Book Reviews

The Maze Runner (2009)

The Maze Runner - James Dashner (2009)

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Science-Fiction/ Dystopian

The Maze Runner is really cool. James Dashner has created a world inside a world. What's outside the maze? No one knows.

Living inside the maze the Gladers have started from scratch, created a slightly different language to ours (clunks ...etc) and are making do with what is provided for them.

But what happens when Thomas arrives? Everything changes. Thomas has no idea who he is or where he is. Just as he is starting to get used to Glader life a girl comes up the shaft with a terrible message - She's the last one.

Every night the walls close and they are locked in. But what if you stayed the night in the maze? What would happen? No one knows, they never risked it. Every morning the runners go out into the maze to map it out and try to find an exit. Does the maze ever end? Is there any way out? Will they survive what's coming for them?

I enjoyed this book but I found I was often getting annoyed at the main character, Thomas. He is a very curious guy, but sometimes he just needs to stop asking the questions that nobody can answer and that he's probably already asked a gazillion and two times. I also found that the writing style seems like it is meant for younger kids (10/11 +) but because of the made up language it takes a bit of time to figure out what they actually mean. Another thing that annoyed me about the book was that one of the main points of the book was that Thomas had no memory and then when he finally got it back, it wasn't such a big deal.

Instead of showing us what the main character was feeling, like most authors do Dashner chose to tell. I found this too blunt for my liking. Also in terms of characterisation, I believe some of the other characters could have been further explored instead of us just reading about how frustrated and confused Thomas was the whole time. I also disliked how Teresa was portrayed. As the only girl she could have had so much potential for strength and independence. Instead she was just described as very pretty and smart, making her just another one-dimensional character.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I really want to continue reading this series. Yes, the epilogue left me wondering what was going to happen but I was not on the edge of my seat, ready to run to the book store for the second one. This book could have been so much more but I felt the writing really let it down. In my opinion this series might be better off left alone.

Comment what you thought about The Maze Runner :)