The Scorch Trials: Post 2

So far into the book, a lot has happened. At the ending of the last book the two main characters were taking and Teresa, the main girl, seemed to be in trouble. When this book began, Thomas tries to go find Teresa in her room, only to find that she is gone. In the room now is a boy named Aris. He explains that he was placed into another place, like the Glade, except he was the only boy, surrounded by girls. He seems to know more about the experiments than the others.

Since I'm not that far into the book, not much has changed. I still see that Thomas cares about Teresa and now there is a conflict and they need to find what happened to her. I like the fact that there was sort of, an alternate universe going on the whole time that the reader just now knows about. It was very unexpected and I liked the fact that it was a surprise. I really enjoy authors that are able to come up with new and unexpected twists in books because it keeps them from getting boring. I can't wait to read more and to find out more about what happened in the parallel universe the author has created.

The Scorch Trials: Beginning of Book

I have started to read the second book in The Maze Runner Series, The Scorch Trials. I'm not sure what to expect from this book. I've talked to friends who have read it and some of them had complaints and others said it was really good. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, and I hope the writing is as good as the original book. I usually don't like the rest of a series as much as the original, because it gets boring after a while. I'm really hoping this one doesn't.

I'm really excited to watch the characters develop more. I want to see what the author can do with the characters, that's more than what has been done. If I don't see character development I will be very disappointed with the author. I've heard about what happens in this book in the terms of a couple of the characters' love lives and I'm not sure how it will effect the story, but I don't want it to change the characters too much. Maybe it will help push the story along as some sort of conflict? If it doesn't I feel like it would be pointless in the storyline of the book.

Satire Example

This cartoon is an example of allegory. I know this because the characters in the cartoon are playing basketball, where traveling is a term used to describe walking with the ball, and in the cartoon you can see security guards that you would see at an airport checking a player when he traveled. The characters in the cartoon are talking about being strict when a player is traveling. Also at the same time they are making fun of the security at airports with the drawing of the arch and the security guards.

Krista Ramsey

The column I read by Krista Ramsey, titled Bear in the neighborhood? Thrilling, not nuisance, was an article on the sighting of a bear in the author's neighborhood where the author talked about the standards people have when they see a wild animal and how you should react compared to how she reacted.
The way Krista Ramsey writes has an interesting style to it, she uses a wide range of vocabulary and her syntax really impacts the reader. There are many examples of this in this article but my favorite one was when she said, "They abide by laws – natural laws – that we break without caring." This line has a great impact on the reader because of the way she emphasizes using the hyphens. Ramsey also uses the word "abide" instead of saying that the animals "follow" certain laws, which provides the reader with a different choice of wording than someone they talk to on the phone or anywhere would say. The use of different vocabulary shows the reader that the author can be credited with at least some knowledge of the topic they are writing about. 
Krista Ramsey's style is very distinct. She uses punctuation a lot to emphasize what she wants when she wants. In the article "For better vision, kids need time outdoors" she states, "But before parents claw back the iPhones, experts say the problem may not lie in the technology itself, but the amount of time spent on it, the environment in which it’s used and the activities it’s replacing." She uses the commas to make a longer sentence instead of making multiple, to help prove her point. Also in the article "Super Bowl QB's score points for great style" she says, "At work, “Casual Fridays” have morphed into sundresses and golf shirts every day. And almost no one dresses up any more for things that were once considered something of an event – dinner at a nice restaurant, religious services, plane flights." She again uses her choice of punctuation to emphasize what she is trying to prove. In the last article I read she says, "They abide by laws – natural laws – that we break without caring." She uses the punctuation to stress the importance of the laws being "natural laws". 
If I could meet Krista Ramsey I would ask her three things: how does she come up with an interesting topic to write about? What inspired you to be a writer? and what is your favorite thing about writing?

 

 

The Maze Runner: End of Book

This book was definatley as good as I heard. There were a ton of surprises and the ending was one of them. I don't want to give anything away, so I can't say much. I was very pleased with this book overall and the ending leaves you hanging so I'm pretty sure I'll be reading the next one sometime soon. The only thing is whenever there is a good book it sets really high standards for the movie, and I hope it meets them.

As I've said before, I love the way the author writes.James Dashner I hope the movie doesn't give too much away at the beginning like some movies I've seen because the best part about the book was not knowing what was going to happen next. I have watched the trailer and the characters are well casted, in my opinion. They have the right personality and look that I saw each of them having. I'm also really happy that I read the book before I've seen the movie because I like coming up with my own vision before im influenced by someone else's.

I am going to read the next book in the series next, which is called The Scorch Trials. I hope that it is as good as this one. If it's not then I'll be very disappointed. I hope it has as muh suspense, surprise, and some of the confusion this book had because those were some of the qualities I really liked about the book.

The Maze Runner: 2/3 of the way Done.

I'm very pleased at the progress of the book. It has gotten even more interesting now that the characters are starting to figure things out. There have been clues that someone is controlling the maze, the Glade and everything in the maze, like the greivers. The greivers are big, mechanical mutants that can sting anyone in the maze, and if you don't get serum in you, it will make you go insane. Since the last part of the book Thomas has started seeing things that tell him what to do, he realized he was supposed to be a runner with one of these. No one believed him, but when he rescued one of the Gladers, the boys in the Glade, acting on an impulse, he survived a night in the maze, which had never been done before. It took some convincing, but he finally became a runner, which explains the title.

What I like a lot about this book is that it takes some thinking. Every time someone goes into the maze I think, "Are they going to find the way out?" But they don't. It creates a lot of suspense. Thomas made a promise to himself that he would find the way out, and now I'm just waiting for it to happen. Although there's still about 150 pages left, I hope it happens soon. I have no idea about what's going to happen in the end because everything keeps changing. 

I can't wait to finish the book. I plan to finish it by next week because I can't wait to see how it's going to end. I know that the book has more sequels and I plan to read at least the second one, because I've heard after that they go downhill. 

The Maze Runner By James Dashner

I wanted to read The Maze Runner before the movie came out so I began reading it. Maze Runner Movie Trailer. I wasn't expecting much to happen in the first 100 pages of the book, but surprisingly, a lot has happened. The protagonist's name is Thomas, but that's all he can remember. He woke up in a box, and was thrusted upwards and into an opening, where he saw a bunch of other boys standing around him. Where he ends up is a weird setting, which is interesting. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that this is set far in the future. This book is already crammed with new and unusual elements, and it involves some thinking because of that. Part of what I find cool is the maze, obviously it's important because it's in the title. So far Thomas has not been into the maze, because only the runners get to go inside. All Thomas knows are rumors of what's inside and whatever he can hear from the Glade, which is where he ends up.

The author of this book, James Dashner, is a new author to me. I like the way he writes because he provides a lot of imagery which helps a lot in a book like this. He comes up with new words to help describe the people, and things in the Glade. I always like books that have new concepts, as I've said before. The author really made this world come to life and it's very easy for me to visualize the characters and places.

I'm particularly excited to discover more about the maze and see if the boys can find the way out. I like having to think about things and put the details together with the characters even though I know a  little bit more than them, because of the back of the book. Im eager to read more into the book and hope it keeps getting better!