The Maze Runner

“The Maze Runner” was a book that I was excited for. I had heard great things about this book, and the movie was a financital success, so why wouldn't this book be somewhat decent after the post-Twilight craze? Sadly, this book may be good, but only for a certian age group, and that age groups doesn't include me.

I had managed to make it about halfway through the book when I decided to quit listening to it. This is because of the way the plot is explained to you. We see the world through the eyes of Thomas in a 3rd person, limited-omniscient perspective. Thomas cannot give much background because he has forgotten all of his memories, and only snippets are left behind. This could make for an interesting story, with him trying to figure out how he got there, and what all the other boys are doing there. But then Dashner's writing comes into play. We are treated to some of the worst case of “tell” writing that I have seen in a long time. We are not shown, through emotion and dialogue, how Thomas is confused by his new surroundings, we are told that he is confused. The same goes for his other emotions, and it is frankly very immature and boring.

Another things that is boring in this book is the plot. At first glance it seems interesting and intriguing, with boys and one girl trying to make their way out of this maze. But due to the author's style of withholding information, it just becomes annoying that Thomas (and therefore the reader) has to sit through all of these seemingly useful moments of exposition, only to be told to sit down and shut up and his questions will be answered later. Why cant they be answered now, darn it?!? The side characters seem interesting at first, but then they just degrade into people who stand around and scratch their heads on what to do, until our boring MC Thomas does something that somehow no one has ever thought of before. The main creatures of the maze aren't really scary enough, with Dashner's writing, to elicit my concern for the boys being killed. And the pacing is also odd, with moments of extremely slow boring scenes being interrupted by scenes of intense, although poorly written, action.

I said that this book wasn't for me and I meant it. If you are or know a boy who is in middle school, they they would probably eat this up. The characters have their own slang, which is a nice touch, and Thomas could get those younger kids reading, I suppose. First however, if you want a story about a boy who looses his memory and has to go on an adventure to get it back, I suggest you read the “Heroes of Olympus” series by Rick Riordan. It is far better than any of this (although, to be fair, you do have to read the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series first). I give this book a two out of five.