list as well as full review to come VERY soon!

January 6, 2025:
Leaving this here just so I can say I left the first review for my fav series!!
Hehe, I will be leaving the first review on pub day too because you know I won't be able to stop myself from binging this in one sitting.
BUT THE END?? Imma cry. I have been in this fandom for years. First reading the original series, then the prequals, and now the sequel which I waited year after year for book announcement day starting with Crank Palace back in 2020. Is this really the end end? For real James?
*sobs* I don't know if I am ready.
If anyone asks where I am on April 22nd, I am dead and planning my funeral. A miracle will happen on the 23rd...maybe. Depends on how much this book wrecks me.

[Ellie Wyatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

very meh. i am a HUGE fan of the mazerunner series, but this trilogy seems unnecessary and pointless. why the first book in the series wasn’t bad, this final installment was basically just people arguing with one another constantly, a bunch of bland forgettable characters, token lesbians, nonsense cults, major info dumping that i stopped paying attention to because who even cares about any of these people? the only remotely interesting thing was minho. i will always love dashner and anything he writes, and i will always love the maze, but this was not it.

[Nicole Walls · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There is a spiral that connects us all. Every piece of nature, every person, every part of history is a part of the spiral.” 🌀🦋🧍🏼‍♀️

NOOOO I DON’T WANT IT TO BE OVER!! YOU CANNOT JUST END AN ENTIRE BOOK UNIVERSE LIKE THAT!!

anyways, now that i got that off my chest, i loved this trilogy so much. of course, the original tmr books are much better, but these are wonderful as well.

the characters are wonderful and the plot is fantastic! so many questions from tmr get answered in this trilogy! i really do wish more tmr fans read this series because i know they’d enjoy it.

[Rebekah Dockery · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me to give this book only 2 stars. I was actually enjoying the series and getting to be back in the universe of The Maze Runner, so this book was very anticipated for me. The writing was all over the place, and the book seemed like it had ended abruptly in ways that didn't make sense. The dialogue was often jumbled and redundant, and the storylines were very poorly written with rushed endings. I had high hopes for the last book in The Maze Runner universe, but I feel like my expectations weren't met. Open storylines and drawn-out chapters seem to be a common theme in this book. There were too many moments where the author made it seem like something was detrimental to the story, and then either completely abandoned it or wrote something later in the book that completely wiped out its significance. There were also chapters and dialogue that seemed rushed and thrown in to keep the story going. A lot of the characters seemed one-dimensional, and it was hard to connect with most of them. I expected more from this author and series and felt very disappointed by what I got.

I have a couple of grievances, and one of the main things I was unhappy with was the way the book abandoned or rushed by several plotlines that were supposedly important to the story. One example was how much they stressed about the cure. The end of the book made the secrecy around the cure, what it did, and who it was for, meaningless. The characters meet two mysterious men who, reluctantly, after multiple chapters of pointless back and forth, told them that the cure was for a group of people who had been underground since before the flare virus. These people needed the cure to come back to the surface was suppposed to be the whole reason Kletter came to the island in the first place, and yet the ending of the book undoes all of the importance surrounding this. After finding out that the two men had come from the society of people years ago, we realize that the cure is a placebo for them. The air quality might be a little harsh on their lungs, but they were able to go above ground if they wanted to without the cure. And as if that wasn't confusing enough, we find out that Frypan and all the original gladers were sacrifices from these people so they would be able to live safely underground, but that storyline was also shoved in at the very end and abandoned. Frypan is told information that should shake his entire world up, and yet he just doesn't care at all. While they're there to plead their case, the senate basically shuts them down about telling their society about the outside world, and that storyline is left open as well.

