This Week in Cinemas - Maze Runner: The Death Cure

It's time. Thomas is back to save the Gladers and find a cure for the Flare. Well, for those who haven't read all the Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner, that's the hoped-for conclusion. Highly anticipated, The Death Cure opens in cinemas this week.

For those needing a catchup (we won't judge—Dylan O'Brien's accident did delay filming for many months), you can quickly read the first two books, or you can quickly watch these video summaries for The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials.

But as with all great series, the final book is never the end. James Dashner has written three more Maze Runner books to, as he puts it, extend the world. If you're new to the Maze Runner world, read the three core books first. Then you'll get the story as James intended. You can read the prequels afterwards.

On to the prequels.

The Kill Order

James Dashner wrote The Kill Order after The Death Cure, so think of it as Star Wars Episode 1, but good and without cute small children and annoying sidekicks. This is set before the Maze, and Thomas, and before solar flares hit and mankind was ravaged by disease. A disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and Mark and Trina are sure there's a way they can stop everyone evolving into madness.

The Fever Code

This book is set after The Kill Order and just before the events of The Maze Runner. The Fever Code answers the story of the training Thomas and the others underwent before being sent to the Maze. We learn more about the Purge (The Death Cure spoiler), and the relationships between the Gladers before they underwent "the Swipe" that suppressed their memories. It's a nice bit of pre-story that saves us all writing fan fiction to answer the questions. Not that it really stops us, but still.

And to the companion book…

The Maze Runner Files

Think of this as a dossier in three parts: Confidential Files, Recovered Correspondence, and Suppressed Memories. The Maze Runner Files contains more information about the Flare, a transcript of Thomas and Teresa's first conversation, and emails from the WICKED server.

What are you most looking forward to in Maze Runner: The Death Cure? Or have you already seen it? Did it do the novel justice?

Read more by Bianca Smith