A boy from the world above By Luca Zepeda

 Gregor the Overlander was written by Suzanne Collins and published in 2003. Gregor the Overlander tells the story of an 11-year-old boy named Gregor who embarks on a quest to find his long lost father. This story contains all the elements of a good fantasy novel, with personified animals and mystical worlds underneath the city of New York. Some people might consider this book to be more suitable for younger audiences but I was truly captivated by what Gregor experiences in this story, and in my opinion, this can be a book for all ages.

In Gregor the Overlander Gregor and his sister fall through an old air duct grate in their apartment building's basement. To their surprise, it leads to a world miles under New York City. This world is inhabited by humans with almost transparent skin, and the people co-exist with rats, bats, and cockroaches the size of humans. Gregor and his sister find themselves in a city that is on the brink of war, and the rats are trying to overtake the realm. The Regalian council believes Gregor to be this warrior, and they try to convince him to undertake the quest mentioned in the "Prophecy of Gray". This prophecy states that an Overland "warrior" will stop any attempt by the rats to take over the underground realm once and for all. 

   

 Character development is prevalent in the story, as Gregor learns how to live in this new world he has fallen into. However, I would like to focus on something that I enjoy from the book. In Gregor the Overlander there are two distinct settings: New York City and the Underland. Most of the story takes place in the Underland. Collins has done a remarkable job of creating a fantastical world that resembles a city that exists in the real world, or the Overland, and modifies it to fit the fantastical setting of the Underland. In the book, there are all sorts of customs and rituals that are unique to the Underland and have been created by the author to give the world an outlandish feeling. 

Another thing that I find interesting is the theme of this story. I believe the theme is "strength in differences." The Prophecy of Gray is about all races being equal. There must be two bats, two spinners (spiders), two crawlers, (cockroaches), two Overlanders, two Underlanders, etc. Although the city is at war and two species, humans and rats, are fighting to annihilate one another, in this quest, all species are equal, and that equality of being is the only hope of survival. This is clearly a message from the author about finding strength in the species’ differences, which can only be performed through equal treatment. I think this also speaks to issues that are going along in the real world regarding racial equality. 

All in all, this is a very interesting and admirable book. Everything about it is likable and the characters, the plot, the setting, etc. are all unique and splendid in their own way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to read a fantastical story. 

I Need A Cure After Reading This A-MAZE-ing Book - Savindi

Warning #1: The Death Cure is the third and final book in The Maze Runner series. Therefore, this blog post will contain multiple spoilers for the two preceding books in the series. Also, there will be major spoilers for The Death Cure because I will talk about how the characters have changed throughout the series and also a major piece of information revealed in the book. I will also talk about my thoughts on the book's ending in this blog post because I think it is worth mentioning.   

        The third and final installment of The Maze Runner series is The Death Cure by James Dashner, and it seems fitting to make my third and final blog post for this semester about The Death Cure. Just like its predecessors, The Death Cure does not fail to keep you on your toes. The plot twists and turns, making you think hard about what is happening throughout the book. Many parts of the book make you think that you are getting answers, but at the same time, you still do not know anything. As I read the book, I kept second-guessing myself because I was not sure what information and what characters to trust. With the action combined with the amazing development, it truly is a thrilling read.      

Although the book was action-packed, I didn’t particularly like how the book was extremely violent and morbid in some scenes since it makes the story kind of hard to read. The book does not sugarcoat anything, so if you do not like very graphic books, I would not recommend this book to you. Another complaint I have about the plot is that it was slow in the beginning. Similar to The Scorch Trials, some parts of this book felt like the plot was just dragging along. However, the suspenseful and dramatic scenes near the end of the book made up for it. In fact, I liked the plot of The Death Cure much more than The Scorch Trials. 

Another aspect of The Death Cure that I like is the setting, which I used to dislike in The Scorch Trials. While The Maze Runner is set in the Maze (an elaborate, terrifying, and mysterious maze where the Gladers were trapped), The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure are both set in the world outside of the Maze. In The Scorch Trials, I really disliked the setting because it was very gruesome and violent. However, as more information was revealed about the setting, I began to appreciate how detailed and developed the setting is. 

Warning #2: In these next two paragraphs, there will be some spoilers about the setting that are not revealed until the end of The Death Cure. 

