Customer Reviews

The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Series)

I was recommended this series by a friend, who thought they were amazing. I certainly don't disagree.

This novel begins with the main character, Thomas, showing up in a area called the glade with no memories except for his first name. The glade has fifty to sixty other boys around his age in it all with no recollection of their previous life. All of the boys are attempting to find their way out of the glade through the maze which is next to the glade. The day after he arrives, another person shows up - but this time it's a girl. Usually they get one new boy once a month on the same day so this is highly unusual. The girl then seems to be the root of more problems that start occurring and Thomas seems to recognise the girl from somewhere. It is so interesting how everything is like a jigsaw, metaphorically speaking. The fun is in how the reader guesses how it all works out. Then you discover Thomas's secret near the end. A must read, in my opinion!

I must say that overall I did enjoy this book. It did have me wanting to read on and see what happened.

However I must say that I was slightly disappointed with the mechanics of the maze (I won't go into further detail due to spoilers) but I do think that is because I had already conjured up ideas about how all the different parts of the story would fit together and they didn't particularly line up the way I wanted. I will also say that there were some parts which were quite predictable.

Apart from those minor things (and as an overview they were minor)I would say the rest of the book was an enjoyable read. I will also say I liked the format of the epilogue and the way that was written, I am definitely wanting to read more

When my friends told me about this book, I was sceptical, thinking it would be a repeat of The Hunger Games. It was not. Although I loved the Hunger Games trilogy, this is head and shoulders above it. The description is unbelievable and the storyline is never boring. At the end of each chapter, it ends on a cliff hanger making it impossible to put down. I ended up finishing it in under a week and it usually takes me at least 3 weeks to finish other books of the same length. I cannot praise it highly enough.

I loved this book. The fact that it has a mini-cliffhanger at the end of almost every chapter meant I found it very difficult to put down as it had that "just-one-more-chapter" feel to it. I kept telling myself I would just read one more chapter...and then I would finish it and immediately start the next one and so on...

Thomas wakes up as as the lift he is in opens with no memory of who or where he is. He is met by a group of boys who introduce them selves as "Gladers" and discovers that they are alone and living in the center of an enormous maze. None of them have any memory of events before the maze.

Since mystery is a big part of the book it is difficult to say much more about the plot without giving away any twists/ it is probably going into this one knowing as little as possible.

This is an excellent young adult thriller that can be enjoyed by teens and adults alike. Original and addictive. Highly recommended.

Relentless in pace, and delivering several terrifying episodes, this teen novel is set in a sinister future world, peopled largely by boys stripped of all memory of their pasts - plus one girl who enters the story some way into the action. All new arrivals, delivered by the mysterious "Box", find themselves trapped in a high walled compound called the Glade in the middle of a vast stone maze populated by foul and deadly half-machine half-animal monsters called Grievers, who only come out at night. Four openings into the maze close before nightfall to protect the boys from the Grievers and open again in the morning thus allowing the selected few to act as runners, covering every part of the maze in a desperate search for the way out. The story opens with Thomas's arrival in the Glades as the compound is called, ignorant of who he is and how he got there, and the pace of the storytelling pulled me through to a highly ingenious but horrifying finale. Ultimately I found the premise of the novel a depressing and pessimistic view of the outlook for humanity, which detracted from my enjoyment. I also grew weary of the language the boys use - words like "shuck", "slinthead", "shank" and "buggin'" - though this is of course purely a personal reaction on my part - and the constant name-calling and aggressive attitude - although in the context of the situation they are in, this is on one level totally understandable. The story skilfully enacted a grim scenario only occasionally relieved by warmth and compassion - Thomas's fondness for and ultimate loyalty to 12-year-old Chuck, and the mutual attraction between him and Teresa and the psychic rapport they build up together.

In summary, though, I believe teen readers will be totally gripped by this story and will also want to read the sequel we are clearly prepared for at the end.

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What is it about young adult fiction and dystopian futures? Why do the nation's teenagers relish such downcast visions of their future? I don't know the answer to that, but this sub-genre has generated some great novels in recent years. Whilst never quite reaching the heights of Unwind, The Hunger Games or The City of Ember, the Maze Runner is an interesting addition to an ever-growing list of fictional dystopias.

The novel opens with Thomas arriving in the 'Glade'. He has no recollection of how he arrived there, whether he has any family, or what his life had been like beforehand. The Glade is populated by adolescent boys, who have arrived one per month, as part of a strange and little understood experiment. They are surrounded by huge walls, in which doors open during daylight hours. Beyond these doors is a maze.

