The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Thomas wakes up in a strange elevator only able to recall impersonal details about life, and his name. At the end of the elevator shaft a group of boys await him. They slowly initiate him into their world, and as Thomas adjusts to his new life, he learns that there are more questions than answers. The Glade is surrounded by huge walls that surround it, and beyond the gates there is a maze. A maze that these boys have to solve to get home, but each night the walls move around and change. Then there a deadly greevers in that come out at night to attack them.

The day after Thomas arrives a girl comes up from the elevator shaft, nearly dead. This strange new occurrence shakes the boys up. There has never been a girl sent up the elevator before, and usually newbies show up at least a month apart. The girls arrival sets more changes in motion, and if Thomas could figure out why she seems so familiar to him might be able to figure out why they were all sent to the maze in the first place.

I really liked the whole setting of this book, and related to Thomas’s frustration at being in a strange new place. The rules of the boy’s society and the way they survived was fascinating to me. I liked reading about the maze and how they kept trying to solve it. Then the stuff that they remembered about the world before when greevers “stung” them made a whole other mystery element come about. I wanted know not only how the boys would get out of the maze but how they got there in the first place. By the end of the book you learn the general details about why they were put in the maze, but not really all the details.

So, I really enjoyed most of the book, but didn’t like the ending. I’m not sure how to explain it without giving major spoilers away. Let’s just say a certain twist at the end of the story felt very manipulative so the story could be more dramatic. The problem was that it felt forced and weird the way it was written, and I didn’t like it. I’d love to go into more detail of why I didn’t like it, but then I would give away huge major spoilers Eh, the ending is pretty depressing, and has some disturbing violence. I really didn’t want to read or buy the sequel after I finished because the story was such a downer. I’m kind of curious now, but I’ll probably wait to check the book out from the library the next time round.

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