Maze Runner 01

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!

Average customer rating 4.4 (7 comments)

---

`

When I read this the first time in 2014, I was 14, and I loved it! I've always looked at the series adoringly on my bookshelf and I gave it 5 stars back then. But now... I'm just disappointed. I found myself becoming so irritated with Thomas and the rest of the main characters. Thomas was explicitly described as a sixteen-year old, but the style of his narration made him seem more like twelve. It felt like a really inaccurate depiction of how a sixteen year old boy would actually be thinking and, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get over it. The plot was confusing (this applies to the whole series) and didn't seem that well thought out. The amount of back and forth, are they lying, are they not, oh they were but did it to protect them, oh they were lying about the fact they were lying... you get the point. I became annoyed very quickly with this whole debacle, so, considering it's a major aspect of all the books, that wasn't good. I understand that Dashner was probably trying to give the plot layers and make it more complex, but I just wasn't feeling it. I'm not sure if it's because the narration wasn't convincing enough or because everyone acted out of character all the time that it became the new normal. That being said, I love the original concept of this world that Dashner created, but I don't think it was executed well enough. The movies, on the other hand, I absolutely adored. The movie crew/script/director/etc made the characters much more likeable and removed all the characteristics that annoyed me or seemed out of place. They made countless changes to the plot, and I agreed with almost all of them. As a bookworm, this sort of thing is so rare for me (in fact, this might be the only time I have ever liked a movie adaptation more than the books), so I don't say any of this lightly!! Plus, I do love me some Dylan O'Brien and Thomas Sangster... In short, my re-read was okay, but I was really dragging my feet the whole time. The only reason I didn't give up was because I loved the movies so much and clearly I loved the series when I was younger. Overall, though: disappointed.

`

The Maze Runner is intense and definitely keeps you on your toes. I enjoyed the book immensely. The characters are great and mostly believable. The writing is fluent--I couldn't stop turning the pages! A reader of any age will enjoy this book.

`

Author James Dashner creates a sub-language all its own for teens trapped in the Glade, and it’s totally convincing, easy to follow, and a very cool adjunct to the description of a very strange life. Readers share Thomas’s sense of confusion right from the start, and are pulled straight into his thoughts and fears. As the Greenbean (newest member) learns his way around, the Glade becomes scarily real, but change is coming. And change is always scarier than following the status quo. The Maze Runner offers a taste of isolation, rebellion, change and mystery, with dangerous threats, monsters all the more scary for being so scarcely described, and the battle for control, of self, others, or destiny, rising to the fore. The story’s complete by the end of the book, but more is most urgently promised and it’s hard not to insist on picking up the next book straight away. I don’t know what the movie will be like, but I can imagine they’ll do a good job. The Maze Runner is the sort of book that creates just enough to imagine it all without boring readers in the telling; highly recommended. Disclosure: I kept reading bits of it in stores, so I asked for it for Christmas and I’m glad I did.

`

Maze Runner By: James Dashner I think that the Maze Runner was a great, fast paced book. I liked how there was no rest between action, no “filler” words, as it were. Once each little piece of action came to an end, James Dashner neatly transitioned to another adventure. The book starts with Thomas, a boy with no memory but his name, and a group full of other such boys in the same predicament. They are trapped inside a giant maze with monsters roaming it’s corridors. Each night they are safely closed in, and each day they fervently track the maze, trying to find a way out. On page 186, Thomas thinks “Never before had the sheer size of the Maze truly hit him. Miles and miles and miles. With it’s walls that moves, every night, he finally understood why the Maze was so hard to solve.” It seemed that they were doomed to stay in the Maze until they were all killed by the monsters outside their home. The theme of this book is to never give up, no matter how bleak the situation is. Eventually you will prevail. I like this theme and how we can apply it to our lives, and I think that the Maze Runner is definitely on my list of top books. Review by: Caden Francois

`

This book plays out like a long mystery, leaving you questioning everything you're seeing and hearing through the narrator's eyes. The Maze Runner has definite strains of Lord of the Flies, but I, personally, think it has much greater payoff in the end. I read this before knowing it was part of a trilogy and now I can't wait to see how the entire story ends. I'd recommend this for anyone who misses The Hunger Games or is looking to "hook" boys into reading.

`

Midway through this YA novel, and the suspense is killing me. Just what is this maze? And who are the Creators?

`

The Maze Runner was an intense thrill ride from start to finish. You enter the maze with Thomas, a Newbie with no memories of his life before coming to the Maze. All he knows is this strange certainty that he’s been to the Maze before, and that he needs to become a Runner. From there the story throws you into a whirlwind of adventure and mystery. What is the Maze? Is there a solution? Why do the walls move at night? Who created the Grievers, the Maze? Why can’t the boys remember anything? And most importantly, who is the girl, the first ever to be brought to the Maze, and what does she have to do with Thomas and a possible escape? Thomas proved to be a reliable and compelling narrator. He has the marks of a hero—willing to sacrifice himself for others—but he is also a scared teenage boy, simply fighting for survival. You follow him through the Maze and learn the secrets as he does. Dashner manages to keep you in the loop while still maintaining suspense. The end comes running at you and just as you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s upon you. And the best part: the story has a good conclusion, a solid end, but also starts the beginning of something more. Because of course The Maze Runner is just the first in a trilogy. Definitely on par with The Hunger Games, this series does what so many others fail to do. It entertains, its smart, and its impossible to put down.