Scott Nichols

Scott Nichols
The Kill Order
James Dashner
Science Fiction
Just Right
Just Finished (327)

1. I have just finished The Kill Order by James Dashner, and the ending was both sad and confusing. Mark, Alec, Deedee and Trina were on a Berg on their way to Asheville so that they could give Deedee to the PFC in the hopes that she could help make a cure for the Flare because she is immune to it. On their way, a man manged to infiltrate their Berg and steal Mark's Transvice, a weapon capable of making people disappear into thin air. Mark, after a chase across the Berg finds the man, who has been infected with the Flare and is insane. Mark tackles him before the man can shoot, and wrestles the man to the ground. Mark drags him to a window of the Berg which is cracked because of an earlier battle, and attempts to throw him out of it. However, Mark himself nearly falls out and is hanging on the edge of the flying ship by his legs, with the man holding on to his arms and trying to climb up Mark and back into the Berg. Mark decides to take a risk and he jumps down to a rung on the Berg, sending the man flying into the thrusters of the ship. After a short rest, the group arrives in Asheville, where Mark, Trina and Deedee jump into the building they were looking for, which contains a Flat Trans, a machine that can transport them to Alaska, head of the PFC. They let Deedee go through, just before the Infected enter the building. Alec, in one final sacrifice, sends the Berg flying into the building to kill the infected and stop them from going into Alaska and destroying the PFC. However, at the same time Mark and Trina, holding each other in one final embrace die during the collision, along with Alec. The Epilogue depicts the hero of the other three books, Thomas, with his mother before he departs into the Maze.
2. I like this book, but not quite as much as the others. The new characters aren't that well introduced, and three die in the first hundred pages, three disappear soon after that, only to have one of the three die and another get the Flare and forget everybody, including herself. Mark and Alec are the only true characters and both become pretty annoying. However, the plot is incredible and it's great seeing life in the eyes of non-immunes who are just trying to survive, as opposed to the other books.
3. A theme that I have noticed is sacrifice. All of the characters sacrifice themselves to let the others survive or to let Deedee get to the PFC. First, Darnell sacrifices himself by quarantining himself to prevent others from receiving the Flare, and then Alec must make a sacrfice and kill the Toad, one of his friends who went insane with the Flare. Lana throws herself into a fray of infected to let the others survive later on, and Alec must make another sacrifice and kill her to end her suffering. However, the biggest sacrifice is Mark, Trina, and Alec's at the very end of the book. Alec, in order to prevent the PFC from falling and letting Deedee help WICKED find a cure, sends his Berg into a building of Infected, and Mark and Trina, with a Flat Trans inside of it so that Deedee can leave and the Infected can't enter it and ransack Alaska.
4. My favorite character is Alec. He was previously my least favorite character, but after learning his story and the sacrifices he has to make, he becomes a much nicer, relateable and easier to like person. My favorite part of Alec is his determination. He would do anything to get Deedee to the PFC, and in his final moments, he was infected with the Flare, in incredible amounts of pain and was borderline insane, yet still managed to, indirectly, save humanity, by letting Deedee, who would become the Teresa of the other books, live and help Thomas and his friends.
5. My least favorite character is Mark. Mark is the main character, and while his character developed, he became progressively more irritating.While the thing that cause me to dislike him was because he received the Flare, he was still pretty immature and selfish even before that. Mark, twice, killed someone in a more painful way than he needed to because of his anger, and he even killed someone who was cowering and had already been beaten by Alec. Mark also wouldn't accept failure or insubordination, even though Alec was the leader of the group. He would get very angry at someone who wanted to do something that he didn't want to, and the only time he showed any tenderness was with Trina, his girlfriend, and even then, after she got infected, he went on a rampage because she didn't know who he was.
6. The ending of the book wasn't much of a surprise. Once the trio of Mark, Trina, and Alec received the Flare, it was obvious that they would all die in the end, and that Deedee would survive, because she would go on to be Teresa. What did surprise me was that the ending was even sadder than I expected. Mark's final goodbye to Alec was very sad because they had been through so much together, and I really liked Alec. But the final ending of the story, with their deaths seconds away was heartbreaking. Trina, who was infected with the Flare and forgot who Mark was for awhile and didn't love him, remembered who he was with seconds left to live. The two embraced and died together, with the final word of the book being Trina's realization of who he was, when she says "Mark." The Epilogue was also sad, because it showed Thomas leaving his mother to enter the Maze, and the two experience great anguish.