To elaborate more about the setting, The Maze Runner series is set in the future after the Sun Flares. The Sun Flares occurred years before The Maze Runner takes place. However, this event drives the story forward. Because of the Sun Flares, much of the world was destroyed, and the government concluded that only a portion of the surviving population could survive with the few resources left. Soon after, a man-made disease called the Flare was released, and it began killing many people. This Flare virus specifically attacks the brain, eating it until the victims, commonly called Cranks, lose themselves and become cannibalistic and savage. The reason for the release of the Flare is later revealed in the Epilogue of The Death Cure. In a journal entry, the leader of an organization called WICKED wrote, “Though I am fully aware that it was an act of desperation after the sun flares, releasing the Flare virus as a means of population control was an abhorrent and irreversible crime” (Dashner 725). This quote reveals that the Flare virus was released as a means of controlling the population in order for humans to survive. Later on, the leader of WICKED states that WICKED’s goal as an organization was to find the cure for the Flare in hopes they would “right that wrong” (Dashner 725). 

These pieces of information about the setting and WICKED really made me appreciate them. James Dashner put a lot of thought into the setting and WICKED, only revealing little by little how the setting and WICKED came to be, what WICKED’s goals were, and how the Gladers are tied to WICKED. This kind of development and storytelling is why I really love The Maze Runner series. It is honestly sad that I only began to love this aspect of the series after reading The Death Cure.

Warning #3: These next two paragraphs will have major spoilers about Newt, one of the main characters in The Maze Runner series, as well as a huge plot point in The Death Cure. Also, trigger warning, there is mention of suicide. 

Another thing I love about The Death Cure is the development of one of the main characters, Newt. The Maze Runner series is told through the perspective of Thomas, and one of his closest friends is a fellow Glader called Newt. When we first meet Newt in The Maze Runner, we see a guy who is kind, caring, and almost a motherly character. However, in The Death Cure, he gets the infamous Flare virus, which begins to eat his brain as the story progresses. He starts to become more irritable, and it is apparent that he is starting to lose his mind. This drastic change in Newt’s personality makes The Death Cure really interesting to read but also painful to read because Newt is my favorite character. 

In addition, we also see a huge side of Newt that we don’t see in The Maze Runner or The Scorch Trials, and that is his inner struggle. A notable characteristic of Newt is his limp, but in the previous books, he almost always avoided talking about it. Newt rarely talks about his struggles, but near the end of the book, he finally tells the truth to Thomas. He reveals the reason for his limp to Thomas, saying, “I tried to kill myself in the Maze. Climbed halfway up one of those bloody walls and jumped right off. Alby found me and dragged me back to the Glade right before the Doors closed. I hated the place, Tommy. I hated every second of every day” (Dashner 748). What Newt reveals in his last moments shows an inner struggle that he never showed in The Maze Runner or The Scorch Trials. It makes you empathize with the character, and, in my case, want to give them a hug. This scene is so heartbreaking, and it is probably one of the reasons why I love this series so much. The characters feel like real people, and they are so well written.        

Warning #4: I will now begin talking about my thoughts on the ending of The Death Cure, so there will be major spoilers.   

Another part I really liked near the end of The Death Cure was how it tied back to the first book, The Maze Runner. I was almost going to complain, saying that the Maze was almost never brought up again and seemed forgotten, but I was proven wrong. Near the end of the book, the Gladers find out that they have to go back to the Maze in order to save many people called Immunes due to the fact that they are immune to the Flare. In addition, the way the Gladers saved the Immunes and escaped the Maze for a second time was very similar to how they escaped the Maze in the first book. Although these last few chapters were extremely morbid and terrifying, I really like how James Dashner ended the series with what he started with. It connects well with what happened in the past books, and it ends the book and the series nicely.   

Not Warning #5: This section about my final thoughts is spoiler-free. I Promise.

        Overall, I loved The Death Cure and The Maze Runner trilogy though I'm not sure if I would recommend it. I would not recommend it if you don't like morbid or violent books. However, if you like to read books with an amazing plot, setting, and character development,  I would definitely recommend The Maze Runner series. The development, the plot, and the setting in the series are written incredibly well, and specifically in The Death Cure, the events feel so real and almost make you emotional. You know a book is amazing when you feel strong emotions because of it.    

Works Cited

Dashner, James. The Death Cure. Overdrive ed., Random House Children's Books, 2011. 3 vols.