Summary: First in a dystopian series about a group of boys trapped in a maze.
When Thomas wakes up all he can remember is his name. A group of teenage boys welcomes him to ‘the Glade’.
The Glade is a large open grassy area with high stone walls. As Thomas asks questions he comes to understand that none of the boys can remember anything before the Glade. Some have been there as long as 2 years. The glade is in the center of a massive stone maze. One that changes every night.
In the Maze the boys have created a functioning society. And while there are always difficulties, this is not The Lord of the Flies.
Thomas knows he is supposed to be a runner. And even stranger things start happening.
I don’t want to give away the story. But this definitely fall into the young adult dystopian trend similar to Hunger Games and Divergent. It is far better than some of the knock off books like The Selection and even the middle level books like the Matched series.
The book had a real ending, but it was still a major cliffhanger. In the end, the cliché about the ‘grass not always being greener’ comes true in a very real way.
There is some real issues that are handled well. The role of the individual against the needs of a group, innovation and tradition, what can and should be disclosed. And even the role of the stable society that was created before Thomas arrived in the Glade.
As a young adult dystopian book there is violence, people die. It could be that people are trying to intentionally kill kids. And there is kid on kid violence. It is not gratuitous but it is real and present. There is a Glade created slang and that slang involves a lot of swearing (but not in English language). Because of the content, I would suggest that it is appropriate for readers that are 13 and older.
The shooting of Maze Runner movie is complete and it is in post production. It will be released in February 2014.
The Maze Runner Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook, Audiobook is discounted to $3.95 with purchase of Kindle Book
Related Bookwi.se Young Adult Dystopian Reviews
- The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (Maze Runner #2)
- The Selection by Kiera Cass
- Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Insurgent by Veronica Roth
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Favorite of the Set)