We also never get a conclusion on Sadina's mother and whether they were able to cure the new strain of the flare she was infected with. They leave her in the Villa that they broke out of after watching the doctors there administer the cure through a griever. They break out with a worker, Xiema, whose mother was a part of the original crew that didn't make the journey to the island with Kletter. She has no real purpose in the story other than conflict, and following her POV quickly becomes exhausting because her actions are stubborn and repetitive. She lashes out multiple times based on her intuition- a supposed superpower and side effect of the cure- and is constantly threatening people's lives to get the same answers the immunes can get from regular conversations. Her character felt forced into the story to continue a storyline that should have died with Kletter. Her powers were another thing that were stressed throughout the book and then abandoned. Just like when she revealed that her grandmother, whom she talks about throughout the book, was actually a glader from group B. We never get a confirmation on who she is or how she would have even gotten there in the first place, which completely throws off the main trilogy and its ending.

There are too many examples like this throughout the book, where storylines are abandoned and the POVs don't make sense. It seems like the author had too much information to try and end the series here, which left the book jumbled and convoluted. I was really hoping for a conclusive ending for the universe, but the author didn't deliver.

[Major Havoc · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lousy book that concludes a lousy series. I am not sure if the title of the series should be 'The Maze Cutter: The DEI Chronicles', or 'The Maze Cutter: The Money Grab'. Both titles are perfect. Here, let me summarize things: "blah blah blah, evolution, blah blah blah sequencers, blah blah blah flare, blah blah blah cure, blah blah blah Godhead/Goddess, blah blah blah Remnant Nation, blah blah blah breathe in-hold it-exhale, blah blah blah something in Spanish, blah blah blah inner knowing, blah blah blah Infinite Glade, blah blah blah..."

This book is nothing more than a collection of info dumps that push cookie cutter characters on rails to an anti-climatic conclusion, somehow diminishing everything the original characters in the first Maze Runner series managed to accomplish. This book, no, this whole series, is so bad it made me like the original series less. Quite a feat.

I rage finished it.

One good thing, if you listen to the audiobook (and why wouldn't you since the narrative only requires about 25% of your attention making it perfect for listening to when you're doing something better), the reader is very good.

[Danielle White · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my issue is that I don’t feel a connection to any of these characters. Like… I cried when Newt died, I screamed when Theresa betrayed the Gladers, I felt immense relief when Thomas and the others found the flat trans, and I loved Brenda’s badass character. And now… I don’t have ANY of those connections to the characters in these sequels. The only character I actually really liked was Orphan Minho.

3 stars for this book. I was hoping everything would come together and I’d end up loving this series. But here I am, writing this review. Sigh.

[sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

upgraded to 3.5 ⭐️

The end of an era :(

I felt it was a good ending for the Maze Runner universe. There were times throughout the book that the plot slowed a bit, and wanted it to pick up the pace. Overall, it did tie up everything in the end. I will miss this series, and would probably reread in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Akashic Media Enterprises for the digital eARC.

[ᴄᴀᴛ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the very very end of The Maze Runner world? :(
So sad. Regardless, it was a good book, really nice way to end this series, I just wish it was a little faster at times

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Indeed some endings don’t make a lick of sense. I really wanted more from this series because I enjoyed the original trilogy, but I just didn’t seem to care about any of the characters or what was going on.

[JB Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like The Maze Runner series, especially the first book. So I was excited about a sequel trilogy, focused on a new generation, with a cool name like The Maze Cutter.

As a whole, I’ve been disappointed by the series, and the finale was unfortunately no exception. A lot of dialogue filler in between a nonsensical plot about different factions whose motivations are all unclear and confusing.

I don’t like being negative about books, but it is difficult to find many redeeming qualities about The Infinite Glade (other than the cool title and cover art, as always).

