Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner 
Published: October 6th, 2009
Publisher: Chicken House (UK)
Pages: 371
Challenge: 100+ Reading Challenge, 350 Page Books Challenge, YA Series Challenge
Other: First book in the Maze Runner series. The third and last book, The Death Cure, was published on October 11th, 2011 (US).
Buy the book: Bookdepository


When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone. He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade - a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there - or what's happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything - even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrols its corridors, to find out.

After hearing so many good things about this book and the series, I picked up a copy and I have absolutely no regrets I did. It's a thrilling story that I couldn't put down.

In a dystopian future, a group of boys is thrown into a space they call the Glade and forced to survive. Thomas is the last boy to join the group and together, they need to figure out the massive Maze around the Glade. Every day, the Runners go into the Maze, looking for a way out.

The story was great, except for the little nagging thing in my mind that kept saying 'how does he know that?' of 'why now?'. Some things were quickly answered by Thomas, even though he was the last boy to arrive and should have the least amount of knowledge about the Maze and the Grievers. The answers were easily found and I would have liked a little more difficulty for the questions to be answered. After all, they don't have memories and shouldn't be able to answer certain questions.

Having said that, I thought The Maze Runner was a fabulous book and I loved how quick the characters grew up and took responsibility for whatever they needed to do to keep everything going in the Glade. The book made me wonder about things like why boys, why these boys, who are the makers of the Maze and more of those things, and I have to say the ending of this book had me intruiged to pick up The Scorch Trials - because it's pretty.. interesting. I loved it.

Dashner managed to create a world inside a world with distinctive charactaristics and great slang. While the story wasn't a rollercoaster ride in terms of action packed, the book held me thoroughly entertained the whole time and personally, I cannot wait to read the sequel.

My overall rating:


Four and a half stars to Thomas and the Gladers and their funny slang!