From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner, #1)

James Dashner

Start date: March 1, 2014

Finish date: March 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

Why we're reading this: YA/Genre Group Read - March 2014
[close] YA/Genre Group Read - March 2014

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Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

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What Members Thought

May 02, 2010 🥀 Rose 🥀 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopian-speculative-fiction, young-adult

If you're a fan of Hunger Games or Lost, you will probably enjoy this book as I did.

The setting is within a Maze and a small band of teens are put there one at a time within a box and their memories of life before wiped clean. Together they build a community, with a sort of government and jobs. The Maze Runners run daily to try and figure out a way out. Within the Maze are Grievers which are horrid creatures who either kill you or inject you with a poison that creates the "changing". Won't elab ...more

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Feb 28, 2014 C.C. rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2015, reviewed, male-protagonist

I meant to read this before I watched the movie, but I didn't get around to it last year, and my brother wanted to go when it was in theatres, so I went with him.

So I'm not entirely sure what I would have thought about the book without having seen the movie first. There are a lot more changes than I expected from page to screen, but I actually think I may prefer the movie version better.

There are 3 things that bothered me about this book:
1. The made-up slang. It just didn't sound natural and the I meant to read this before I watched the movie, but I didn't get around to it last year, and my brother wanted to go when it was in theatres, so I went with him.

So I'm not entirely sure what I would have thought about the book without having seen the movie first. There are a lot more changes than I expected from page to screen, but I actually think I may prefer the movie version better.

There are 3 things that bothered me about this book:
1. The made-up slang. It just didn't sound natural and the words were dumb.
2. All the holding back of information. Like why wouldn't anyone tell Thomas anything when he arrived in the maze about what was going on? They all know they arrived with no memory, and it was said that almost everyone spent their first week freaking out, so why not just tell Thomas what they know? Good grief. This also applied to other parts of the plot as well.
3. The solving of the maze didn't feel earned. Here the book really suffered from a "telling" instead of "showing" (view spoiler) but in the movie Thomas felt a lot more clever, whereas in the book he just felt a bit flat.

With all the withholding of information, this book just felt overly long. I kind of reached the point where I wasn't reading the book because I wanted to but rather because I wanted to finish it.

And yet I still want to read the 2nd book? I guess because I still think it's an interesting concept, and I do want to know more about WHAT THE CRAP IS GOING ON ~~even though it bothers me when the first book in a series is obviously a "prologue" rather than a story~~. So that's what made me rate this 3 stars, though my actual rating may be a bit closer to 2.5.

A positive thing to add, as my friend Sylwia pointed out in her review, I liked that even though this was a book about boys, it did show them working through their emotions and crying when appropriate. In fact for that reason I hope my brother reads this book as well, as I think that's a pretty important thing to show, especially to boys of a similar age. And in general there are a lot of dystopian books where you don't see the characters going through the emotions that are sure to be brought on by such traumatic experiences.

I also did like that Teresa was much more of a character here than she was in the movie. I'm still not sure how I feel about her, and the whole telepathy thing was kind of weird, but I think she made things a bit more interesting. ...more

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Jan 15, 2014 Debbie rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014-challenge

An okay read. This was on a list of 16 books to read before the movie comes out. I have a feeling this will be an unusual case of the movie being better than the book.

I couldn't really get a read on any of the characters. The only relationship that felt real was Thomas and Charles. It was predictable; no doubt about who would save the day. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series or not. ...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Tammy rated it liked it

Plot was interesting. Characters were somewhat bland. Made up slang was annoying. Of course the end set you up to continue to the next book. Series are sneaky like that.

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Jan 09, 2015 Jana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, x2015-pop-sugar-reading-challenge

I really enjoyed the book. I think my son would like it, too.

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Mar 06, 2010 Princess Bookie rated it really liked it

Shelves: read2010

Nov 18, 2011 Justyna rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, year-2013

Mar 03, 2012 Chimge added it

Mar 22, 2012 Zoe marked it as to-read

Shelves: wishlist

Jun 21, 2012 Its Me rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

Aug 07, 2012 Danielle rated it really liked it

Jan 18, 2013 Claire Fun rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, young-adult, award-winners, science-fiction

Feb 03, 2013 Kim DeCina marked it as to-read

Dec 03, 2013 Pam marked it as to-read

Jan 09, 2014 Curlysue marked it as to-read

Shelves: own, young-adult, science-fiction

Jan 11, 2014 Tracy marked it as to-read

Jan 21, 2014 Lynn marked it as to-read

Feb 07, 2014 Angela Cross marked it as to-read

Aug 22, 2020 Nikki rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-book, own

Sep 29, 2014 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: juvenile-literature, science-fiction, horror, fantasy, fiction, young-adult-literature, 21st-century-fiction, own-audio, dystopia, apocalyptic-virus