A review by lattes_lipstick_literature
The Maze Runner by James Dashner

3.0

So did I love The Maze Runner? No. Did I hate The Maze Runner? No. This book was enjoyable, while I did not fall in love with it, it entertained me enough to want to read the next book. I can really see why so many people liked it and why it was made into a movie. I have yet to see the movie, but I'm interested to see it and compare.

I won't lie but this book took me a ridiculously long time to get into, I would read one or two chapters then put it down. It wasn't until about a third of the way into the book that it finally became interesting to me, however even then it did not spark me to pick up the book. I decided though that I would finally pick it up and finish it all the way through no stopping.

One thing that made me not be able to get into The Maze Runner, is that I can quite understand the whole tossing kids into these experimental situations where they die or have to fend for themselves. While I hope that did not give anything away for someone who has not read the book, it's kind of easy to understand from the first couple of chapters that this is what is happening. Even when I was a kid or teenager reading books, I never understood why kids? My guess is that it's a easy way to write about kids and teenagers in a dystopian society.

The Glade, Runners, Shank Face, Klunk, Baggers. It was all so weird to me, the language that these kids had adopted. They know proper words and language, yet they need these weird terms to describe things. Most of the time I felt just like Thomas, Confused and angry. What the hell was going on!? Considering that the longest person has been there for two years, you would think they would have handled 'Newbies' and 'Greenies' better than they were. There was a distinct lack of communication on everyone's part. I understand they wanted to maintain order (it was a huge thing) but most refused to answer any questions about anything. Why so secretive? Didn't they all technically have the same goal? Survive and escape? They were working together, but not at the same time.

Most of the plot developments were quite obvious, although I am assuming that it was not meant to be a surprise. I even guessed at most of the deaths as well. I'm sorry but yes people do die in this book. I was also disappointed in the character Teresa. The only freaking girl in the whole book and she's comatose for most of it. I really hope that she plays a bigger role in the other books.

Overall not a bad book and I'll try to find the sequel next time I go to the library.