Maze Runner (Maze Runner, #1)

by James Dashner

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The entire time I was reading The Maze Runner one thought kept cycling through my mind: how is the movie even called "The Maze Runner"? Because, you see, I saw the movie first. I kept meaning to pick up the book, but something always got in the way. When the movie came out, I wanted to read the book first, but, you know, life happened. I went into the film and absolutely loved every second of it! So I of course made time for the book as soon as possible. My conclusion is that I probably would have hated the movie had I read the book first. Probably.

The Maze Runner, while slow at times, was actually pretty amazing. It begins with Thomas, the main character, in a pitch black box with no idea of where he is (or where he came from) and immediately I just had to know what happened next! I had kind of a hard time accepting the differences from the movie, but once I got over it I was hooked.

The most difficult thing to get over was the changes in the characters. The most obvious difference (and this is probably because I listened to the audiobook) was Alby. Hearing his southern accent was totally off-putting, as was his jerk attitude. I did enjoy getting to know Minho and Newt immensely, however. I also really appreciated the relationship between Thomas and Teresa a lot - especially their special ability that obviously wasn't mentioned in the film.

The world of The Maze Runner seemed a lot more interesting than the one I saw on the big screen. I loved the way the Glade and the Maze were described. It makes me wonder why they changed SO MUCH in the film when the book had already done such a great job! The Glade in the book was so jarringly different from the real world that it made me a little uncomfortable just reading about it. The Maze itself was also much more creepy - especially the way out. WHY would they change that?! Overall, things in the book just made a heck of a lot more sense. The movie left me with a million questions (which is probably why I was so quick to get the book).

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed both, but for different reasons. The movie was an amazing action film and the suspense was tangible. In the book I felt like I got to know the characters a lot better and learned a lot more. The way the puzzle of the Maze was handled in the book made me feel a lot more involved too. I would definitely recommend The Maze Runner, book and film, to everyone!


Notes on the Audiobook
I don't listen to a lot of books narrated by men, so it always takes a little while to get used to for some reason. Mark Deakins was actually pretty great! He had distinct voices for each character, which is always a bonus, and none of them sounded super cheesy or weird (except Alby, for reasons I've already stated). I'd definitely listen to more books narrated by Mark Deakins.