Title: The Maze Runner (Series #1) Author: James Dashner
Published: October 2009
Number of Pages: Paperback, 374 pages
Genre: Young adult, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Adventure, Post Apocalyptic, Mystery
Plot: "If you ain't scared, you ain't human!"
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers - boys whose memories are also gone.
"Nice to meet ya, Shank. Welcome to the Glade."
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever changing maze. It's the only way out - and no one's ever made it through alive.
"Everything is going to change."
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever.
And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.
Personal thoughts: The first line of the book caught my attention right away - "He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air." Intriguing. Mysterious. Not very comforting. Scary. Curious. Must. Keep. Reading.
It took only a few days to weave through the heavy plot that Dashner put before me, but it didn't take long for things to start making sense. Dasher tells the story so well from Thomas's POV. I felt like I was experiencing this with him, and not from above as an uninvolved party.
The very beginning of the book starts off with a lot of description of The Glade. The Glade is their community, placed right in the middle of an ever-changing maze. It also became very clear right as I jumped in that there was a certain kind of 'slang' or vocabulary that I'd have to get used to. Here are a few that are used a lot:
Greenie - Newest Member to the Glade
Shank - Never really explained, seems most like a derogatory term
Klunk - Poop (the sound it makes in their pee pots)
Homestead - Their Ramshackle Cabin, but most choose to sleep outside
Grievers - The Enemy/Monsters that come out at night
Blood House - The animal Slaughter House
Deadheads - The Cemetery
"Good that" - same as "sounds good" or "alright"
In the first chapter we meet Thomas. His name being the only thing he 'knows' or 'remembers' before waking up in the box. Once he is lifted from the box, he realizes that he's entered some kind of makeshift community, surrounded by about sixty other boys. He also notices that this place seems familiar; but he can't seem to place why! Thomas realized that when seeing the animals in the Blood House, he knew what they were, what they ate, how they looked; but still had no idea HOW he knew that or WHERE he'd seen them before. One line in the book says "His memory loss was baffling in its complexity".
All of the weirdness and craziness started when Thomas showed up, but then exactly one day later, a girl arrived in the box. Something that had NEVER happened before. The gladers were convinced that Thomas was some how evil... and that he was there for some terrible reasons. Turns out, that's just not the case. The girl is the key to this whole thing in many ways.... she helps Thomas remember, or rather helps trigger his memory. Eventually he figures out how to remember who he was, why this place seemed so familiar, and how to figure out the solution to the maze. Then, how to find and face The Creators.
My favorite character is Chuck. While kind of child-like and naive, he is a true friend and sort of treats Thomas like a brother. He's the only true and honest person in this community in my opinion. He devotes himself to his work, and to Thomas as a friend. In the end, he shows Thomas just how much he cares. In this particular situation, I think I would be Chuck.
This is an action packed, terrifying, yet exhilarating story. I literally took a deep breath at chapter one and I don't think I was able to breathe again until the very end! If you liked The Hunger Games series, then this series will be for you too! I can't wait to see the movie and compare the two, but I'm also going to pick up the next book in the series because I feel so connected to this group of kids, I have to see what happens next!!
Recommended Age Level: 15+
Rating: 4.5
No comments:
Post a Comment