The Maze Runner

BOOK NAME: The Maze Runner
AUTHOR: James Dashner

Thomas wakes up one day in a pitch black box, only knowing his name. The box is moving; and keeps moving for what seems like forever. But when it finally stops, he is shown a horrible world- a world within a maze. As he learns of the dangers surrounding the center, and learns that the maze may not be solvable; a girl shows up in the box- and she’s too early to be the new recruit. She carries a simple message- that she’s the last person to show up. Not only that, but both her and this maze seem oddly familiar to Thomas. Why does everything look so familiar? Is the maze really unsolvable? Find out this and a lot more in The Maze Runner.

I thought that this book was absolutely an amazing start to the trilogy! It was packed full of action and plenty of shockers. It was a very well-written book but does get a little violent at times; so I wouldn’t recommend this book for small children. However, this is a great middle-school level book. I really liked the part when Thomas gets stuck out in the maze at night. It was really interesting to see how he reacted to Minho’s actions–either copying them, or doing the absolute opposite. My favorite character is Chuck (a friend of Thomas) because I can really relate to him. In particular, I admire his attempt at humor (he often says “It’s better than living in a pile of klunk”) and I try to be funny almost all the time even though it usually doesn’t work out. Overall, this is an outstanding book by James Dashner and I would highly recommend The Maze Runner.

DogEared: Want another opinion? Read Emelie’s review!