Wednesday, May 28, 2014

REVIEW: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner

“If you ain’t scared… you ain’t human.”  
 
6186357When I was in sixth grade, I read the Maze Runner and I absolutely loved it. I definitely would have finished the rest of the series, but for some reason I completely and totally forgot about the whole series until about two days ago, when I saw the movie poster for it while I was in line waiting to see Godzilla. Since the movie is coming out in September, I figured I should do a quick re-read and get working on The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure. The Maze Runner was even better than I remember reading it the first time.
 
If you haven't had the chance to read this amazing book yet, be sure to put it up at the top of your list and check it out before the movie hits the theaters in September.
 
This book is about a boy named Thomas who wakes up with no memory of his past life except his name. I will be quite honest- this book is kind of hard to get into at first. Most people that I know have tried to read it, gotten frustrated in the first fifty or so pages, and given up. I agree; at first, everything is confusing and frustrating. Thomas has a lot of questions, and everyone seems to want to keep him in the dark. Dashner might have done this to make the book more mysterious, but it just served to be extremely frustrating. (Have I used the word "frustrating" enough in this review already?)

However, if you can PUSH THROUGH all the boring beginning, I'm pretty sure you will love this book. I can't guarantee it; while looking through the reviews on Goodreads, I have found that half of the reviews are two stars and the other half are five stars. So it's safe to say I really don't have a clue if you like this book or not.

Personally, as I have previously mentioned, I loved this book.

It is full of mystery and suspense, heart-pounding action, and FEELS. {Some of the characters do lack proper development and make you want to throw them across the room, but mostly the characters are built pretty well.} James Dashner, if nothing else, is definitely very good at suspense.

Thomas wakes up in the middle of The Glade, with many other boys who are in the same boat as he is. None of them have any memory of anything, and they have all been trapped here; some for as long as two years. The Glade is surrounded by stone walls, and outside those walls is a huge maze. The maze always changes, and no one has ever found the exit. But the Gladers will never give up. Every morning, the Runners are sent out into the Maze, cautious for the Grievers, beasts that will rip you apart in the blink of an eye.

“A loud boom exploded the air, making Thomas jump. It was followed by a horrible crunching, grinding sound. He stumbled backward, fell to the ground. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it for himself. The enormous stone wall to the right of them seemed to defy every known law of physics as it slid along the ground, throwing sparks and dust as it moved, rock against rock. The crunching sound rattled his bones. He looked around at the other openings. On all four sides of the Glade, the right walls were moving toward the left, closing the gap of the Doors.
Then one final boom rumbled across the Glade as all four Doors sealed shut for the night.”


Shortly after Thomas arrives, a girl shows up, and that changes everything, because of three reasons:

1) She is the only girl to ever be sent to the maze.
2) She knows who Thomas is, and who he was.
3) She delivers a message that changes everyone's lives forever.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...