The Fever Code

by James Dashner
344 pgs  (Maze Runner series #5)

The Fever Code is presumably the final installment in James Dashner’s “Maze Runner” series. While it was written last, chronologically it’s the second book in the series, bridging the events of The Kill Order and The Maze Runner.

The book introduces five-year-old Stephen, soon to be renamed Thomas by WICKED. Thomas is taken from his family by soldiers from WICKED (World in Catastrophe, Killzone Experiment Department) and taken to their complex, where he meets Teresa, Newt, Minho, Alby, and Chuck. All of them except for Newt are immune to the Flare which has decimated the world’s population, and they’ve been brought to the complex so they can be studied by WICKED and assist them in developing the maze.

The book is the weakest, and thankfully, the last book in the series. It filled in the remaining gaps in the story, but it lacked much by way of surprises and suspense. Admittedly it’s hard to have those in a book which is a prequel to the most popular book in the series. You already know what the ultimate fate of the characters is, and the only reason to read it is to learn more of their backstory.

If you’ve read the previous four books, you’ll want to read this one. But if you haven’t, don’t start with this one. You’re not likely to read the others, if you do.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

After On

by Rob Reid
552 pgs

What happens when a social networking program and super-artificial-intelligent online dating app becomes sentient? Potentially, nuclear annihilation of the entire world, of course.

Kuba, Danna, and Mitchell are the owners of Giftish.ly, a soon-to-fail Silicon Valley start-up that provides internet pet food delivery services. But while their company hasn’t been a success, the incredibly powerful collection of algorithms and data-collection tools they created have made acquiring the company a priority for the owner of Phlutter, the social media and online dating app that has quickly grown to billions of users across the world.

The addition of Giftish.ly’s programing and datatools allows Phlutter to achieve what so far has alluded the tech world: true super-AI. But while a super-intelligent sentient being who can match those looking for love, or just a casual relationship with benefits, sounds like a good idea, it’s really not.

After On is a much more ambitious book than Reid’s first novel Year One. But it's got all of the characteristics that made me enjoy that one as much as I did. It’s funny, full of wit and sarcasm, ominous and scary, and told in a unique and entertaining way. On page one, the narrator dares the reader to finish and promises a gift to anyone who does. On the last page, the book delivers. 

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