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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Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

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

showing 10 of 21 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Dec 23, 2015 Wendy rated it did not like it

Shelves: audiobooks, ya-mg, dystopian, science-fiction

For a "fun" YA book, I wasn't expecting this to be great lit or anything, but I was very disappointed with the fictional world's lack of immersiveness and the dearth of interesting characters. I guess there is a maze with tall ivy-covered walls, but I couldn't ever picture much of the world beyond that. And the supposedly scary Griever monsters -- what are they even supposed to be? The side characters are reduced to "the goofy friend" and "the mean one" and "the leader", while our hero Thomas is ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 08, 2014 Alison Harvey rated it it was ok

Shelves: dystopia-new-world, action-adventure

I really wanted to love this one - but I just couldn't get into it. Everything felt very convoluted and staged. To me, the story just didn't flow and I couldn't bring myself to care too much, hard as I tried.
...more

1 like · Like · see review

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

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

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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Apr 15, 2013 Lauren rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopia-hunger-games-related, books-b4-movie-plus-series

Waking up in an unfamiliar world, the main character must learn to survive in a world he doesn't fully understand. ...more

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Dec 03, 2013 Pam marked it as to-read

Dec 05, 2013 Karla marked it as to-read

Shelves: young-adult

Dec 21, 2013 Melissa Broadbent rated it it was amazing

1 like · Like

Dec 28, 2013 Lucy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Jan 09, 2014 Curlysue marked it as to-read

Shelves: own, young-adult, science-fiction

Jan 09, 2014 Barbara rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-book-ends-book-club

Jan 12, 2014 Jen marked it as to-read

Mar 30, 2014 Tammy Eaton rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014-challenge, 2014-genre-challenge

Aug 22, 2020 Nikki rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-book, own

Apr 28, 2014 Lauren marked it as to-read

May 04, 2014 Maina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

May 18, 2014 Mike rated it it was amazing

Jul 15, 2014 dani marked it as to-read

Shelves: 2014-to-read

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