The Kill Order (Maze Runner Prequel)
Clever
Emotional
Intense

The Kill Order (Maze Runner Prequel)

James Dashner2014
SPOILER ALERT: Read after The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure. When sun flares hit the Earth, intense heat, toxic radiation and flooding followed, wiping out much of the human race. Those who survived live in basic communities in the mountains, hunting for food. For Mark and his friends, surviving is difficult, and then an enemy arrives, infecting people with a highly contagious virus. Thousands die, and the virus is spreading. Worse, it's mutating, and people are going crazy. It's up to Mark and his friends to find the enemy - and a cure - before the Flare infects them all ...
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Reviews

Photo of Anna
Anna @ann_omalia
5 stars
Jul 13, 2024

Prequel série Labyrint jsem si zamilovala víc, než celou sérii dohromady. Setkáváme se zde s úplně novými hlavními hrdiny, 17 let před začátkem první knihy ze série. Mark mi byl neskutečně sympatický (mnohem víc než Thomas), a jeho přítel Alec byl přesně takový člověk, který chlapcům z labyrintu chyběl. Této knize nemám co vytknout, děj zde utíká rychle, dozvídáme se o vzniku nemoci Erupce a také o vzniku samostatného ZLOSINu. Pozor na anotaci, jako hlavní hrdinové se zde uvádí Mark a Trina, ale já bych spíše řekla, že hlavní jsou Mark a Alec, ale to je jen takový detail. Čtení jsem si užila a knížka mě vytáhla ze čtecí krize, ve které jsem plavala neskutečné 2 měsíce. Jsem ráda, že jsem to s prequely nevzdala a pustila se do nich, protože mi celý zážitek z Labyrintu velmi zpříjemnily. ✩ 5*/5*

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kayla @mooslibrary
4.25 stars
Feb 25, 2024

wow. just wow. the ending? i gasped so loud. i love james dashners writing and the maze runner world so much, i'm glad that this book didn't fall short - it's a great insight to the beginning of the end.

Photo of Holly
Holly@tolya
2 stars
Feb 7, 2024

Unfortunately, this prequel offers nothing to improve upon the original trilogy; it only presents a lacklustre story with little to care about. I'm kinda disappointed!

+1
Photo of Jaden Nelson
Jaden Nelson@unojaden
2 stars
Nov 30, 2023

** spoiler alert ** This book is not what I thought it would be/wanted from this book. I went on a maze runner binge and read all of the books (up to this one) in about a week and a half so I just picked up this book right after finishing the death cure. I thought this book was going to be primarily about the inner workings of wicked and the main characters would be Thomas and Teresa, so when these new characters were introduced, I found it hard to get into and just kept waiting until Thomas and Teresa would pop up, but found mostly nothing. Although I didn't find the book very hard to read (wasn't boring), I just really wanted this to explain Thomas and Teresa's past. I know this may be coming partially in the Fever code which I have yet to read, but the separate characters just made my liking of the book decrease a little. If I ever reread the series I won't skip this book, but I probably won't necessarily look forward to it.

Photo of Jess (the og)
Jess (the og)@jesszzxx
1.5 stars
Apr 1, 2023

I just got so bored of this book. The third book in the series had an ending I thought was great and finished it off, but this book just seemed to be adding to it unnecessarily.

Photo of aisha
aisha@aishas
3 stars
Jan 4, 2023

*3.0* Gives a good insight about what happened to earth in the Maze Runner world but all that happened was some cranks running around killing people.

Photo of Emelie
Emelie@swedishbookowl
3 stars
Oct 31, 2022

Nothing special really, but still good!

Photo of Gisela Ayala
Gisela Ayala @giselasmusings
2 stars
Sep 7, 2022

It was ok. At first I thought it was just another book in the series but it's actually a prequel. Very well written and I love the Maze Runner series but prequel was just ... Ok. It's good to read if you like the background on why things happened the way they did, but I just found myself wanting to read more about the Thomas and the other gladers lives after the Death Cure.

Photo of Tracie McMurray
Tracie McMurray@mrs_mcmurray
2 stars
Aug 18, 2022

Not nearly as good as the "Maze Runner" trilogy. The flashback seesaw was nauseating. I will not be keeping this book for my classroom. There are brutal killings and disturbing images. The weak link to the world of the "Maze Runner" series is weak.

Photo of Stefanie Sugia
Stefanie Sugia@stefanie_sugia
3 stars
Mar 10, 2022

"When will it end? We survive months of the sun beating the tar out of the planet, find a place where we can build shelter, find food. A few days ago we were laughing! And then guys come in a Berg and shoot us with darts and people die? What is this, some kind of joke? Is someone up there laughing at us, playing us like some kind of virtgame?" 13 years before Thomas was sent into the Maze, people who survived from the deadly sun flares have settled down and live in the Appalachian Mountains. Mark survived the horrifying sun flares along with his group, including an older guy who was a soldier named Alec, and Mark's friend named Trina. When they were just enjoying the day, a Berg suddenly flew over them and strange people started shooting darts at people. Mark and Alec quickly went to chase the Berg, and discovered that the darts contain a highly contagious virus.... Read the full review here: http://www.thebookielooker.com/2014/0...

Photo of Amanda Kordeliski
Amanda Kordeliski@akordeliski
2 stars
Mar 9, 2022

I feel two and a half stars is really more what the book deserves. The Kill Order is a prequel to the very popular Maze Runner trilogy. It is important to read the trilogy first, then the prequel. The Kill Order explores the last day of civilation and follows Mark and his friends in the post flare world. The novel goes from one fight scene to the next and at times the flow of the story felt disjointed. Overall, I found the prequel disappointing and frustrating.

