The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin): Book Four; Origin (The Maze Runner Series)

I loved the way that Deedee ended up being Teresa. I had originally thought that Trina and Mark would be renamed as Tomas and Teresa, but the ages would not work, and I loved the sacrifice. Overall, a great book that I would read again.

Mr. Dashner fills in some of the blanks from his Maze Runner series - explaining how natural disaster suddenly became something much worse. This story reads as a race against time, with overwhelming odds and amazing feats of courage. There's no lack of action.

This book tells what happened before the events in The Maze Runner series. I liked the characters and the story was interesting, but a bit violent. Anyone who likes this book will want to read the rest of the series.

Hadn't read the trilogy yet. Decided I would start with the prequel. Quick read. Enjoyed the story. The series was advertised that if you like The Hunger Games that you would enjoy this series as well. I would agree. I was half way through the prequel and I tracked down the trilogy to read next.

I listened to the audiobook because I knew I would never get around to actually reading it. I decided to listen to the book when a coworker told me that Mark ends up being Thomas in the end. Which is not true. Mark is Mark and Thomas is Thomas, and really, Thomas has nothing to do with this book.

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In her defense, she hasn't read the book yet, it was her brother who told her that. So I'm just gonna go with she misunderstood her brother, because one of the characters do end up being someone from The Maze Runner, but not Thomas. And unless you get some special edition of The Kill Order, you would not know this unless you look it up online (like I did because I was so confused).

I really don't know how to discuss this book. As a book by itself, it's not that bad. If I read this book before I read The Maze Runner, I probably would have liked it more.

The only thing the book really adds to The Maze Runner series is it gives more information on what happened right after the sun flares hit and how the virus was introduced to the world. Now, looking back, it was actually kind of boring. There's a lot of action, and between the action is Mark and Alec resting to get their strength back before they go back for more action to save Trina, Lana, and DeeDee.

Now. There is an epilogue. I was so confused after listening to the epilogue that I had to go back and listen to it again. It has nothing to do with Mark or Trina, Alec or Lana. It's about Thomas. It made no sense to me why the epilogue was even there. It really adds nothing to the story and just left me more confused.

Since I was so confused I started reading reviews, and found out that there was a special Barnes and Nobles edition of The Kill Order, and after the acknowledgements there is an additional scene that actually ties The Kill Order to The Maze Runner. If you didn't get the special edition (like me) then I highly suggest looking it up. It would have made a lot more sense for that special edition scene to be the epilogue, because it leads up to The Maze Runner perfectly (a lot better than the actual epilogue).

So, to sum up my feelings for the series: I really enjoyed The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials was okay, The Death Cure pissed me off, and The Kill Order barely adds anything to the series (unless you go digging around the internet and find that special edition scene).

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The Good Stuff

fast paced non stop action - you are constantly on the edge of your seat
Intriguing male protagonist
Nice dark humour
Love the relationship between Mark and Alec - most of the best scenes involved the two of them
Will break your heart at times
adore Dashner's writing style, he is one

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of those gifted storytellers whom I admire
Good tie in to the Maze Runner series, really gives a good back-story to the series
I know its not really important - but I love the cover!
Very much highlights the willpower that humans have to live no matter what
I dare you not to fall in love with Alec
Fabulous ending if there is going to be another prequel - and if there isn't Mr Dashner I just may have to slap you (BTW you were totally adorable at BEA and I have a mad geek crush on you now)

The Not So Good Stuff

intense and hard to read at times - so much death and mentions young children - I am such a pansy but any mentions of death or abuse of children sickens me and had to put book down for a while
Could have used a wee bit more character development
not a lot of hope in this one my friends - not a bad thing, but its something I prefer

Favorite Quotes/Passage

``The girl loved to read like no one else, and she was making up for the months they spent literally running for their lives. when books were few and far behind. The digital kind were all long gone, as far as Mark could guess - wiped away when the computers and servers all fried. Trina read the old-school paper kind.

