Unfortunately, I can’t tell you anything about The Kill Order by James Dashner. 
Why, you ask?
Because it’s the fourth book of, and the prequel to, The Maze Runner series which includes The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, and lastly, The Kill Order.
And if you know anything about me, you know I HATE spoilers. So you don’t find any in this post, and therefore, I can’t tell you about the prequel! I now see why book bloggers stay away from series books, since they are almost impossible to describe without giving things away!
Basically, something is wrong with the world, seemingly caused by global warming, which ends up placing some teenagers in strange, precarious positions. The Maze Runner series is in a dystopian future, and while these are classified as YA reads, the adult content (death, not sexual) and mature subject matter of the world possibly ending and many, many people dying, allows the books to be enjoyed by adults as well.
Here’s the Goodreads summary of The Maze Runner, the first book in the series:
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every thirty days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.
The Maze Runner books would be good for you to read if you enjoyed The Hunger Games but would love male main characters. They literally kept me confused and guessing the entire time, and then reading the prequel, The Kill Zone, was great closure to any unanswered questions I still had.
Are you a fan of dystopian novels?
Thanks for reading,
I find sometimes you can put a disclaimer telling people not to read the post because there will be series spoilers, but most of the time it is absolutely impossible to review them without giving the game away. I think you’ve a good idea here, introducing the set up of the series and providing basic information about The Kill Order. I do like dystopians but I need to branch out from the particular genre I was reading, there’s so much more out there and I’m stuck in romance triangle land (which I don’t mind, but you can have too much).
Personally, that romance triangle land is one I prefer to stay away from. But that’s what makes us all different!
I hope that I gave a good idea about how the series is because I really prefer not to ever give spoilers. Spoilers are one of my biggest fears in the book blogging world. I just try to keep them out of my blog as much as possible because of that!
I loved the Divergent series, which was the first YA dystopian novel that I really loved. I look forward to the last book but will have to reread the first two. This looks like a good series but I have yet to read Hunger Games.
Hunger Games is great and I’ve heard good things about the Divergent series, so I’ll have to pick that up.
I love dystopian novels! I don’t read many YA but I loved The Hunger Games. The Maze Runner is a book I want to read.
I agree with Charlie – probably the best way to review a series is to warn people of spoilers for the previous books in the series (so you don’t give away anything about the current book, but you do have spoilers about the previous books) – I think that would be fine.
I agree that giving the spoiler warning is a really good way to do that. But I have this personal fear of spoilers.
For instance, my husband ruined the Twilight series for me. Yeah, my HUSBAND who could care less. I was reading one of the books (finally after breaking down and deciding to read them a few years ago, although I can say I have stayed far away from the movies) and my husband was like blah blah blah Jacob’s a werewolf. But I had NO idea he was a werewolf. My husband’s response was asking if I had ever seen the Burger King commercials which apparently had Jacob as a werewolf all over them.
This is just one episode though of how far away I stay from spoilers because of this fear that someone will ruin a book experience for me.
I hate spoilers too, Your husband obviously thought you’d picked up on the fact that Jacob is a werewolf, but still, it’s a pity. I also don’t like it when the back of the book description tell you about things that happen quite late in the book (say, half-way). I want to find out for myself!
Of course, he would never have spoiled the book for me on purpose! I agree with you on the book jackets. . . which is why I usually skip them or skim them.
A fake spoiler story: My sister was working at her former sleep-away camp when the 7th HP came out. She was devastated that my whole family read it before her and was worried we would give things away. So every time I spoke to her on the phone, I’d blurt out fake spoilers, like: Oh my goodness, it was soooo sad when Hermione died! Or, I can’t believe that Voldemort is Harry’s real father!
She’d get REALLY mad, but then calm down once she realized I was joking. It was a fun way to terrorize a little sister, but only because I didn’t give away the real spoilers.
Ha ha! It still was terribly mean of you, Rebecca! You poor sister.
Eh, she’s younger. And she turned out fine. We’re actually best friends now that we’re older.
So she didn’t hold it against me too much I guess.
I’ve never even heard of this series until you started talking about it. I’m glad you refrained from spoilers because if I ever decide to read it, I won’t be disappointed.
Yes! And you can probably borrow it from your local library’s digital library (that’s how I got each book).
Hello, Rebecca!
How are you doing? I want to inform you that I nominated you for the “VERY INSPIRING BLOGGER AWARD” because your blog is such an inspiration for me. Feel free to check it out at http://bookmavenpicks.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/book-mavens-picks-receives-the-very-inspiring-blog-award/
I hope you don’t mind. Take care always!
Best,
Jhobell Kristyl
Thank you!!!!
I’ll check it out soon!
You’re welcome!
I definitely enjoy stories about dystopian futures in both novels and films. I might have to check out this series. I really enjoyed The Hunger Games and 1984. Brave New World was also a good one.
I think you would like The Maze Runner series. The books are told from the male perspective, which is different from The Hunger Games, and it has a really cool concept. Each book slowly reveals some information, and all the books put it together. The Kill Order really answered any remaining questions I still had.
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