The Maze Runner (#1) by James Dashner: Book Review

 

 

The Maze Runner (#1) by James Dashner: Book Review

 

 *No. of pages: 374

*Average Rating on Goodreads: 4/5

*My Rating on Goodreads: 5/5

 

SYNOPSIS via Goodreads:

 

“If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.”

 

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers–boys whose memories are also gone.

Outside the towering stonewalls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out–and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

 

—–

 

Review:

 

The Maze Runner will give you a surge of adrenaline at the very beginning of the thrilling trilogy. That is a promise. However if you’re the type of reader who wants to lie down, chill by the sunset as you read a calming book… well you better close The Maze Runner and put it down. But if you’re flexible enough and can survive the intense happenings and thrilling journey in this dystopian novel, then read on fellas, because TMR would give you a brutal jolt of excitement in every chapter!

Everything is a huge question mark in this book. You’d question why this is like this or why that is like that and there’d be a plausible reason to be confused at every turn of the page, simply because it is a mystery and a complicated puzzle you have to figure out. You’d be anything but bored because rest assured, there is definitely no drag part. I’m telling you, I’m hyped all throughout that I get jitters out of anticipation, because something awesomely good would always happen. You can trust James Dashner to provide you that!

Thomas wakes up in the Glade, a place where everyone tries to live their normal lives after waking up surrounded by the walls of the maze. The ones who live in the Glade are called the Gladers, Thomas is one of them now.

Thomas, the main character of the story, knew from the very beginning that he is different from the other Gladers. The question is: Will his being “different” be enough to see him and everyone else out of the intricate maze, or is there something much deeper lurking in the history of Thomas and the only girl who arrived after him, named Teresa?

Thomas is your usual main character whose purpose is to set about big changes in a place where all seems lost. Before anything else however, he needs to know who he truly is. The only difference with our protagonist is that he really does need to know who he is beyond his name. Like the rest of the Gladers, Thomas has no recollection of anything before he found himself in the maze. It was like they only came into awareness when they were already being lifted up by a junky elevator of some sort, to the maze that’s apparently designed to devour them in their confusion. Yet Thomas is different, and his memories may hold the key out of the colossal and ever-changing maze.

The maze changes constantly. At night, its walls seal up to prevent creatures from inhabiting their safe haven. Creatures called the Grievers, would be the death of anyone when they stay even for just a night trapped inside the walls of the maze. No one ever survived a night inside, supposedly. That’s why being a Runner is not a joke, not something one should take delight in volunteering for. Runners are the ones who go out when the sun is up, to study the maze and seek a way out for everyone. It is a dangerous job, a risky duty. So why does our Greenie (means newbie), Thomas, have this extreme urge to be a Runner?

As marked changes occur since Thomas got into the maze, everyone in the maze began to either doubt or think ill of him, and he does everything he can to prove them wrong. Yet the question still remains: is he, let alone Teresa, really innocent?

 

It is one thing to be doubted by others… it is entirely different to doubt yourself.

 

This book offers its readers a shock or at least a cause for bewilderment at every turn. And the best part? James Dashner is such a remarkable author that even though he created a surreal and disorienting place inhabited by creatures that are as novel and startling, his way with words and masterful execution effectively captures the imagination of his readers; it’s like you’re seeing everything through Thomas’ eyes.

Another great aspect of this book is how ingenious the whole plot is. Nothing is unessential, every happening is either justified by or related to events yet to unfold, and thinking how seamlessly he has laid down this intricate weave of a novel … just wow! This is nothing like the dystopian novels that I have read, and this is most certainly neither chic-flick nor mainstream. Guys, just wow!

 

The important questions you’d be asking when you’re inside the maze:

1.) Where am I?

2.) Who put us here?

3.) How do we get out?

4.) What is the purpose of all of this?

5.) What world lies outside the maze?

6.) Do we really want to get out?

 

Yes, yes, I know! It is definitely exciting and I can’t help but fangirl uncontrollably while I’m writing this. And this is me being honest… there was nothing in this book that I didn’t like, and that is pretty unusual for me. I’m the type of reader who wants to see more romance in a book, even if the story itself is set in a world ravaged by war or death or starvation. Yet with this one, I didn’t seek even a morsel of love. I only wanted more action, more mystery; more thrill… and I got it!

Surprise would be your new best friend, all the way to the last couple of chapters. And when you think that nothing can surprise you any further, well I hate to break it to you but this is merely the first book… and there are two more!

So sit back… um, you won’t be able to relax… but you’d definitely enjoy! I promise!

The Maze Runner book to movie adaptation is out on September 17, 2014!