The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Dystopian. 384 Pages. 4 Stars
Synopsis:
If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Everything is going to change.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
My Review:
Alright. I’ve wanted to read this one since I saw the movie a few years ago. (I didn’t realize it was a book until I saw it mentioned in the credits.) And since I’ve been on an audiobook kick, I finally gave it a shot.
Overall? I liked it. I’m planning to finish the trilogy. I did debate on whether to give it three or four stars, but in the end I rounded up.
The plot was intriguing and drew me in. That was probably the best thing the story had going for it, along with the characters. I loved Newt–don’t ask me why, I’m not sure I could tell you. I liked the dynamic between the different characters and how they all functioned in this bizarre setting. But like I said, plot. The whole idea of this story piques my interest and makes me want to know more. Going into it, I did have an idea of what was going on because of the movie, but I still found myself drawn in and wanting to know more. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. There are bits of suspense and it was pretty hard to put the book down. I think part of my fascination is that I love puzzles and the whole idea of a group dropped into this glade surrounded by a maze is really cool. I also really dig dystopian and post-apocalyptic stuff, which the book gives off vibes of, especially toward the end. I liked the way memories and technology played into things, too. I’m definitely curious to see what the next trail is. That epilogue was effective!
The characters were each distinct and easy to tell apart. I didn’t have trouble keeping up with any of them, despite the larger cast. Like I said, Newt was my favorite. But I liked Thomas, too. I enjoyed Chuck and FryPan and Gally and Minho and all the others. The relationships between them and how they pulled together to form this society was what I really liked. I didn’t care for Alby, but Newt did, and that made me care more for him than if Newt hadn’t. So, because of the characters I liked, I was invested in those I didn’t care as much for.
Speaking of the society they cultivated, the setting for the book is kind of the whole premise in a way. We had a fair balance of time in the glade and in the maze, which I appreciated. I liked how we got to see the different quarters of the glade and how each quarter had a purpose. Everything was really methodical and intentional and structured. Ordered, as Newt was so fond of pointing out. Again, the world was an odd, but cool mixture of mechanical technology and end-of-the-world survival kind of setting. They were stitched together pretty well, in my opinion. There was a pretty heavy focus on the surroundings, but I didn’t seem to mind that much. And, once we got to the end, we got a peek at some even deeper worldbuilding elements, which I’m excited about.
I can’t say I was a huge fan of the writing style. Some of the prose made me roll my eyes, and I wasn’t a fan of the in-world cursing. It was a world-specific word (a mash of two of our own swear words), but it was used all the time!! I got so tired of hearing “shuck” over and over, in any context you can imagine. I get that these are a bunch of teenage boys trying to survive, but it was too much in some places. The story was paced well-enough, but (and maybe it’s cause I’ve seen the movie already??) there were some bits that I just wanted to skip past. Don’t get me wrong, there were some page-turning suspenseful bits–and even knowing how most everything turned out ahead of time, I still was sucked in and didn’t want to put it down, like I said earlier. But there seemed to be a lot of the same repetitions that frustrated me a little. Things like Thomas having an idea that kept getting shot down and him bringing it up again and again until we got to the end and they finally decided to give him a chance. Or like how it took Thomas the entire book to figure out what WICKED stood for. That just felt dumb. Just little things, honestly, but it was just kind of frustrating when things wouldn’t move forward and I really wanted them to.
Content: The in-world swearing, as previously mentioned. “Shuck” is used countless times. Countless. There’s some violence, but nothing super graphic. Kids die, but we don’t see anything more than blood left behind or cuts and bruises if they survive the scrape. There was one death that was a little gruesome, but we still kind of glazed over it. There’s no romance, only a subtle hint that one might form or might have been once and they mention a pretty girl a few times. The biggest thing, honestly, is the themes of survival and the tension that comes with trying to outwit these creators and escape this prison basically. Kids stripped of their memories and forced to live on their own and fight of baddies and sometimes each other. I’d feel fine giving this to a 15/16+
And since I listened to the audio, just a quick note on that. I thought the narrator did a great job. I loved that I could tell the different voices apart and that the narration didn’t draw me out of the story. And it was formatted well with chapters easily marked.
More:
Book 2 in The Maze Runner series is The Scorch Trials
Book 3 is The Death Cure
Book 4 is The Kill Order
Book 5 is The Fever Code
Follow the links above to find more info on Goodreads. I’ve only read the first book, but you can scroll down to see my rating and review there. The books should be read in order.