[Ella]

This is the end, get your tissues and prepare for an epic ending to an epic series. I’m so excited!!!😄😁😆

[Kristi Drillien · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not only did this book have a lot of the same problems as the previous two—too many characters, too little to care about, too many factions and no clear understanding of who was good or bad—but on top of all of that, there was far too few answers given. Elements that were touted as super important throughout the trilogy (like the Cure and the Evolution) are seriously downplayed here and never come to fruition of any kind. More characters are added that end up being completely pointless and a POV character added in the previous book also really had no point by the end. I struggle to understand what Dashner was going for in general or why these books didn't get stopped before publication. But here's the thing that is probably important for anyone reading this review to know: I didn't particularly care for the first trilogy either. I liked the first book and truly wanted to know more about the world set up within it. But it felt like Dashner had written himself into a corner and proceeded to pants his way through the rest of the series, which ended up a convoluted, shallow mess. It was probably my mistake to read this follow-up trilogy, but I really hoped that it would be more of a call back to The Maze Runner, something that could possibly redeem the world for me. Instead, it deteriorated even further. This means that I obviously don't recommend this trilogy to anyone. And yes, a lot of people enjoyed the first trilogy more than me and thus might enjoy this follow-up more too. Beware, though, that the overall rating, at least on Goodreads, of this trilogy is quite a bit lower than for the original trilogy, and reviews I've read indicate that plenty of people who loved the original didn't like these books nearly as much.

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

[Carol Newman-Rivera · Rating 1 out of 5]

James Dashner, I do adore the maze runner series. I even loved the prequels. But I'll be honest. I do not know how this series got approval from your editor. I am sorry for the trees that were cut down to be used in the pages of this book. I fear their sacrifice was not worth it.

I'll start off with saying that I don't remember what happened in the first two books. But I did not recall particularly enjoying them and I was too lazy to reread. Which is probably a good thing for my sanity, because good god, reading this required me to put to practice a skill which I consider myself to be well versed in. PATIENCE.

This entire story consisted in the same vapid characters asking the same stupid questions over and over again. From my point of view, it felt a little like this:

MINHO: Orphans are alone. Alone are orphans. Orphans = no mom.

ISAAC: I am sad about accidentally killing my entire family and I miss my best friend, but I am not actually going to contribute anything towards the plot so I'll just sit here and keep trying to convince Ximena not to go awol. And I'll also fall on my knife.

XIMENA: #IhateKletter#Iamgoingtobedifficult

Alexandra: 1, 3, 5, 9, 27, 223 etc

Everyone: lets all walk around in circles and pester each other about the truth but not actually learn anything new! Hooray!

Additionally, there is nothing I despise more than when an author decides to toss in some Spanish hocus pocus spiritual mishmash in the dialogue. I felt like I was experiencing a Temu Dora the explorer, which made me dislike Ximena's character even more.

All I have to say about the ending is #disappointed. Or maybe #grateful since it was over.

I in fact, will not be rereading this series. I think I will need to do a palate cleanse with the original trilogy to save my brain from the disaster that was the entirety of this book.

[Christina (Confessions of a Book Addict) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a longtime fan of The Maze Runner series you know that The Infinite Glade is the epic conclusion to the saga. This is book three in the spinoff series, The Maze Cutter, and it is set 70 some years after The Death Cure. The story focuses on the descents of The Maze Runner and at the start of The Infinite Glade readers realize war has broken out. The Remnant Nation wants to overthrow the Godhead, otherwise known as Alexandra, as they feel she is a false leader. Sadina, and the other Islanders, back the Godhead as they think she is essential to their survival. There's also Isaac, Ximena, Frypan and Jackie who are trying to rejoin their friends. Along their journey, many things ensue, but the most noteworthy is that they learn more about the Cure, which readers have been wondering about this entire series. The characters unearth even more secrets about the Cure as well as its connection to the Maze trials. James Dashner delivers an edge-of-your seat read in The Infinite Glade and fans of The Maze Runner will not be disappointed.
Read the rest of my review here:
http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...

