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Yesterday I finished my second James Dashner novel, The Kill Order and it was pretty good. I very much enjoyed it! So why am I cursing the author? Good question.
The first time I read a book from this author was last summer. I just heard that James had been invited to attend Utah's first ever Comic Con. He was one of the first authors announced. Since I was going as an author, I thought I should read something from the other authors, you know, if case I run into them or we're on a panel together (we didn't share a panel at the Comic Con, but I did run into him and said, "Hi"...). The book I chose to read last summer was The Death Cure, the last book of the Maze Runner series. I enjoyed it, but I think I would have liked it better had I begun with the first book.
Fast forward six months and I read the series prequel.
James Dashner is a deceptively good author. And what I mean by that is when you start one of his stories, it's not flashy--at least, it isn't for me. His characters are presented well, almost to the point of cliched. We discover the conflict in The Kill Order (solar flares wreak havoc on the planet...) then all hell breaks loose.
Dashner puts the pieces in place so well that when things start to go crazy, you buy into it; you believe it. It works and a dystopian story that you think might be predictable, takes you to places you weren't expecting.
Usually, I'll read (or listen because prefer audiobooks...) going to and from work and sometimes at work. When I get home, I usually shut down the audio feed. But James Dashner made me keep listening last night until I finished. Why curse Mr. Dashner? Because I thought I had him figured out.
* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13089710-the-kill-order?from_search=true
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