Rating: 
(105 reviews)
Author: James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Product Description
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.
5 Comments
Attention – this review contains spoilers. Typically, I don’t give away the surprises throughout the story, but I have to for this review. If you want things to be a surprise, which I recommend, don’t read this review and read the book based off of my recommendation.
The Maze Runner was exactly what I was hoping it would be. The world that Dashner has created is the perfect type of dystopian society that science fiction books are typically known for. However, what makes it particularly unique, is that this dystopian world is a world within a world.
The world that Thomas wakes up in with his memory lost is a Lord of the Flies type of scenario. The maze world is populated only by teenage boys, and each has particular tasks that they’re in charge of performing in order to make sure that their little world can continue working. The other world is the outside world, that some of them seem to have some faint memories of, and when they go through the Changing, they remember that their world is not a world worth going back to. However, they still hold out hope that there must be something better than what they have now, and so they attempt to solve the maze
What Dashner has cleverly done to avoid the boys fighting amongst each other is given them something to hope for, something to work toward. They channel all of their respective energies into solving the maze and finding freedom rather than fighting against each other. In that way, it’s unique from Lord of the Flies or many of the other dystopian science fiction novels.
There is a good balance between the death of the boys, and the difficult situation they’ve found themselves in, and the hope they retain for discovering freedom, coupled with their intelligent pursuit of that goal. They crack codes, which is an interesting discovery process as well for the reader.
Lastly, the ending is perfect for the way the setting and plot slowly reveals itself to the reader throughout the novel. You don’t know any more than the characters do themselves, and that’s part of the adventure. In addition, the fake murder of the scientists, and the false hope they’ve placed these characters within yet again makes for a tantalizing next novel. Often with follow up books, they are rarely as good as the first because everything has already been revealed, and there is no mystery. I recommend this book to all readers 13+.
-Lindsey Miller,[...]
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a interesting idea that Dashner brought to life. I agree that it was a little slow to start but before the first 50 pages of the story I found myself wondering where James Dashner was headed and what was going to happen to Thomas, and then Teresa, and the host of other boys that were living in this strange place called the Glade. I am not one to linger on the details of the story because I really do not like reading overly long reviews. So I will keep it short and sweet. This book is well worth reading. It is great for teenage boys and girls will like it too. At this point the story (who knows how the next two books will be!) is not bogged down with a smoldering romance but it is instead full of the ideas about survival, courage, optimism vs. loss of hope and then complimented with situations that force the boys to face ideals such as honesty, trust, and love–all good things for teenagers to read about! I highly recommend it for all teenagers…the reason for only 4 stars would be because of the slow start but it ended with punch that has left me with great anticipation for the next installment. Yet another series that leaves me hungry for more…this will indeed fill the gap for those that love the The Hunger Games.
With the recent release of //The Maze Runner//, we definitely have entered into a new trend of dystopian YA books. Previous books, like //The Hunger Games// and //The Forest of Hands and Teeth//, began the move from Harry Potter clones to post-apocalypse novels centered around young adults. Here, a group of teen boys is trapped in a maze, with a center safe zone that closes off at night to protect them from the Grievers, biomechanical monsters roam the maze after dark. None of them have any memories of their lives before waking up in the elevator headed for the Maze. They may not know why they are there, but they do know they need to solve the Maze to try and leave. The story is told through the eyes of Thomas, who not only seems to be recognized by some of the other inhabitants, but also seems to be recalling memories of elements of the Maze in contradiction to the normal near total amnesia everyone suffers. The next day, a girl shows up in the elevator, the first to every appear, and she brings with her a warning that puts pressure on Thomas and the others to quickly find an answer to the Maze.
Dashner has said that two of the big influences when writing //The Maze Runner// were //Ender’s Game// and //Lord of the Flies//. Both come across, but Dashner has a more upbeat view of how a group of boys will pull together. Highly recommended.
Audible Authors Interview
Really great book. I read it in two days. My husband, a non-reader, was attracted by the cover and he is about to finish it after four days. Would make a good movie if done correctly.
Others have compared this novel to “Lord of the Flies” because it is a survial-mode group of boys, trying to figure how to live together in “the maze”. I think that “Lord of the Flies” was less about survival-mode, and more about how humans relate to one-another, a much more complex story told, based on a premise /backdrop built to illuminate same.
This is more about circumstance, and survival and the unraveling of this mystery. It drags us blind, kicking and screaming to it’s “revelations”.
As anticipated, the Maze” is pretty much foretelling what and why these young people are here. And, as expected, the answer leaves this book open-ended enough for a #2 to come. Yes it’s a “dark” book, but that doesn’t necessarily make it good.
I think this could translate better as a film script, with exciting visuals and foreboding music and special effects, as the humanity of these characters are never truly explored to any satisfaction, nor are they very likable.
Just my .02 for free.
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