Maze Runner Book Review

The “Maze Runner” series by James Dashner is a book series that consists of three books and a prequel that has a different storyline than what the other three books cover. The first book, “The Maze Runner” was a New York Times Bestseller. The series is a dystopia series that take place in the future. The first book “The Maze Runner” is also becoming a movie in 2014. I hope they use the imagery in the books to their advantage when making the movie or movie series.

 In the future depicted in the book the world is in bad shape. The people have been going through this disease called the flare. When the governments found out about the Flare and how rapidly it was spreading they joined forces to create an organization named WICKED. WICKED collects a group of  “test subjects” into a place called the maze. In the maze there is a glade where “the subjects” are sent through an elevator. The walls of the maze changes every night with the walls to the maze from the glade closed every night. In the first book there is a code that is revealed through the maze. The code is the key to the next book. 

The books are narrated by an unknown person who knows everything. Thomas the main character’s head is the one that this unknown narrator knows most about. Then there is Teresa the only girl Glader. Newt the "nice" guy and Minho the tough one. Teresa, Newt, and Minho are Thomas’ only friends for a while and they are by his side for the most part. Thomas goes through some crazy things and the conflicts he has are with everyone. James Dashner made sure to put in person vs. person, person vs. society, person vs. self evenly through the series. Thomas has so much conflict he ends up expecting it by the end. My favorite character is Teresa because she is the good best friend she is always there for Thomas even before Thomas knows it and everything she does is to protect him no matter how much it hurts her doing those things. The series is about survival, readers should understand that through surviving something you may lose something else and all you can do is pick up where you left off because if you look back you won’t be able to handle it.

The series is hard to relate to situation wise but when you look at the thematic content you realize that you might have done the same things. These kids go through so much by the end of the series I can barely remember how they got there and I think that was the point. I think James Dashner wanted to make the point that as long as the ones you love are around you then you will be all right and that is what I believe to be true every day. I cannot relate to any specific character yet because they go through so many changes so quickly that when I start to relate they do something that I don’t understand again. I have felt the way every “glader” felt when they were a “shuck greenie” because you feel alone in a new place and you don’t know where you fit it you just know you better start to because right now you are the odd one out. 

The series is wonderfully and skillfully crafted a story that takes you through a train that you want to be an express one with only stops are for the 3:00 am coffee breaks and end of book potty breaks. James Dashner remains what the future might look like and shows you the imagery of the maze in the first book and the world in the second and third books. Throughout the three books Dashner is consistent with the amount of suspense and tension he gives through each book. The series has so many strengths and I think that the biggest strength is how James Dashner creates this world for you and he doesn’t drag it along with details about the smallest of things like other writers might have if they had this subject. I would change very little in this book only the deaths because all my favorite characters go for Thomas. I would recommend these books just based on the writing style and speed because it is very hard to make a person want to read a story so bad that they have to put it down to get through the ending. Dashner gives you these characters that you want to get to know and through the situations they are put through they reveal themselves increasingly to you.

Above is the code they find when they traced the maps onto wax paper, stacked them, and held them to the light.