Book Review: The Fever Code

Despite many good reviews from my friends, I wasn't convinced that the Fever Code, the prequel in the Maze Runner series, was worth my time and money.  I've always been suspicious of spin off books, based on bad experiences and the general hunch that authors will do anything for more cash. The seventeen thousand "novellas" from the Percy Jackson series make a good example, although it's not a very popular opinion, I think! Anyway, despite misgivings, I downloaded the free sample from Amazon and got reading.

I was hooked.

In a breath, this book covers everything leading up to the first book - Thomas and Theresa's relationship, meeting Chuck and the rest of the Gladers and, most importantly, the power struggles of the corrupt, decaying institute: WICKED.

If you'd like to read more, please clicky "read more" below. If not, keep scrollin'.


As it's written by the popular author James Dashner, you can be assured of the flowing descriptions and chilling scenes that popularized the previous series. However, what I was most amazed by was the sheer quality of the plot. For a prequel, I didn't have very high hopes - a prequel has to be mindful of the series that follows, so action and plot twists are kept to a minimum, as it needs to fit seamlessly into the plot of the next books in line. Amazingly, James Dashner has managed to create a whole sub-story inside this one book - complete with character building, a climax and a heart wrenching twist at the end.

As for the usual inappropriate content bit: nothing sexual or explicit, but lots of gore and some violence. If you've read the other books, you'll be used to it - it comes as standard to the Maze Runner series, but if creepy scenes and gore isn't your thing, I'd suggest giving this one a pass.

So, to conclude: A must read if you've read the series - it answers all your questions about what happened before the Kill Order, and puts a new spin on the series. If you like the look of this but haven't read the series. I'd suggest reading them first - this book contains a heck of a lot of plot spoilers!

Happy Reading!