Book Review: The Maze Runner

Thomas wakes up in complete darkness, with the floor moving underneath him., He doesn't remember anything but his name. When the door above him finally slides open, he finds himself in the nightmare world of the Glade, inhabited by boys at different stages of adolescence. Like Thomas, they have no memory of who they are or how they got there - the only thing they are certain of is that they want out.

But that is easier said than done, as Thomas soon finds out. The Glade is the epicenter of an enormous maze; they need to solve it in order to leave. But the oldest Glade dwellers have been there for already 2 years and they haven't succeeded yet. To make matters worse, the maze is infested with "grievers" horrible hybrids of flesh and machine that come out mostly at night. The only boys allowed out of the Glade are the Maze Runners, the fastest, smartest of them all, who try to map the maze and search for a way out.

Althoug boys like Thomas have been showing up like clockwork once a month, sent by the "Creators" on the lift used to send supplies once a week, the very next day the alarm warning of a new arrival rings again. This time it is a girl, unconscious and carrying a message of doom. Now the Glade-dwellers know that they must find a way out of the maze or die trying.

I had such high hopes for this book. It promised to follow in the tradition of Ender's Game and more recently, The Hunger Games. Unfortunately it failed to deliver. Although Dashner begins with a riveting idea and a potentially exciting plot, the story never gets off the ground. Teresa, the only girl and love interest in the book is in a coma and doesn't wake up until over half way through. Like Teresa, the story is in its own coma for the first half while Thomas has a lot of introspective moments that seem out of place and contrived.

His emotional reactions frequently do not fit the situation and the writing keeps kicking the reader out of the story. Although I am loath to say this, as it is such a trend these days, I think the story would have been better served in the first person. Then we could have avoided repetition of phrases such as, "Thomas snapped out of it," or "Thomas was startled," or ...well, you get the point.

As well, the book ends with a non-ending. Oh, you find out what they were doing in the maze and a few other loose ends were tied up, but only to be replaced with other more disturbing questions. Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned conclusion? Does everything need to be a series? And even if it is a series, can't each volume stand on its own two feet? This might be my own personal bias, but I always feel like I am being ripped off with conclusions that are really just plugs for the sequel. Unless the book is excellent, it makes me want to quite the author's work for good.

Make up your own mind: bring your books back and check this title out of the library!