Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

"The Maze Runner" is a YA book about a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a The Glade with his memory erased. The Glade is a large open area surrounded by huge stone walls and there are other boys inside who came the same way Thomas did, only earlier. Outside of the walls is a maze, but no one can find a way out. The walls only open during the day light and no one wants to be caught in the mazes after dark.

I liked:
-It has a very interesting plot, which made me want to keep reading. I love puzzles and mazes and I just had to see how (or if) they found a way out.
-The plot moved along quickly without a bunch of fluff thrown in.

However, a few things were really irritating.

I did not like:

-I really hated the slang that the author made up for the Glade boys. It distracted from the story and was really stupid sounding (i.e. "Shuckface").
-The "grievers" were really odd and hard to imagine. I like being able to imagine things when I read a book and these were just so odd that it was really hard.
-The fact that I basically finished it because I HAD to know how they solved the maze. It wasn't because I cared about the characters. The characters were pretty boring and unmemorable.

I'd give it a 2/5. Interesting concept, not so great execution.

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