Maze Runner (Maze Runner, #1)

by James Dashner

[inlibrisveritas]

The Maze Runner is one of those books that fall into to the ‘hyped-up’ category. Everyone said I should read, even some of my customers…so I decided to cave in and just do it. Unfortunately this one didn’t hit the mark for me at all.

I struggled greatly through the entire book. I had issues with the plot, the characters, and the world-building…and in the end I was just happy it was over. The Maze Runner takes place in a odd place called the Glade and the surrounding Maze, which rearranges itself every night. This place is filled with teenage boys, who have all woken up in the elevator to the Glade with no memories of who they are or why they are their and now they must work together to survive and try to figure out the way out of the Maze. It really does sound promising, but after the first few chapters it became glaringly obvious that I wasn’t going to have my questions answered anytime soon…in fact I didn’t get most of the answers until the last 5% of the book. The book actively tries to keep information from the reader. Someone knows something? Well…now they’re dead, crazy, or can’t talk. The world building is non-existent. We don’t know where they are, why they are there, what the purpose is, or when any of it takes place…until the last 10%. The meat of the book is simply focused on Thomas as he tries to puzzle out the maze itself and survive the horrific things called Grievers. I’m the sort of reader who needs to be baited a long. You don’t have to give me huge mind-blowing answers to every questions I pose, but you need to get me atleast a clue here and there to keep me interested.

I can’t say I enjoyed many of the characters either, and I don’t really feel like I know them. Thomas is driven by his gut feelings the entire time, making him seem reckless to the other boys…but other than I’ve got nothing. The other books range between tolerable and utterly irritating. None of them are forthcoming with the information they have, they all act put out when someone puts in extra effort to try to understand or help out, and they all this incredibly frustrating use of slang that made me quit listening to the audiobook and pick up my paperback instead. Not to mention it’s mentioned they are supposed to be a really smart group of people…if this is what intelligent teens are actually like you should kiss the world goodbye because these guys were dense…

So in the end, it wasn’t for me. I do see the potential for the book series, and I can understand why some people love these books with all their hearts…but I just don’t have it in me to put in the extra effort to continue this one.