James Dashner's The Death Cure closes out the original Maze Runner trilogy, and this audiobook, narrated by Mark Deakins for Listening Library, arrives with 31 ratings behind it and five written reviews spanning three countries. Thomas remembers more than WICKED realizes right as the trials are supposed to be over, and that gap between what the organization thinks he knows and what he actually remembers drives most of what these five reviewers respond to, from the earliest review posted in 2011 through the most recent one in 2025, a spread of fourteen years across a single title's page, which is a long run for any book to keep drawing fresh reactions.
Cshaf51 calls this the weakest entry in the trilogy but still rates it highly, describing the book as action-packed and praising how it keeps flipping listener sympathy back and forth toward WICKED and away from it, refusing to settle into a simple good-versus-evil structure. Kim Deister takes a more mixed view, admitting uncertainty about how they feel about the ending even while enjoying the ride, and framing the whole series as one long exercise in questioning authority and control over other people's choices. Bombarded With Books goes further, calling it a fantastic conclusion and crediting Dashner with making readers feel like part of the Gladers, noting that the trilogy's twists stuck with them well after finishing the final page and moving on to other books.
A UK-based reviewer, posting as Kindle Customer, praises the emotional range of the book directly, joy, sadness, and relief among them, and flags the violence and death content specifically, suggesting the book suits older readers rather than very young ones despite its young-adult positioning on this listing. A fifth review, posted from Saudi Arabia under the name Shahad, rates the book at 2 stars with a brief, critical comment, standing apart from the otherwise strongly positive reception the other four reviews describe in detail across three continents and more than a decade of posting dates.
What Stands Out
Commercial track record is the argument the synopsis leans on to make its case: the first two books, The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, both became blockbuster films featuring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Aml Ameen, Will Poulter, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Entertainment Weekly's description of the series as a fusion of Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games sets clear genre expectations from the outset. For listeners who have already sat with Thomas through the Maze and the Scorch, this is explicitly framed as the payoff book, the one where WICKED's claim that its methods are good finally gets tested against everything Thomas has survived up to now, one final time.
Momentum is what the reviews back up beyond the marketing. Bombarded With Books specifically credits Dashner with sustaining twists and turns through the finale rather than coasting on setup from the earlier books, and Cshaf51's back-and-forth read on WICKED suggests the moral ambiguity holds up through the last installment rather than resolving too cleanly. At 8 hours and 55 minutes, this is also the shortest of the three original books, making it a manageable finish for anyone who has already invested in the longer setup of the first two entries in the trilogy before reaching this one. The synopsis lists two further titles, The Kill Order and The Fever Code, alongside the original trilogy, so listeners who finish this one and want more of the series have a documented next step rather than a dead end.
Things to Know Before Starting The Death Cure
Kim Deister's review is the clearest signal that the ending divides opinion even among readers who enjoyed the ride getting there; describing mixed feelings about how the trilogy wraps up is a meaningfully different reaction than the straightforward enthusiasm in the other four- and five-star reviews on this listing. Anyone who wants a fully satisfying, unambiguous conclusion should read that review closely before assuming this lands as cleanly as the marketing around the series suggests it eventually will.
Content warnings matter here too, given how the book is categorized: filed under both childrens-audiobooks and teen-young-adult. A reviewer specifically flags violence and death as reasons to hold off on readers under 12, which sits at odds with a straightforward childrens-audiobooks classification and suggests families should check the content themselves rather than relying on the category tag alone to make that call about age-appropriateness. Shahad's brief, critical review from Saudi Arabia is also a reminder that the strongly positive consensus among the other four reviewers is not universal, even if it stands as the clear minority view here.
Best Suited For
Existing Maze Runner readers who have finished The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials are the obvious audience, since this book assumes that full setup and pays it off directly rather than working as a standalone entry point into the series for someone starting cold. Fans of the film adaptations looking to compare Dashner's original ending against what eventually reached theaters, and readers who enjoy series that keep moral lines blurry rather than resolving into clean heroes and villains, both fit the pattern these five reviews describe throughout. Given the one dissenting two-star review and Kim Deister's mixed feelings about the ending, readers going in expecting total closure should temper that expectation slightly before pressing play on the final installment of the trilogy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to listen to the first two Maze Runner audiobooks before this one?
Yes. The Death Cure is the third book in the trilogy and assumes listeners already know Thomas, WICKED, and the Gladers from The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials. The synopsis and every review here treat it as a payoff book, not a starting point for newcomers.
How long is The Death Cure audiobook?
8 hours and 55 minutes, narrated by Mark Deakins for Listening Library, making it the shortest of the three original trilogy audiobooks and a manageable finish for anyone who has already worked through the longer setup in the first two books.
Is The Death Cure audiobook appropriate for younger children?
One reviewer specifically warns about violence and death content and suggests it may not suit readers under 12, despite the listing's childrens-audiobooks category tag. Families should weigh that content warning directly rather than relying on the category label alone.
Do reviewers agree on how The Death Cure ends the trilogy?
Mostly, but not entirely. Four of the five reviews are strongly positive, with one calling it a fantastic conclusion, but Kim Deister describes genuinely mixed feelings about the ending, and a fifth reviewer from Saudi Arabia rates the book only 2 stars overall.