[Joseph Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This is one of the few trilogies that actually got better as it went on. The first book (Maze Cutter) was really rough and very confusing with little payoff. This one has a lot of action and a couple twists that I didn’t see coming, but there is just something about this whole trilogy that seems like a missed opportunity. It doesn’t really have an ending (very similar to the Death Cure) and just isn’t really that satisfying. There was a whole lot of nothing for the first half of the book and an extremely annoying character in Alexandra. The whole “Godhead” thing and Alexandra’s role in that also just irked me. She’s supposed to be annoying, I get it, but when characters have zero redeeming qualities and keep repeating themselves, it just made me want to skip those sections.

All that being said, it was enjoyable to read 😂
A bit inconsequential though and I won’t read it again. If you’re looking for maze runner extras, would recommend the two prequels way before this series.

[Sophia Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

James.
You have redeemed yourself.
Thank you.
Amazing conclusion, there are still some questions I have about lineages, but all in all as Old Man Frypan said, “Some questions just don’t have answers… and some endings don’t make a lick of sense… in fact, most endings don’t.” I was indeed sobbing over this, I didn’t think I would, but staying up late to read the final words from this glorious world that I longed to be in, though I would die very quickly, the tears would not stop. Thank you for this goodbye, and being able to see my husband’s words of wisdom, one last time.
“Even as the darkness whispers across my mind, beckoning with smoky tendrils of blackness and rot, even as I breathe in the stench of a dying world, even as the blood within my veins turns purple and hot, I feel the peace of a certain knowledge. I have had friends, and they have had me.
And that is the thing.
That is the only thing.”
-The Book of Newt

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally done with the series

[Logan Elmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not horrible but a little unimpressive and slightly disappointing. I was hoping for more out of this series. I feel like it could’ve been better.

[Susie Plusie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A box ticked. Kind of liked the original series. Maybe the films were better. The books that followed weren’t worth it.

[Sylvie]

I can't wait for this one to come out!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating : 3.5/5

WICKED is good.

That is what the Gladers have always been brought up to believe, that the sacrifice of a few ... is worth the salvation of many others...

The thrilling finale of the Maze Runner series, and the end of the Maze Cutter trilogy ...brought together by the talented mind and hands of James Dashner brings everything that was once thought to be truth into question...is this the end? Or it the beginning of something entirely new....

The World (or Alaska+ surrounding areas?) is at war.... and our main characters have found themselves caught in between the crossfire as multiple groups clash... in an attempt to guard each's unique values. Frypan, Ximena, Isaac, and Jackie search for their friends... while the so-called Goddess, Alexandria and the much larger other group head to search for a so-called Cure. With the same slow-burn build up into a fast-churning whirlpool of events, this book was overall... satisfying to an end of the series. It was a good conclusion, although a large amount of the story seemed to fall flat... leaving me somewhat with more questions than I started off with.

The characters, especially the antagonist, seem somewhat underdeveloped, as do some of the side characters ( mainly Ximena, who pops up somewhat randomly and unannounced in the last novel)... the added complexity is nice, but I would've also adored a little bit more story to our rowdy bunch of characters, to be able to get to know them a little bit better than what this novel gave us.

For you diehard Maze Runner fans out there, this is your perfect ending. For me? It left me wondering more questions than I started off with. More yearnings for additional backstory and additional lore.... to be able to better understand things. For now, I wave the Maze Runner series a fond farewell.

Thank you to Akashic Media Enterprises, Netgalley, as well as the Independent Book Publishers' Assocation ( IBPA) for this copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and the rest of my reviews can be found at https://littlereapling.wixsite.com/fa...

[Madison !! Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly I loved this book, it was a beautiful conclusion to the series, and while I am sad it’s over and probably will never feel whole again, now I can rest in peace knowing that the start of my reading journey had a good ending, like genuinely I think this series had a nice conclusion UNLIKE ANOTHER BOOK I KNOW (death cure, I AM talking to you) honestly it just felt like a huge step up from the first two books

[kacper · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5⭐

Huge thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The final (or so I assume) piece in the follow-up trilogy to the absolute iconic Maze Runner, is a nail in the franchise's coffin. After the letdown that was The Maze Cutter things started to get a bit better (emphasis on the bit) with The Godhead Complex. Unfortunately, The Infinite Glade refuses to learn from the predecessors' mistakes.