Photo of Charles Albrecht
Charles Albrecht@charlesa
1 star
Mar 8, 2022

Meh. Frankly, I'm not sure why this book exists or what story it was trying to tell. You know how the Scorch Trials movie had the sense of being written from a half page summary of The Scorch Trials plus a list of characters and no more than two or three scenes from the book? This book has that same feeling. There are basically two or three scenes around the introduction of The Flare and identifying immunity that could be said to tell a story, but then there's an extra 250 pages of virtually indistinguishable fights that are increasingly difficult to wade through. You can safely get away with skipping the prologue and chapters 8-59. The conceit of the first three books is that somehow observations in the Maze and Scorch help WICKED determine how to fight the virus. This book does nothing to explain how researchers would come to that conclusion or even how those observations could even slightly be helpful. Those remain unanswered and unexplored. And I have the sneaking suspicion that even if an additional volume came out purporting to detail the formation and early work of WICKED, I doubt I'd be interested in reading it. The series has become tiresome and it's best to put it to rest.

Photo of Flavia Louise
Flavia Louise@flaviaaalouise
2 stars
Mar 7, 2022

** spoiler alert ** I would say it might even be more of a 2.5 stars. Now I did not have anything against this book while reading it. BUT there is no real story. The Maze Runner series in itself is controversely discussed and in that discussion I actually stand for the series and its quality, BUT the only really interesting part of this book is the Theresa file in the end.

Photo of madina
madina@humaintain
3 stars
Feb 26, 2022

i love it and i also hate it, a summary of what everyone thinks about tmz series

Photo of Kaley Catron
Kaley Catron@always13lwwy
4 stars
Feb 4, 2022

For once I was actually OKAY with a James Dashner ending. I loved the rest of this series (even throughout the sad tough times) But this story really gave me a new perspective on the Flare. And the ending wasn't exactly happy, but it wasn't really a cliffhanger like most of James' stories. Honestly, I really enjoyed it.

Photo of Diego Franco
Diego Franco@dylayl
2 stars
Feb 3, 2022

Sorry, but never again.

Photo of Áróra Lind
Áróra Lind @icelandicbookworm
3 stars
Jan 21, 2022

I think this one is my least favorite of the Maze Runner series. I didn't connect to any of the characters and didn't really care for the story. I also was kinda disappointed with it.

Photo of Eszter Baranyi
Eszter Baranyi@eszti-chan
2 stars
Jan 13, 2022

It was a disappointment after the maze runner. The characters were boring, and sometimes kinda cringe. The idea was great, but the way it turned out... not that much. I really enjoyed the flashbacks and the storyline (mostly at the end), but it had so much more potential

+5
Photo of Kathleen Boyle
Kathleen Boyle@kitkath
4 stars
Dec 6, 2021

"The Kill Order" is another great piece of work from James Dashner! I did enjoy the Maze Runner books more however as I grew attached to the characters a lot more. I was expecting a bigger twist at the end however, I just thought Mark would end up having a massive role in the founding of WICKED or something. This story is tragic from beginning to end. You know that their quest for survival is hopeless. I enjoed the insight into how the Flare came to be and also how the Sun Flares hit Earth. The Cranks were disturbing as always. As I knew the characters were doomed from the get go, I think that's why I didn't grow as attached to them. I was hoping this would be more of a bridge with but looks like The Fever Code will slot right between the two perfectly! I can't wait for the next prequel! Also, why on earth is the final scene cut from most copies? It doesn't make any sense that it would only be in the Barnes and Noble editions!

Photo of Sanne
Sanne @sankie555
4 stars
Dec 1, 2021

Fun but I was less in to the story then the trilogy

Photo of laura
laura@booksandpops400
3 stars
Nov 20, 2021

This book was a slow but i did enjoy it. I felt it was little bit hard to get invested in the main characters because they were almost all going to die. But the ending of the story saved it for the reveal about one of the main characters. I just missed the main character from the main series but overall i think it gave you so much info that makes series book 1-3 make more sense. It was not my favorite book but i like the new characters that we met, i i wish we had more time with them.

Photo of Lexie
Lexie@bookswithlexie
2 stars
Nov 17, 2021

Boring. Didn't care about the characters at all. I guess I expected something different.

Photo of Beatriz
Beatriz@bookishbia
1 star
Nov 8, 2021

1.5 stars I can’t think of anything I liked about this book but I feel like it also has a lot to do with personal taste (apart from some things that are just bad in general)

Photo of Barbara Rosas
Barbara Rosas@coy173
5 stars
Oct 24, 2021

PELIGRO DE SPOILER!!!! No, okay, el virus es obra del gobierno y no de La Llamarada y es todo una maldita trampa. Eso en parte me lo esperaba pero lo de Deedee me tomó por sorpresa. James Dashner hizo un mundo que me cautivo y en el cual cada cosa tiene su explicación (cosa que amo) y realmente me tomó por sorpresa en muchas partes. Mi mente estalló con este libro y me conmovió en muchas maneras. Amo a Alec y a Deedee. Creo que Deedee puede ser Teresa, por que al principio había una parte que ella narraba y por que me recordó mucho a Teresa. Morí con el Epílogo, pobre Thomas y me pregunto sobre su real, real nombre. El que le hubiera puesto sus padres antes de que se lo llevarán.