The Maze Runner By: James Dashner

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• Title: The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner #1)
• Author: James Dashner
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication Date: October 6, 2009
• Pages: 374
• Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
• Recommended Age: 13+
• First Read: 2013
• Source: Library
• Rating: 5.0 / 5.0 stars

I've read this series a few times now, and I thought it was time to finally write a review about it. And it's about time I share the magic of the maze with everyone who hasn't read this series yet.

If you ain't scared, you ain't human.

The plot itself was fast paced, engaging and cringe-worthy in the right places, making it one of my favorite dystopia YA series. And I like this particularly because of the fact that it contained a plot that was not so heavily centered on a love triangle or a couple in love. Sure Tom and Theresa have their moments, but I feel like we get to know the other characters just as well and we are able to fall in love with each of the relationships between the characters.

Hands down my favorite character in this book, and consequently the entire series is Newt because there is a strength within him that does not exist within the other characters. Newt is everything in a hero, and though he is not the main character, I feel like he contributed just as much as Thomas did.

I also really liked Minho because he provided the sort of dry comic relief that I enjoyed, in addition to having the coolest job in the Glade. I love the relationship between the three boys, Minho, Newt, and Thomas because they shared a brotherhood that could only come from enduring an extraordinary experience together.

My favorite aspect of this book was the fact that we as readers found facts out at the same rate as the main character, Thomas did. I felt like I was part of the story because I felt disoriented along with Thomas when all of these new vocabulary words like "greenie" and "shank" were thrown at me. And I felt like I was becoming one of the Gladers when the new vocabulary words did not disconcert me anymore and just seemed natural. That was a great feeling.

I also loved the maze itself, with its enigmatic persona, it was a character unto itself. And if there is anything worse than being in a maze, it's being in a maze with monsters that want to kill you. And it is delightfully suspenseful to read those scenes because you never know what's around the next turn. I'm sure Dashner took some of his inspiration from the Labyrinth in the Greek myths, just as Riordan and Collins did for some of their series but I liked the way Dashner portrayed the maze as not something to get through, but something to escape because the Gladers are stuck in the middle of it and don't have to travel through it to get to another destination.

Genius. Stunning.

If I did have any complaints with this book, I would have to call out Thomas for asking so many questions that he just could have waited to ask!! And the fact that interrupts and doesn't keep silent when people are trying to explain things to him. Oh well. I'm nit-picking.

But seriously, go read this book before you watch the movie. Because although the movie is pretty great (though they took some creative license that I condone to an extent) with a stellar cast playing the Gladers, the book is where the magic starts.