Òh, I`m good. Seriously, after all these years, you`d think I would stop amazing myself. But here I am, still doing it.``

``Crazy buggers is right - I was hoping they`d all die in the fire.`Mark said it before realizing how terrible it sounded. But the side of him that wanted to survive at all costs - that had become ruthless over the last year - knew it was the truth.``

Who Should/Shouldn't Read

Obviously fans of the Maze Runner series will lap it up
Those who haven`t read this will be intrigued enough to read the rest of the series
Good for reluctant YA readers
If you like dystopian or post apocalyptic fiction, pretty sure you will like this

4.25 Dewey's

I received this from Random House in exchange for an honest review

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Prequel to the Maze Runner trilogy. Describes the sun flares and howthey drove everyone who survived into a panic. The government, worried about the depletion of resources, authorizes a kill order to release a virus and wipe out some of teh poulation. But the virus mutates and becomes hard to

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control. Mark, Trina, and the group they live with are exposed to the virus. Mark and Trina, along with a couple others, survive, and head out in search of its origins.

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This is the prequel to the Maze Runner Series. After reading the first three, I was happy to hear someone else's story besides Thomas. Although I liked the action in the book, I felt it was depressing. I also wish the author would have told more of what the "government" was thinking and doing. This

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side of the story was never portrayed in any of the books. This book is really not a piece that is necessary to understand the other three and is just more of the same from a different person's perspective.

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An ultra violent and graphic post- apocalyptic book about the survivors of a worldwide sun flares that decimate most of earth's population. To add insult to injury, a mysterious group appears, injecting survivors with a deadly, mutating virus, creating chaos and bloodthirst. The prequel to the Maze

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Runner.

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These books are super amazing. Plus it’s the prequel so if you've already read them you’ll know how it all begins. I read this book because my friend recommended the first book in the series and I couldn't stop reading them.

Obviously, if you've read my reviews of the previous books, you'll know that I've hated every one of these stories since "The Maze." So why did I read this one?

I have no idea.

I was hoping, especially given the sort of "teaser" at the beginning of the book, that we might learn more about Theresa

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and Thomas and what got them in to this whole "Maze" mess in the first place. Now I'm guessing that Dashner is saving that for yet another prequel.

This book is about the beginning of the flares and The Flare. Some aspects of it were interesting, in particular, the flashbacks to the very day the solar flares began and how the characters survive them. After large Bergs rain down disease upon their little enclave of survivors, several village members decide to make their way to Ashville NC, the nearest city, to figure out why they've been infected, and possibly locate a cure.

Instead they find a little girl who seems to be immune to the disease. Their trip becomes a desperate journey to get Deedee into the hands of those who might be able to use her, before they all die in the wilderness. Like the last two novels, a great deal of this reads more like a movie script than anything insightful or thoughtful.

Oh, well.

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I am reading the book the kill order. This book is about a world wide event that killed many people on the earth. After the title wave there only a few survives left on earth. The group in the book are living out in the woods living off the land. But one day they were just hanging around and some

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air crafts flew by and started to shot people with cross bows and arrows . The group was skater and the people did not no that the arrows that were being shot at them were infected with a deadly sickness. I dropped this book because it was the same thing happening over and over again. Another reason is that it was really slow and boring and nothing was happening. I would not recommend this book to any body that gets bored really easy.

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Although not as slow as The Death Cure, this prequel has its dull moments. Keeping track of loyal group members and outsiders has lost its flavor by this point in the series.
As was the same with all of the series, The Death Cure is limited in its curricular connections.

Although this is listed as a prequel to the Maze Runner series, it does not have any of the characters from Maze Runner except the last 3 pages - which is really unnecessary. The first 2/3 of the book is well developed & descriptive. Unfortunately the end of the book seems rushed & the author in a

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hurry to wrap things up with a simplistic ending thats anticlimactic at best. But after reading the whole series, I should have realized that as Dashner's weakness. He did the samething in book #3 of the trilogy.

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I recently start reading The Maze Runner series. I really enjoyed the first book and loved the movie. Since The Kill Order is a prequel I thought I'd read it before moving on to the rest of the books. It was a good read, action packed. The Prequel tells the story of Mark, Trina and their group

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after the sun flares. But for me, it was a bit disappointing too. I was really hoping we'd learn more about the gladers before the events in The Maze Runner. I can't wait to dive into the the rest of the series.

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After reading the series it was interesting to go back and see what life was like right after the flares and the beginning of the virus. I became really entrenched in this series. I really liked the end of the world by solar flares, it is a possibility.

2.5 stars. I didn't like this one as well as the others. Too much of the same action descriptions for me. Got bored feeling like they were doing the same thing over and over.

I enjoyed this book sooo much and I recommend it to everyone out there!!!!!!

The prequel to the series was disappointment. I desperately wanted there to be at least one character that we could link to the other books, which would have preserved the rhythm of the series. I also thought that the violence and zombie-like descriptions of the "cranks" was a bit overdone.

