Virus Ecohorror

Introduction to The Maze Runner series

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner is one of the more modern entries to virus eco-horror. The majority of the series was written when young-adult fiction was mainstream and the combination of young-adult fiction and eco-horror makes the series a unique entry to both genres. The main series is comprised of three books with two prequels:
  1. The Maze Runner (2009)
  2. The Scorch Trials (2010)
  3. The Death Cure (2011)
  4. The Kill Order (2012, prequel 1)
  5. The Fever Code (2016, prequel 2)
The series follows a group of young adults, nicknamed the "Gladers," as they navigate a world ravaged by solar flares and a mysterious virus called "the Flare." As is revealed later in the series, the Flare was released by the Post-Flares Coalition (PFC), the governmental body that was formed after the solar flares. The PFC was concerned that the world's resources would not be able to sustain the remaining human population and decided to use the Flare as population control so that resources would last. However, the virus quickly mutated and the PFC lost control over it. An organization known as WICKED (World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department) was created in order to find a cure to the Flare but slowly strayed from its goal over time. To find a cure, WICKED created a series of Trials designed to study how and why some people called "Immunes" were immune to the Flare (including many of the Gladers). These Trials are the focus of the main series, but by the end of the book series (The Death Cure), the Chancellor of WICKED gives up and provides the few remaining Immunes with a place where they can live and repopulate. The two prequels recount the solar flares, the release and subsequent loss of control over the Flare, and the creation of WICKED and the Trials.



Plot information retrieved from The Maze Runner Wiki | Fandom, n.d..

This page has paths:

This page references: