Author: James Dashner
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN-10: 0385737955
ISBN-13: 978-0385737951
Synopsis:
The first book in the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series—The Maze Runner is a modern classic, perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.
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 thirty 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.
The Maze Runner was first published in October 2009 but in light of the recent film adaptation, I thought I would give the book a review. I had recently been in a book funk were I couldn’t make it past page 40 of any book I open, and this book released me from phase.
From the moment you open The Maze Runner you’re off to the races. While it doesn’t open with action, it opens in the elevator as Thomas is being delivered to the Glade and everything from that point his high tension. The writing remains that way for the entire book only quieting for times of introspection which are at times just heart pumping as when there’s action.
When the elevator opens up in the Glade, Thomas is thrown into a group of approximately 50-60 other boys, all of them teenagers, with no memory of who he was before the elevator. The book has the feel of Lord of the Flies except rather than creating warring factions, the boys are mature and intelligent enough to create roles for each of them to play within their little society. One of those roles revolves around the Maze which surrounds the Glade and the attempt to find a way out. And the Maze isn’t just any old maze, it also harbors a deadly creature called a Griever.
My hands-down favorite part about the book is the language of the boys. When you get a pack of teenage boys together you would expect rampant cursing. The boys have created a language (much like Battlestar Galactica’s “Frak”) where they’ve replaced all the curse words with similar non-sense words like “Shuck-face” and “Klunk” and it gives a light-hardheartedness to what would have been a really heavily swear loaded book
The Maze Runner is a really fast read and I highly recommend it. It is the first part in a three part series followed by The Scourch Trials and The Death Cure. A prequel to the series The Kill Order was released last year.
I give The Maze Runner by James Dashner Five Out of Five Stars.
The Maze Runner is available to order from Amazon; here’s the link:
[AMAZONPRODUCT=0385737955]
