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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I just finished this book, and neither I, as the reader, nor the main characters in the story have any real idea what is going on. Something about the story that I found very annoying was that upon arrival, the main character is full of questions - reasonable questions - that no one will answer.
There is no explanation for this, and no reason that I can see. Another thing was the language; the made-up slang for which there is no reason, except perhaps to keep the book firmly in the PG rating area. Despite that, the book is an easy read, and thus far has been fairly compelling; I want to know what is going to happen next. I want to know what this is all about.
There is no explanation for this, and no reason that I can see. Another thing was the language; the made-up slang for which there is no reason, except perhaps to keep the book firmly in the PG rating area. Despite that, the book is an easy read, and thus far has been fairly compelling; I want to know what is going to happen next. I want to know what this is all about.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This whole series is awful, really really awful. It's obvious this is cashing in on the post-apocalyptic dystopian YA genre, but even then, it's so CLEARLY recycled The Hunger Ender's Games (basically...spoilers!). Also, I'm not sure I've read anything so poorly written in quite some time, underwritten in so utilitarian a way it comes across as very leaden and clunky.
Apart from the staleness of the ideas and the poor writing, the other giant problem is the incoherent mess of plotting and characterisation. So the premise is that our hero Thomas, whose mind has been wiped clean, has been dropped into a compound of teen guys who are trying to solve a killer maze on their doorsteps. The first eleventy chapters (they're all about 5 pages long) of the first book are incredibly boring because it's endless variations of Thomas asking a million questions: "Why aren't you guys freaking out? What's this? What's that?". In answer, every other character, who supposedly know stuff because they've been in this situation for 2 years, says, "We'll tell you...but we refuse to do it now, for really dumb reasons that this author has obviously put in to try to prolong the anvilicious nature of the answer." And when they don't know stuff, none of them seem to CARE, apart from special snowflake Thomas of course. No one has any kind of characterisation apart from the very surface of their looks, and a minute degree of how cranky they are and how put out they are by Thomas. That's it.
Don't even talk to me about Teresa, the main female character of the series.
Apart from the staleness of the ideas and the poor writing, the other giant problem is the incoherent mess of plotting and characterisation. So the premise is that our hero Thomas, whose mind has been wiped clean, has been dropped into a compound of teen guys who are trying to solve a killer maze on their doorsteps. The first eleventy chapters (they're all about 5 pages long) of the first book are incredibly boring because it's endless variations of Thomas asking a million questions: "Why aren't you guys freaking out? What's this? What's that?". In answer, every other character, who supposedly know stuff because they've been in this situation for 2 years, says, "We'll tell you...but we refuse to do it now, for really dumb reasons that this author has obviously put in to try to prolong the anvilicious nature of the answer." And when they don't know stuff, none of them seem to CARE, apart from special snowflake Thomas of course. No one has any kind of characterisation apart from the very surface of their looks, and a minute degree of how cranky they are and how put out they are by Thomas. That's it.
Don't even talk to me about Teresa, the main female character of the series.
This was the third time I tried to read this (finally decided that the audiobook was the route to go here). Not sure why it took me so many times to get into this. It does start quite slow - introducing the characters and the maze and the threats took a whole. But then Teresa showed up and that's when the story got interesting. She introduced a level to the mystery of the maze that wasn't coming through for me in the first few chapters. Plus, the action ramped up and more and more plot elements came into play. This book reminded me a lot of the Michael Vey series by Richard Paul Evans and "Variant" by Robison Wells - kids used in mysterious science experiments seemingly without their consent for The Greater Good(tm). I enjoyed this quite a bit after the plot started moving and I'm intrigued to see where the rest of the series goes. For this being out for so long, I'm surprised I don't know more details about the overall story, but that makes me even more interested to find out what happens next.
If it weren't for the popularity of future worlds in danger and teenagers saving the world, I probably never would have heard of this book. And I kinda wish I hadn't. The whole book was all build up and then a cliff hanger leaving you with so many questions. And the made up slang is bad. Good that irks me the most. But it left me curious enough that if given the sequel as a gift I would read it but I don't plan on buying it myself.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I enjoyed this book so much I finished it in one day. It's engaging, suspenseful, fast-paced, and pretty well-written. It's sort of like a cross between Ender's Game and the computer game Portal. ("Aperture Science. We do what we must because we can.")
Most of the book centers on Thomas, who finds himself in the middle of a maze with no memories, trying to solve the mystery of the maze. Because no explanation is given at first, suspension of disbelief is easy. As the story goes on, the story gets a bit harder to swallow.
The weakest part of the book was the end, where the mystery is semi-solved. (We must leave mysteries unsolved for the rest of the obligatory trilogy, after all!) The motive behind the creation of the maze seems so nonsensical. For that reason, I suspect Maze Runner is the strongest book of the trilogy.
Bottom line: I'd recommend this book, although I'm skeptical about the rest of the trilogy.
Most of the book centers on Thomas, who finds himself in the middle of a maze with no memories, trying to solve the mystery of the maze. Because no explanation is given at first, suspension of disbelief is easy. As the story goes on, the story gets a bit harder to swallow.
The weakest part of the book was the end, where the mystery is semi-solved. (We must leave mysteries unsolved for the rest of the obligatory trilogy, after all!) The motive behind the creation of the maze seems so nonsensical. For that reason, I suspect Maze Runner is the strongest book of the trilogy.
Bottom line: I'd recommend this book, although I'm skeptical about the rest of the trilogy.