The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 6, 2009
Pages: 379
Source: purchased
Buy It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.--Goodreads
Everyone
in the Glade arrived in the Box, remembering nothing except their first
name. The Creators sent them to survive
and these teens try to do just that.
Thomas enters through the Box like everyone else, but he is
special. He becomes the first newbie to
take to the Glade without tears and he finds things familiar. Like he remembers something. The Gladers work to solve the Maze that they
have been running through for about two years, like mice they are trapped
within the small community, looking for an escape. Does Thomas hold the answer?
This
book was good. It is mainly targeted
toward tween boys, I would say, but I enjoyed it all the same. However, there were a few things that irked
me that I will mention below.
The
cover, more specifically the hardcover copy, has a picture of the doors to the
maze. It is described in the novel
almost perfectly to the cover, which makes me excited because the cover almost
never makes sense to the story inside.
However, the brief excerpt on the back cover was about the doors closing
for the night. This scene happens in the
very beginning and almost has nothing to do with the overall story, so I saw no
point in having it on the cover. The
excerpt made me want to read it in the first place and to have it come and go
as quickly as those doors close was disappointing.
Dashner
created this unique world and I loved being immersed in the Glade. I loved the idea of the Maze and how these
teenagers had created such a wonderful community in the years they had been
there. But Dashner also created a
not-so-original language for the Gladers, such as klunk, shank, and shuck. This language was used very strongly, as
their personal code of cursing, with most of the Gladers and even Thomas caught
on to the language before long. I did
not like the language; it got annoying being used all the time.
The
plot was good. I was almost as curious
as Thomas when we were introduced to the Glade and the Maze. I immediately wanted to go explore. I loved almost every scene that involved the
Maze, but found myself bored when they were stuck in the Glade working. It was a bit slow in the beginning until they
formally introduce the Maze to Thomas.
It picked up from there and gradually got better.
The
ending killed me. It is the epilogue
that always teases you that there will be more.
I wasn’t expecting something like that to happen and, of course, it was
a cliffhanger. I loved the ending and
was on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what was going to happen
next. The next installment of the
series, The Scorch Trials, is something that I will be definitely looking
into.
James
Dashner created a world that readers will enjoy hearing about. This book is highly readable and makes for a
great gift for any boy. My brother even
read it before me and enjoyed every second.
First Sentence:
“He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.”—The Maze Runner by James Dashner, p.1
Rating:
Rated PG for implied language and scary themes.
Cover:
3
Characters:
4
Plot:
3
Ending:
4
Writing
Style: 3
Overall:
Overall:
2 comments
I like these kind of books more on the big screen lol. Maybe if the book had a romance I would read it LOL. I've thought about buying it, but always stop myself. LOL Great review though!
ReplyDeleteI read this a while ago and enjoyed it quite a bit at the time even though it wasn't a seamless read for me. Great review! :)
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