For a final instalment, in my opinion, this book fails to bring a fruitful conclusion to the well-established universe. The pace of most events was too slow and as the book was reaching its end I was curious on how things were eventually going to be resolved. The end leaves much to be desired. If it were not for the fact that it is highlighted as the final instalment, I would actually assume that another part is coming.

New characters fail to live up to the legacy of the original trilogy's protagonists. However, I would like to give credit where it is due and say that I have really enjoyed the relationship between "Minho" and Roxy.

As it is constantly mentioned in this trilogy - bad things happen in threes, and The Maze Cutter trilogy is a perfect testimony to these words' credibility. To quote directly from the book: "Some endings don't make a lick of sense."

[Hannah Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually thought this book was very suspenseful, and I connected with the characters more than ever.

I one hundred percent recommend reading this book, if not the entire series!

Fun Fact: I got to meet James Dashner the day that the book came out, and got four books signed, and it was absolutely amazing! He was super kind, and it was amazing to be able to talk to him.

[Rachel Digby-Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chat is mrs Cowan okay??

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I miss something? Was Isaac not described as 20 years old in the first book, and now all the characters are "children" who can't behave themselves?

The Infinite Glade is the third and final book in the Maze Cutter series, and I think it might also be the final installment in the Maze Runner universe (if it's not, I don't think I'll be continuing regardless, so it'll be the last book for me, anyway). As far as the trilogy as a whole goes, it's definitely disappointing compared to the original material, and I almost think it would have been better as its own thing without the minimal Maze Runner references. It's a pretty clear cash grab, as it only talks about Newt and "Minho" with any frequency, relying on fan favorite characters' names to gain interest. All that being said, it wasn't the worst thing I ever read, and I think some die-hard fans will enjoy the series.

The world (or maybe just Alaska) is at war. The Remnant Nation has finally acted against the Godhead, and our main characters are caught in the crossfire. While Isaac, Jackie, Frypan, and Ximena search for their friends, the rest of the crew embarks on a mission led by Alexandra to uncover the Cure once and for all. The pacing for this series seems to be pretty consistent in that the first 60-75% of each book is fairly uneventful, and then the last quarter is rapid action and twists. Isaac's group has a much slower plot, in my opinion, as they spend a lot of time just traveling and "discovering" the truth, none of which felt super high stakes. I'm also not entirely sure how much the "truth" really added anything to the context of the original series, as it felt kind of bland for a "big reveal." The other group (Minho, Sadina, Trish, Dominic, Orange, Roxy, etc) had a bit more suspense in their chapters, but were similarly slow in the middle section. They saw a lot more action at the end, but I did kind of think the conclusion was a bit anticlimactic, though I suppose it's fine considering this was a trilogy of novellas and didn't feel as heavy as the original series. Do I think it's worth reading all three books? I think if you enjoyed book one, you might as well continue, but if not, it's not worth continuing if you aren't invested in the series.

This series is very ambitious in terms of the number of characters, but I don't think it really pays off. We don't see much beyond caricatures, which makes it hard to be invested in their fates. Isaac is still pretty basic, and I thought we would see some sort of development between him and Jackie, but Jackie was equally two-dimensional. Ximena confused me because she just randomly showed up last book and got a POV, and she still didn't really fit in with the cast, but that bit of complexity did make her a bit more interesting. I was waiting for Sadina to have any struggle with her duty, so I was disappointed in her lack of complexity. Even Minho seemed bland in this one, and I was hoping for more development between him and Roxy. I also didn't care for Alexandra at all; she isn't that enticing of an antagonist. I think the characters had the potential to be lovable, but the lack of development works against them.

