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The Kill Order – Book Review

In Sunday’s wee hours of the morning, I finally finished reading The Kill Order by James Dashner.

It is billed as the prequel to the series; it was published after the other three books.  Thus, I read it last.

If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know that I have not enjoyed Dashner’s other books in this Maze Runner series.  The concept was actually quite good; however, it was not executed well, in my opinion.

Sure, there were characters that I actually liked, but they were far and few between.

In this final installment, readers learn what led to the maze being created in the first place.

I actually enjoyed this book most out of all four.  The dialogue was not as juvenile.  This could be due to one of the main characters being an older teen.

I liked the characters in this book as well and rooted for them to survive.

However, I still had trouble getting through this book simply because I had nothing pulling me back to it, unlike the scores of other Young Adult fiction books I’ve read over the last two years.

The fighting scenes in this book dragged on forever.  Perhaps young men reading these scenes will appreciate them, given the virtual reality games they like to play.

I am a female, which sounds stereotypical, but I just didn’t enjoy them.

The positives that I can say about this series is that I think it does appeal to young men who crave action when they read.  The text is not high complexity, and the chapters are short, which makes the books perfect for struggling readers who cannot seem to get past two or three pages in one sitting.

With all of that said, I am glad to have finally closed the back cover of this series.

I’m already nearly finished with a book a began immediately afterward.  I’ll be back with another review shortly!

Speak

I just finished another book, #8 for 2013, and all I can say is WOW!

Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a poignant look at a teenager’s life as she deals with her first year in high school and a secret that makes that year a living nightmare.

Her story is told first-person.  It is smartly written.  In fact, I could easily imagine my own students’ thoughts coming to life on paper.

I’m sure many of you have already read this or seen the movie.  Most of the students who saw me reading the book shared their love for both as well.

I, however, have only been teaching Intensive Reading for two years now, so Young Adult Fiction is a genre that is still a bit new for me.

I’m playing catch-up.

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

😉