The Maze Runner Review

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Sci-Fi, Dystopian 

Blurb: "If you ain't scared, you ain't human." 

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers--boys whose memories are also gone.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out--and no one's ever made it through alive.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Me: Well, the blurb is definitely short and sweet. Okay, I had to read this because the movie is coming out in September and James Dashner is coming to Austin so...I think there was a lot of controversy about this book and so I decided to tell you what I thought about it. 

The Ups: The energy of this book really kept me going, wanting more, always curious as to what happened next and what they might found out. At first, it slightly angered me that they wouldn't answer his questions, but then I realized that that was a major part of their characters. 

I think that the best part of this book was the characters. All of them were so touching and real, but with their own uniqueness. One of my favorites was Alby, who had to keep it together and be like a tough adult when he was only a teenage boy. I personally have a huge fictional character crush on Minho. I mean, hot Korean guy who had huge muscles and has the perfect amount of vulnerability? YES. Thomas was such a wonderful protagonist. I feel like his courage and curiosity and sort of stupidity when it came to thinking about others was very lovable, as a character. I didn't get annoyed with him once during the entire thing.

Another thing I really enjoyed was how they didn't seem to know anything, and yet after a while they had all learned to cope. Most dystopian books the journey is already told and so the readers know everything that happens, but this one was a fresh read compared to knowing the intense history.

The Downs: I think that not knowing anything was nice, but when it came to the end, everything crashed down on me and completely overwhelmed me as a reader. I had no idea what was happening by the end because I was trying to compute it all. I still don't really understand what's happened, and although that makes me want t read the sequel, it doesn't tie the first book in nicely.

By the end when I kind of got what the purpose was, I realized that that was a really illogical and stupid reason for putting the kids in the Glade. And the kids didn't sound like the fittest, smartest kids. They sounded normal. So that got me very confused too. I think that the ending in general was very loose and that I didn't understand what James Dashner's point was for making the plot, and the maze. 

Overall: I want to read the sequel, but only because I didn't understand this one.

Rating: 3 kisses!