The Maze Runner

Title : The Maze Runner

Author : James Dashner

Genre : Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia

So, I wanted to put off this review for a little while, to see if my opinion would change.

It didn't.

I was so angry at the end of this book. I'd heard it compared to The Hunger Games a couple times, so I ran out to Borders to pick it up. I'm not really sure what it had in common with The Hunger Games other than kids being plopped in the middle of nowhere with no way to get out, and someone controlling their environment. 

Thomas is a teenage boy who wakes up in an elevator with no memory other than his name. The elevator brings him to a place called The Glade, which I kept picturing as a sort of garden with walls. The Glade is inhabited by many other teenage boys. Outside of The Glade is a labyrinth of sorts, but the layout changes every night. The maze also contains creatures called The Grievers which are basically killing machines.

A couple things about this book bothered me. For those of you that don't know me, I like lists, so I'm going to do this in a list form.

1. The ending. Just...yeah. Chuck? Why Chuck? I could have dealt with Teresa, or even Minho, who I really liked. But not Chuck. 

2. The made-up language/terms. Honestly, it seemed like there was no purpose for it. Calling poop "klunk" because that's the sound it makes? These boys aren't 5 year olds, they all seem to have a decent vocabulary, so why the need to switch words. I found myself spending more time trying to remember what each word meant than I did actually enjoying the story.

3. Thomas and Teresa being "lovers"? They're 15-16 years old! Now, I'm not naive enough to think that kids that young aren't having sex, but they were "lovers" BEFORE they came to The Glade. By the way, "lovers" was Teresa's term, not mine. 

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, some parts of this weren't bad. A few characters I actually felt were somewhat realistic, for example Minho. Chuck was pretty realistic as well. He reminded me of everyone's little brother, the annoying kid you can't help but love. 

I think I'm going to end this review here before I continue ranting. 

I doubt I'll be buying the second book in this series, but might get it from the library if only to see if Chuck comes back as a zombie or something. Because, I feel like that's something James Dashner would try to pull off, the "oh I was dead but now I'm not" scenario.