"The Maze Runner" by James Dashner | Book Review

Thomas wakes up in a dark box one day, remembering nothing but his name. He arrives in the Glade, a place full of other young men like him who have created a community in the midst of all the unknown. The Gladers are surrounded by a massive, mysterious maze; when he sees the Runners returning home from exploring the maze, Thomas knows instantly that he has to be one of them. But will Thomas be able to discover the mystery behind being sent to the Glade?

This novel has a really cool (albeit disturbing) plot, and that's mostly what kept me interested in the story. Having finished the novel, I want more information on who or what is behind sending all those people to the Glade, and I want to know all the secrets that I'm sure are going to start surfacing soon. I really want to know!

Although I enjoyed the plot, I didn't really like the protagonist, Thomas. He's kind of a prick. I get that he's sarcastic and that's a big part of his personality, and I usually quite enjoy sarcasm, but it just didn't translate for me in this case. In fact, there were very few characters I liked. Like, maybe one or two.

I'm also disappointed in Teresa's role in this novel. It's almost like she's there because there are no other female characters in the book. She has a potentially very interesting story line, but she's barely part of the story in The Maze Runner. I hope she's more involved in the sequels, because there really wasn't much to her in this novel unfortunately.

The description of the Grievers is weird, it sounds like a blob that shoots spikes, which I have trouble taking seriously. I'd probably get killed by the Grievers as I stood bemusedly gawking at them. I found myself skipping some of the repetitive descriptions because it's a bit scarier to think about what they might be, as opposed to what you're being told they are.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it was mostly the plot and the mystery surrounding the maze that kept me going. I didn't like most of the characters - I found them rude and irritating - and there was a lot of repetition, but it kept my attention enough to make me want to know the secrets behind the Glade.

1. Photo by Author; 2. "Teresa" by Dominique Wesson via deviantart in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.