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Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Genre: Teen Sci-fi

Publisher: Delacorte Press; Reprint edition (August 24, 2010)

My Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Synopsis from Amazon.com: 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 stone walls 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.

Everything is going to change.

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

Remember. Survive. Run.

Review:

This book had such a unique sort of premise, it's just a shame how it was written. I didn’t particularly like this book because it didn’t hold my attention-- the plot was so lackluster, and it felt drawn out. It takes so long for the actual action to start, or for any sort of movement in the book to start.

It could have been an amazing book, and as it is it has been very successful in catching an audience; there is a film for it due to release later this year. Had it been well written or had a faster pace, it could’ve been a fantastic read. I had to struggle just to finish this book.

The execution of this idea in story form was quite poor-- the idea alone was not enough to keep me interested. The writing itself was mediocre at best, but the writing was not the main problem. The story progressed so slowly, the events drawn out, as if the author was paying more thought to length than quality of the story. There wasn't enough happening to be interesting; it was dry. Not that a book needs to be filled with action every moment to be a good read, but everything in the book should at least hold some sort of significance, even the slow scenes. This book did not follow that idea.

The development of the characters was minimal, preventing any real connection with the reader and any of the characters. I found that I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters in the Glade. We cannot really sympathize with the characters situations (memory loss, confusion, loneliness, etc.) because there is no depth to these characters or their emotions.

The threat and unease of the maze is not convincing, either-- yes, there is the overhanging threat of the “creator” person, the people responsible for putting them in the maze. There is also the question of if they will ever solve the maze and escape, but we don’t really focus on that. It is mentioned in passing, but we don’t really sense any “fear” from the characters. The grievers don’t even feel ominous or fear-invoking-- they are rolling balls of goo and knives. Not very frightening, if you ask me.

I think this idea wasn't so good in novel form, but I think it will make a fantastic film. The visuals will be emphasized, and the lack of action of pacing in the book leaves for very little actual material to be stuffed into a two hour time. This is good for the film version: it will seem faster and we will not miss anything as viewers, because everything you need to know will be included in the film due to the lack of other substance in the book. The visual aspect of it will be what makes it a successful eye-catching film. The book felt like the author had drawn it out and added long boring, pointless sections so as to meet a page or word-count quota. As a movie, the shortness and lack of content will be a good thing.

It was interesting to see the idea of the rat-in-the-maze re-imagined. I really had high hopes for this book. As it is, I will not be reading farther into the series. However, I will go see the movie when it comes out.

Final verdict:

I give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. It got this many stars for the interesting idea and premise alone.

I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless you find boring, slowly paced books with not-believable characters interesting. If you do, kudos.

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Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner