He saw his parents murdered, he was separated from his sister, he was renamed, and he was told that it was all in the service of saving humanity from the dreaded Flare virus. Every day Thomas lives in the WICKED facility he becomes seemingly more privileged and simultaneously more haunted by what he sees going on around him. As the experiments and trials continue, he grows less able to convince himself they're good and appropriate, until finally one day he has to do something about it. This is another prequel in the popular Maze Runner series, documenting the time before Thomas and Teresa find themselves in the maze and answering questions about how Flare began and WICKED's role in the society Dashner has capably built. The plot moves apace, and tensions build nicely throughout. Although this is the fifth entry in the series, this combination adventure-thriller can be read on its own. Try this with Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series, Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden series, or Ilsa J. Bick's Ashes trilogy.--Welch, Cindy Copyright 2016 Booklist

Immune Thomas and Teresa navigate life as child test subjects of a corporation searching for a cure to the Flare. In this second prequel (The Kill Order) to The Maze Runner trilogy, Dashner reveals some of the events readers have been waiting for since the beginning. Riveting narration and the expansion of key characters' stories will satisfy fans while leading them toward known tragedy. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.