Sun flares scorch the Earth. Disease takes over the minds of people until it destroys them. People are willing to do anything just to survive. Mark, Trina, Lana, Alec, and the others want to find out why. The Kill Order, a science fiction story about the Earth struggling to survive after sun flares

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nearly destroyed it, is the book that I read.
The Kill Order begins with a small group of people working together to attempt to survive in a desert-like world. Mark, Trina, Alec, Lana, and all the rest finally created a community that they could survive in. Then disaster struck. A Berg airplane landed and began firing off darts, killing most of them on contact. The darts were filled with a highly contagious virus that infected and killed those who didn't die upon the impact. Alec and Mark managed to kill most of the attackers and get inside the plane. The plane was then intentionally crashed by the pilot and the chaos continues. When the group meets up again, Mark, Trina, Alec, and Lana are the only survivors. They had to endure by using Mark’s intelligence, Alec’s bravery, Lana’s leadership, and Trina’s optimism to survive alone in the wilderness. They then discover a little girl who was shot by the dart, but lived and didn’t suffer any of the symptoms of the disease. They later discovered that she was immune to the disease known as “The Flare” and the group does everything they can to get her to safety. They believe that she could be the key to the survival of the human race.
The Kill Order was a book that I didn't want to put down. The author kept the suspense building throughout the entire story. He kept the reader wondering who, if anyone, would survive. The author also used vivid descriptions of the setting and the actions to make the reader feel like they were right there with the survivors on the scorched and destroyed Earth. Finally, the author made me feel connected to the characters. He showed the character’s attitude in their dialogue and through the actions that they make throughout the story. This is an amazing book for anyone who enjoys sci-fi or post-apocalyptic stories.

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Inevitably, when a trilogy does well, publishers push for prequels or sequels. Sometimes those books are great, more often they are merely a cash grab. The Kill Order isn’t quite a cash grab, but it’s close.

The Kill Order is a prequel to the Maze Runner series telling how it all began.

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However, the original trilogy clearly spelled out the tragedy that led to the trials, solar flares followed by a devastating plague, so that doesn’t leave much room for suspense. Here readers meet Mark and Trina and a few companions, who survived the solar flares only to a face a new threat in a deadly plague. How the plague came about was obvious and predictable, and the ensuing “story” has no plot or mystery. Mark and company decide to track the plague to the “source” in hopes of finding answers or a cure. But, there just isn’t enough material to sustain a book. What follows is a retread of material in the original trilogy: encountering Cranks, government resistance and obstacles of Nature.

That is not to say the book doesn’t have some redeeming qualities. There are some exciting action sequences, and like the original books, not everyone is going to survive. Flashbacks to the day of the solar flares were cool – like watching a disaster movie and seeing what people do to survive; how quickly civilization falls apart. It also has a good hook for how it leads into the original trilogy, but that hook is at the very end and in an epilogue. This would have made a great novella/e-book, but unfortunately it got padded.

Overall, I don’t regret the purchase as it came in a box set with the original trilogy, but I found myself skimming over many passages that were just more of the same. Recommended for completists.

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review I finished this as an advance- the book is not due out until August 14th. James Dashner has done it again! The Maze Runner was one of those series that I knew would impact and enthrall young and old alike because it was such an original storyline and The Kill Order as a prequel will have the

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same impact. We learn of the events that caused Theresa,Thomas and his merry band of boys to end up in the Maze in the first place. This is the story of the solar flares and how love helps you keep going, keeps you fighting and doing the right thing. This is the story of Mark and Trina and a small group of survivors - one day you are in high school and the next you are in hand to hand combat with crazed zombielike sick people who want to tear you apart because of the flare. It is how government with good intentions can wreak havoc on average people. It is Walking Dead meets Mission Impossible meets the Dirty Dozen. The Kill Order will make you stare into the sun and wonder if your world suddenly turned upside down, who would you trust and where would you hide. This book is more violent/graphic than the other Maze Runner books so I would caution young kids against it but that also makes it a great crossover book - adults will be reading this alongside their teens

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Just don't. Not really a prequel.

It took me a while to get into the book, but once the action started, it was non-stop between the current storyline and the flashbacks. Although the end made sense, it wasn't what I wanted. This made the book all the more realistic and hard to predict. It is not a book for those that like a sweet

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honey ending.

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