From the Bookshelf of The Perks Of Being A Book Addict…

The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner, #1)

James Dashner

Start date: December 1, 2013

Finish date: December 31, 2013

Why we're reading this: Voted as December BOTM
[close] Voted as December BOTM

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jan 24, 2014 Michelle rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014, dystopian, reviewed

This book took me some time to get into. I think it was a combination of stupid vernacular and lack of character development. You want explanations? You won't get them here. The author tries overly hard to keep you as in the dark about what is happening in the Glade as Thomas. Drop me in a place where I have no clue who I am, where I am, or why I am there, and you had better believe I would be demanding answers. Not so with Thomas. He just blindly accepts his fate for the most part, and doesn't ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2011 Rae rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Imagine taking The Lord of the Flies, putting it in a hat, shaking it up, and dumping it into the maze from the fourth Harry Potter movie (not the book one, that one was different), now add a bunch of unique elements, and you have The Maze Runner. For those that think that this is the start of what will be a negative review, it's not...I actually really liked it once I got into it.

The pacing in The Maze Runner was a bit slow at first (read: it takes 18 chapters for the plot inciting incident to Imagine taking The Lord of the Flies, putting it in a hat, shaking it up, and dumping it into the maze from the fourth Harry Potter movie (not the book one, that one was different), now add a bunch of unique elements, and you have The Maze Runner. For those that think that this is the start of what will be a negative review, it's not...I actually really liked it once I got into it.

The pacing in The Maze Runner was a bit slow at first (read: it takes 18 chapters for the plot inciting incident to actually occur) but once it got going, it REALLY flowed well. Between the main character, Thomas, acting like the stupid hero, and the multiple plot threads going at once, I didn't lose interest once it was caught. In this story, Thomas isn't only battling memory loss, he also is facing other boys that don't trust him, Grievers (killing machines that reminded me of a mix between the Reavers from Firefly and the sentinels from The Matrix), and of course a maze of gargantuan proportions that changes at night.

Characterization was a strong point in this book, and the character of Thomas' best friend Chuck was the thing that really kept me reading until the plot started. Chuck is the annoying little brother in a world where all the older brothers are trying to look cool to their friends...in other words, he stuck out like a sore thumb. It only makes sense, then, that he is the only person to welcome Thomas at first, and I felt myself getting annoyed at Thomas whenever Thomas became annoyed by this ernest little kid. Albi, Newt, and the other boys are equally well written (and just wait till you find out why they have the names they do!)

Okay, I have to get nit-picky here: here you have a bunch of boys stuck together, all in the throes on puberty, and not ONE of them has gone hormone crazy and started to advance on other boys in the total lack of females. Then a girl turns up...and they still act normally? I dunno, but hanging around high school guys and seeing how single thought oriented some of them are make me question this bit.

The Narration of The Maze Runner was extremely well done, and Dashner does a fantastic job of giving different characters different accents and inflections, as well as pitching his voice to give each character a unique tone quality. At the same time, there were no times that I was brought out of the story so much to think "that's an interesting voice," or "oh dear, dramatic pause" which is I believe is one of the best compliments that can be said about a narrator's performance.

Oh, and one last thing: the epilogue is a pure mind-screw...be afraid, be very afraid. ...more

Like · see review