Maze Runner

General Analysis

Book Title: Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner

Genre: Young Adult Dystopia

Similar Author/Books:  This book is very similar to the Hunger Games series because of the fact that is Young Adult Dystopia and also because it is a survival type book that is filled with mystery and suspense.

Plot:  A boy wakes up in a box.  He does not know where he is, where he came from, or even his age.  The only thing that he remembers is his name: Thomas.  Thomas is not the only boy in this new society that he is placed into that has a loss of memory.  Thomas is the new kid in the Glade, a society full of young boys, and is frustrated that no one is explaining who he is or how he got to the Glade.  All he knows is that the boys around him are unhappy that the moment Thomas comes to the Glade things begin to change.

Why I Read this Book:  This book was on two reading lists for book clubs that I am involved in on GoodReads and the genre was a genre that I am interested in.

Overall Thoughts:  If you like the Hunger Games series, you are likely to at least mildly enjoy this book.  I believe that the future books in this series will be better because I think that there will be less confusion about the plot of the book.  I am likely to read more books by this author.

In Depth Analysis

Characters: The characters are well developed and some of them are round characters while others are quite flat.  I really enjoyed two of the main characters.

Writing Style:  The writing style was good, but could have been a lot better.  I really enjoyed the unique plot, but it could have been executed better.  There was too much that the reader did not know at the beginning and that was slightly frustrating.  The chapters were not long enough and left the book a little choppy.

Likes:  It was very suspenseful.  The overall plot was very good once some of the fogginess of not knowing what was going on passed.  I loved the personalities of the characters and how each character was unique.

Dislikes:  There was almost too much mystery and too many things that the reader does not know for over half of the book.  The thing that kept me reading was curiosity to find out what the book was about.

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: I would recommend this book for people who are over 13 due to violence and a few cuss words, although there were only cuss words for one or two pages when a character was angry.

Overall Rating: I would give this book a 4/5.  The book was not very good in the first half, but I am glad I did not give up.  The ending of the book made trudging through the first half of the book worthwhile.

Future Reviews and Reads

I am currently reading Sarah Dessen’s That Summer, Max Lucado’s Come Thirsty and Max Lucado’s Everyday Deserves a Chance.

I plan on continuing James Dashner’s Maze Runner Series.  I also plan on reading Breathless by Jessica Warman and XVI by Julia Karr.  I am also up for any suggestions.  Please leave them in the comments below.

I also may post reviews of some books that I have recently read (including some YA manga).