The Infinite Glade is the last Maze Runner book (as of now) and the final book in the Maze Cutter trilogy, and if you loved the Maze Cutter books, you will not be disappointed by this conclusion.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3/5

[Matthew Ousley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This sequel trilogy was horrendous.

This book would have at least gotten a 2, because there was some action in it, but the whole plot itself was just such a mess that I couldn't bring myself to give it anything more than a 1.

I honestly didn't like any of the characters. Some could be totally eliminated from the book and nothing would change at all.

Then they introduce new ones who are more or less just as useless, except they magically have a Berg with plenty of fuel, despite in the previous books it was said that it took decades to get the few that existed operating again. Also, they can apparently understand and speak Spanish at one point, but then totally forget how later in the book.

As with the other books in this trilogy, more than half the pages were taken up by characters just arguing back and forth about what to do or where to go or internally contemplating those same issues. In the first book Isaac was ~20 and his island friends, I assume, were the same, but they acted like 14-year-olds the entire series, and the "real adults" kept referring to them as "children" and using that as an excuse for all of them being stupid.

One of my "favorite" parts was when they had a big argument about who should have possession of Newt's book, and then the person who was carrying it fell into ice water a couple pages later, but it apparently didn't damage the book, and no one was worried about it whatsoever.

I still don't know what the Godhead people, the Remnant people, etc. wanted to actually accomplish. Alexandra seemed to want power and control, but the "Cure" she sought would "enlighten" everyone else, which would diminish her power and control? The Remnants wanted to destroy them, but for what purpose (other than Mikhail defeating Alexandra, but then what? What's next??

At one point, Alexandra ponders that most of Nicholas' "wisdom" was "just repeated lines from books in his library." And it felt like Dashner was doing the same thing in this trilogy - there were random profound statements just thrown into the mix that sounded like he saw a quote he liked somewhere and wanted to include it.

And WTF happened to Old Ms. Cowan ???

Maybe if I repeat the Fibonacci Sequence enough times these trilogy books start to make sense?

[Rosa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this series goes out on more of a whimper than a resounding clap. Part of the problem is that I found this new set of characters really hard to relate to as a unit. There were simply too many of them and very little personality to share between them all. The only ones who felt like full characters were Minho and Old Man Frypan. For the others, even the major ones like Ximena and Isaac, it felt as though you could swap any of them out and they would all have the same reactions, regardless. Dashner's strong point has never been his characters -- he's always been more of a plot-centric writer, and that's fine -- but despite that, in the previous Maze Runner series, all of the characters still felt distinct and crucial to the story line. That's not the case in The Maze Cutter series at all.

The main problem with this trilogy as a whole though is pacing. While there are some really fun, suspenseful moments in all three of the novels, they all suffer from a tendency to have all the important action moments within the last fifty pages of each installment. Don't get me wrong: exposition is important. There need to be slow moments for characters to impart important information to each other and to grow as characters (ideally), but when the first 200 pages is people stating the same information over and over, arguing the same points continuously, and then deciding to not share information that's been teased between characters for the past twenty pages, I just start to feel like the writer is trying to reach a page count. Stop dicking along and just tell the story already!

And then when the story is told, there's no emotional resonance to any of it because I DO.NOT.CARE. about any of these people. I have been given no reason to do so because everyone is TSTL and they NEVER, EVER adapt to the situations they find themselves in. I'm supposed to see them as heroes, but they're never fighting for anything and even the non-naive characters feel way too naive for a world that's 70 years post-apocalypse.

Love the random Book of Newt quotations at the beginning of each part though. Dashner knew what most of his fans were here for -- Frypan (as the only surviving character from the original series in this sequel trilogy) and Newt (who is forever my favorite, and I think the favorite of every fan I've ever met of this book series.) So, he did deliver well in one aspect.

If you enjoyed the original series, I recommend finding this trilogy at a library if you can. Just know that it's really hollow compared to what Dashner wrote previously, but there are still some fun moments here that are worth checking out.