The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Picture Courtesy of Goodreads

The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #1
Release Date: October 6th, 2009
Pages: 374
Review by: Tessa




"If you ain't scared, you ain't human."

The only thing Thomas knows is his name and that he is so scared that he might need another pair of pants.
His memory is gone, but things are even worse when he stumbles out of the black pit he was in.

Welcome to the Maze.

For two years, boys have been sent to the Maze through the same box Thomas just escaped. All of them are stuck together until the Maze is solved.

We are not talking about a regular corn field maze here. Every night, the maze rearranges itself to a brand new source of torture. While the Maze is in its nightly construction, dangers run amok.

Without their memories to guide them, the boys rely on each other to live through every night, but everything changes when the first girl arrives.



This book is very comparable to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I even made a neat little Venn Diagram to show you the similarities and differences between them.

As you can tell from my beautiful chart, the books are extremely alike. I dare to say that I like The Maze Runner almost as much as I liked The Hunger Games. (And that is a big honor, considering how much I love The Hunger Games series and how successful they have been.) 

Overall, The Maze Runner was an action-packed book that could be equally enjoyed by both girls and boys. The focus of the book is on the action and mystery, which is The Maze Runner differs a little from The Hunger Games. (I am referring to the infamous love triangle between Peeta, Gale, and Katniss) Not that I do not like love triangles, but they tend up the focus of the book. 

I will warn you that the beginning is a little slow, but the pace of the rest is on point. Like any book where the main character loses their memory, Thomas is very confused at the beginning. Not much happened in the first twenty pages besides Thomas walking around scratching his head.

The mysteries in this book were amazing too. Just the right amount of information was given so I knew what was going on, but I was still left guessing too. For me, there is a delicate balance in books between knowing too much and not knowing enough. A great example of executing this balance is The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. 

The only thing I did not like about he book was that a lot of little things were glossed over. Sometimes, the whys were ignored in favor of more description. Personally, I am a naturally curious person. If an author does not address an issue or mystery, then I am going to get a little impatient (Can you tell that I am not really good at reading mysteries and thrillers?). 

The world-building is really the star of the book. I could perfectly picture The Maze in my head. Dashner's descriptions were artistic, but brief. (I am not really a fan of over-descriptive books.) I could feel all of the vivid emotions that the characters experienced. The only problem was that I never really bought the whole "monsters" concept. It seemed too freaky for me to even imagine. 

Another thing that I loved about The Maze Runner was the humor. Despite the fact that all of the boys were basically doomed, they still maintained witty banter. 

Here are some of the best quips:
"Just follow me and run like your life depends on it. Because it does." 

"It's kind of hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong."

And my personal favorite:

"If you're going to decipher a hidden code from a complex set of different mazes, I'm pretty sure you need a girl's brain running the show.

The Maze Runner is a great book for Hunger Games fans who do not know what to do with their lives until Mockingjay Part 1 comes out. I highly recommend this book to every sci-fi/dystopian/action fan. 

Have you read The Maze Runner yet? What did you think? If not, are you going to add it to your TBR? Have any of you watched the movie yet?