At night the doors shut, sealing the Glade off from the horrific 'Greivers', peculiar mechanical-organic hybrids that ruthlessly hunt down and kill anybody unlucky enough to find themselves outside after dark. The entire area is a man-made construct - night and day are artificial, the climate is constant and the maze terminates at the sheer and vertiginous 'Cliff'.

Thomas's arrival immediately alters the community's dynamic. He questions why they are there and how to get out, sowing discord amongst the boys. In an attempt to find answers, he starts to explore the maze, and even takes on the dreaded Greivers.

'The Maze Runner', is an interesting novel, moving at a fair pace throughout, but it is never entirely convincing. The set-up is too artificial, and though there are some surprises along the way, the conclusion is never in much doubt. The interaction between the boys is weak; the various factions and feuds don't feel real, which is a great shame. Though the Maze is imposing, looming large in the boys' lives, I don't think the author manages to exploit its full potential.

The novel's conclusion, though in some ways predictable, does contain a number of nice surprises. Rather irritatingly, it also suggests a back story that is more intriguing than the tale told in the rest of the novel. The inevitable second volume looks set to take place in a troubled future Earth, with a premise that, if not entirely original, is certainly compelling. A series to watch, perhaps?

It's very rare for me to give up on a book before the end, but this was just too bad to justify my time reading it! Having said that, I did get a good 3/4 of the way through, so I gave it a good shot! The plot could have been an interesting one, but the writing was terrible. I found it to be forced, trying to build up the tension but then failing to deliver any reasonable responses. The main character is not likeable, yet I think we are supposed to admire him. Everything seemed to fall into place a little too conveniently to be realistic, and as I reader I was left thinking "oh come on...". In the end, even with only a short while to go till the end, I realised that I just didn't really care what happened!

Wow! After getting a good deal on all four books in this series I couldn't wait to start reading. Since I opened the book and read the first few pages, I was hooked. Questions flooded my mind as I was reading, awe at how well written it was and how easy it all flowed together. Reading it was so easy because of that and I just couldn't put it down. When I wasn't reading, I was thinking about it and thinking about when I could read again. The further I went into it, the more I couldn't wait to reach the end. The plot was great, and really helped to drag you into the story, it was like I was watching a movie. The thoughts and feelings running through me as I was reading, the vividness of the pictures that it places in my mind. It was phenomenal and one of the best books I've ever read. It's definitely a book for all ages and a must read for fans of dystopian, science fiction novels.

I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series. If you haven't read it yet, buy it and you won't be disappointed.

I bought this because it was recommended to me (by amazon) because I loved the Hunger Games so much! I have to say that I was really really impressed at the beginning! It was a real page turner; however I don't know if it's just that I went through a patch where I didn't feel like reading or something, but I did leave it for a while around the middle-endish.

Luckily I picked it up again today and finished it (with about 150 pages to go!) it impressed me again and I have recovered my love for reading again!

It's a real cliff hanger too - there is a sequal, and I am about to order that too!!!

If you liked the Hunger Games (and if you didn't then I think you didn't read that I read!!!) then you'll enjoy this too :D

3.5 stars

An interesting read all in all. Took me a while to get into it but once things really started to pick up, I was enthralled. The story moves along at a nice pace and there is plenty of action and mystique to keep younger viewers captivated.

Although I enjoyed this novel and want to read the sequel 'The Scorch Trials', there were a few things that I didn't particularly enjoy. The main protagonist, Thomas, annoyed me beyond me belief due to his superiority complex and how he very conveniently becomes the `saviour' of the Gladers after two years of them being unable to solve the Maze and he has only been there a day or two. Also seems rather too convenient how Thomas keeps `remembering' so many vital details essential to the Gladers survival, seemed rather lazy on the author's part that this happened instead of allowing the Gladers to explore these avenues themselves. Also, his relationship with Chuck seemed very forced and I did not envision it as being genuine in the slightest.

The Maze itself also didn't really represent anything particularly quizzical or scary for the reader due to the same adjectives used to describe it throughout the book. Similarly, the Grievers did not seem very monstrous to me. Due to the lack of description made by Dashner I just couldn't picture them at all whenever they appeared: describing something as a ball of blubber with knives and needles sticking out of it does not make for a good mental vision and certainly does not instil any horror in the reader.

Other than these few problems, I did enjoy reading this and I look forward to reading the sequel.