The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner, #1) in YA and Beyond

Feb 16, 2012 Karen’s Library rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, dystopian, re-read-quite-a-few-times, favorites, post-apocalyptic

This is my 3rd reading of The Maze Runner. I originally rated this as a 4 but now after reading all the other books in this series, including the prequel The Kill Order, and then rereading again, I upped my rating to a 5.

I really enjoyed the premise of this story. What a strange life to suddenly find yourself in like Thomas did. And apparently all the other Gladers did as well. Slowly the story unravels bit by bit to one new horror after another. I was completely sucked in wondering what, why, h ...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Katy rated it it was amazing

At the beginning, Thomas wakes up in a dark room which he quickly establishes to be a lift, he is then thrust into a world called the Glade which is surrounded by towering walls that don't seem to end. The Gladers gather round curiously to try and catch a peek at the boy cowering in the lift, Thomas makes an surprised observation of the Gladers all being teenage boys of various ages. With their strange language and even stranger ways of living, Thomas feels confused at their weird customs, which At the beginning, Thomas wakes up in a dark room which he quickly establishes to be a lift, he is then thrust into a world called the Glade which is surrounded by towering walls that don't seem to end. The Gladers gather round curiously to try and catch a peek at the boy cowering in the lift, Thomas makes an surprised observation of the Gladers all being teenage boys of various ages. With their strange language and even stranger ways of living, Thomas feels confused at their weird customs, which isn't helped by the fact no-one will or can answer most of his questions as they themselves don't even know the answers. The only way the Gladers have ever known is that when the walls slide open they must try everything to escape the maze and survive.

Throughout the book Thomas develops as a character due to his experiences in the Maze, as a character he is extremely heroic but sometimes to the point of stupidity, he also repeats the point of not being able to remember details from his past a lot perhaps to reinforce the point that he has unexplained urges to carry out certain actions in the book. Overall, Thomas was an interesting and believable character with flaws that helped to make him seem more relatable.

James Dashner's writing is fast-paced yet manages to include all the necessary details, he explains everything about the world of the Maze as the characters understand it ensuring the reader understands why the Gladers act in particular ways during the book. All the named characters have separate characters of their own so the reader never confuses the characters at any given point. Every single detail of this book has clearly been thought out by the author from the walls, to the vicious Grievers that stalk the Maze at night to the beetle blades that are used to observe the Gladers' actions in the Maze. All of these details help to make the world more vivid and clear in the readers' mind.

In my opinion, this book was fantastic, a must-read for anyone looking for a young-adult dystopian novel that is unique in it's world, has a brilliant plot, an excellent narrator and will leave you wanting more, more, more! I cannot wait to read the sequel called The Scorch Trails as the ending was a tantalizing taste of how the next story extends the first story into a series. ...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Holly rated it really liked it

Great book. Very original. Had to speed read it. Hope to read the next two books more slowly.

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Apr 03, 2012 Teralee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopian-apocalypse, young-adult

I started reading this to some of my students in summer school and I got so hooked I found myself at home this evening finishing it. I can't wait to read the rest of the series and get a better grasp of what is going on in Tommy's world. So far it has a very interesting concept and is unlike anything I've read before. ...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Cristina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own

defiantly somthing different about this book. dystopian, orphans and scientific mind altercation what more could I say. I'm looking forward to see what is going to happen next. especially the world outside of the maze, if any of there family survive the flare. ...more

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