Scan barcode
A review by egbella
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
4.0
Another reread in this series, and just like The Fever Code, I enjoyed it pretty well. The writing style itself is not my favorite, but the story is interesting and kept me interested, even after reading it several times already.
Pros:
~ The fast-moving plot and action. It kept me pretty engaged.
~ The amnesia (one of my favorite story tropes). I thought it was portrayed pretty well, although the unnatural way of remembering how everything works, but not recalling anything personal is hard to comprehend.
~ The characters, and their diversity. My favorite has always been Newt, but Chuck is also super sweet, and the rest of the characters all have their good points.
~ The world-building. The entire Maze, Glade, and way of life for the Gladers is pretty fascinating, and I like how well it seems to have been thought out. Most things tied in to the prequel books well. I also appreciated that the boys were mature enough to set up such an order in the Glade (Keepers, calling Gatherings, etc.)
~ The intrigue and suspense. Especially toward the end, I liked how quickly things moved and the way most of the Gladers worked together to figure out the mysteries of the Maze.
~ The whole method of solving the Maze. I can guarantee that if I was in their place, I would never have figured out all the maps, so I have a lot of respect for them for figuring it out.
~ Most of the characters' actions felt pretty realistic.
Cons:
~ I really dislike the whole system of 'fake swears' that the Gladers came up with. I get that we're referring to a bunch of teen boys in a very stressful situation, but when that language is used every other sentence and is only a letter or two away from real-life swear words, it gets old very quickly.
~ On the same line of reasoning (still immature guys), there were quite a few crude moments and conversations I didn't appreciate.
~ This is not exclusive to this book by any means, but like most YA books, I had trouble believing Thomas was only 16. However, the whole situation is so different than life now that I really can't know how teenagers would actually act there, so I'm not too bugged by it.
~ There were a few details given that seemed inconsistent to the prequels.
~ I really don't care for Thomas. For most of the book, he's actually really mean to Chuck, despite how kind the kid is to him. And I didn't appreciate how whiny he could be as well (as someone who grew up doing hard garden work, his huge complaining over less than 2 hours of gardening kind of frustrated me). In the end of course, he did a lot of good things, but I just didn't click with him.
~ I honestly don't really like Teresa either. She felt very shallow, and it seemed her character was mostly just there to communicate telepathically with Thomas, be referred to as pretty and jokingly fought over, and to 'prove her worth' by delivering sarcastic and mean comments to the rest of the boys.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was far less graphic and gory than the later books in the series, which I appreciated. And between the suspense, immersive world-building, realistic and diverse characters, and constant action, it kept me very interested.
Pros:
~ The fast-moving plot and action. It kept me pretty engaged.
~ The amnesia (one of my favorite story tropes). I thought it was portrayed pretty well, although the unnatural way of remembering how everything works, but not recalling anything personal is hard to comprehend.
~ The characters, and their diversity. My favorite has always been Newt, but Chuck is also super sweet, and the rest of the characters all have their good points.
~ The world-building. The entire Maze, Glade, and way of life for the Gladers is pretty fascinating, and I like how well it seems to have been thought out. Most things tied in to the prequel books well. I also appreciated that the boys were mature enough to set up such an order in the Glade (Keepers, calling Gatherings, etc.)
~ The intrigue and suspense. Especially toward the end, I liked how quickly things moved and the way most of the Gladers worked together to figure out the mysteries of the Maze.
~ The whole method of solving the Maze. I can guarantee that if I was in their place, I would never have figured out all the maps, so I have a lot of respect for them for figuring it out.
~ Most of the characters' actions felt pretty realistic.
Cons:
~ I really dislike the whole system of 'fake swears' that the Gladers came up with. I get that we're referring to a bunch of teen boys in a very stressful situation, but when that language is used every other sentence and is only a letter or two away from real-life swear words, it gets old very quickly.
~ On the same line of reasoning (still immature guys), there were quite a few crude moments and conversations I didn't appreciate.
~ This is not exclusive to this book by any means, but like most YA books, I had trouble believing Thomas was only 16. However, the whole situation is so different than life now that I really can't know how teenagers would actually act there, so I'm not too bugged by it.
~ There were a few details given that seemed inconsistent to the prequels.
Spoiler
How the 'WICKED is good' phrase was written on Teresa's arm is one example. I'll update if I can remember the rest.~ I really don't care for Thomas. For most of the book, he's actually really mean to Chuck, despite how kind the kid is to him. And I didn't appreciate how whiny he could be as well (as someone who grew up doing hard garden work, his huge complaining over less than 2 hours of gardening kind of frustrated me). In the end of course, he did a lot of good things, but I just didn't click with him.
~ I honestly don't really like Teresa either. She felt very shallow, and it seemed her character was mostly just there to communicate telepathically with Thomas, be referred to as pretty and jokingly fought over, and to 'prove her worth' by delivering sarcastic and mean comments to the rest of the boys.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was far less graphic and gory than the later books in the series, which I appreciated. And between the suspense, immersive world-building, realistic and diverse characters, and constant action, it kept me very interested.