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The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
An elevator deposits a teenager in the heart of a walled compound. The only thing he remembers is his name, and barely that. Who sent him there, and where did he come from? That's how the survival story/dystopian adventure The Maze Runner begins, and the questions keep rolling from there. Thomas may not have any answers, but he has a resolve: to survive, and to get himself, and as many of his fellow prisoners as possible, out of the manmade labyrinth they're imprisoned in. He has his work cut out for him leading this revolution, with the battle-scarred boys surrounding him, but what keeps him going is his desperation to find out the secrets to his past.
If you're weary of dystopian Battle Royale-esque stories of teenagers fighting to the death, you can be excused--they're a dime a dozen since The Hunger Games, but that doesn't mean some of them aren't still good. Dashner's take on the theme has a few added intricacies---or a dozen. The twisty-ness and double-crosses go right up to the last page (and straight through the end of the next book, too, so don't be expecting answers soon). Given the fact that the trilogy ultimately ended up having a prequel--I'm not even convinced that the final book of the trilogy will even answer everything--but them's the breaks with this sort of series.
Granted, there are some other annoying parts. Dashner's idea of having the compound kids have their own insider slang was kind of clever, even if the jargon itself was a little obnoxious. Also, the cost of the thrilling, mysterious opening turns out to be a lot of information-dumping via Q and A between Thomas and his fellow prisoners in the compound/maze as he tries to get caught up on the situation. Not super gracefully done, it's true--but the story itself is still exciting. A definite page-turner. And if you've read Matched, Insurgent, and of course The Hunger Games and still haven't gotten your dystopian survival fix covered yet, this series is worth a spin.
If you're weary of dystopian Battle Royale-esque stories of teenagers fighting to the death, you can be excused--they're a dime a dozen since The Hunger Games, but that doesn't mean some of them aren't still good. Dashner's take on the theme has a few added intricacies---or a dozen. The twisty-ness and double-crosses go right up to the last page (and straight through the end of the next book, too, so don't be expecting answers soon). Given the fact that the trilogy ultimately ended up having a prequel--I'm not even convinced that the final book of the trilogy will even answer everything--but them's the breaks with this sort of series.
Granted, there are some other annoying parts. Dashner's idea of having the compound kids have their own insider slang was kind of clever, even if the jargon itself was a little obnoxious. Also, the cost of the thrilling, mysterious opening turns out to be a lot of information-dumping via Q and A between Thomas and his fellow prisoners in the compound/maze as he tries to get caught up on the situation. Not super gracefully done, it's true--but the story itself is still exciting. A definite page-turner. And if you've read Matched, Insurgent, and of course The Hunger Games and still haven't gotten your dystopian survival fix covered yet, this series is worth a spin.