I'm giving the trilogy a 3.75. There were captivating parts to the story and there were equally dragging parts to it. The whole 'WICKED is good' reminded me of Dan Brown's Inferno, where they had good intentions of saving mankind -- in this case, The Flare -- but had crazy measures to do it. And because the whole operation is twisted, it would leave you clueless and confused on who to trust. I was Thomas the whole time, asking myself whether to trust every character introduced. At the end, I stuck with two characters: Minho and Thomas. I chose Minho because he was strong and loyal, Thomas because... well, for obvious reasons that he's 'The Chosen One.' Flawless even, which I thought made his character a bit flat.The running around and bumping into various people became dragging for me. I felt that the Scorch Trials and The Death Cure could be combined into one book. All the action in the Scorch Trials and the Denver part could've been cut and made the return to the maze longer. Going back to the maze could've been a good twist for a circular plot, then added something different to see how the characters developed and changed from the first time they were there.I was supposed to give the trilogy a 3, but since the trilogy ended in a happy ending, I decided to be a little nice and give an additional 0.75. :pMinho for the win. lol As a whole, the trilogy follows a pretty standard arc. Book 1 introduces the characters and setting, both of which are pretty intriguing, making you want to read more. Book 2 is mostly connective tissue. It serves no real purpose on its own, it just sets up book three. It feel monotonous, and nothing seems to get accomplished, but if you skip it, you'll miss some things that are used later. Book 3 is the race to the finish. It had the paradoxical sense of both rushing and meandering at the same time. It really felt like the author knew how he wanted to end the story, but had no clue how to get there, so he just kind of muddled through, and the readers are taken along for the ride. Luckily, everything happens to work out (at least for the POV character) according to the master plan within a master plan. And then it is over. Overall, it was sometimes interesting, but left me unsatisfied.
