For Thomas, things can’t get much worse. He’s been dropped in the midst of a fully-functioning society made up of dozens of teenage boys, all equally as confused and angry as he is. His memory, like all the others, has been wiped clean, free of any specific memory. He doesn’t know who he is or where he came from or why he came in the first place. There are no answers: it is what it is. This is the Glade.
And beyond the Glade is the Maze.
The Maze is a mysterious place, filled with moving walls and terrifying, machine-like creatures willing to do just about anything to keep the Gladers from escaping with their lives. There lie the only clues, scribbled on the walls of those never-ending corridors: “World in Catastrophe, Killzone Experiment Department.”
Thus begins Thomas’s life as a Glader. Thomas sees Alby as the man in charge, the discipliner. Newt is softer and quickly becomes Thomas’s closest confidant. Among the many other boys, Thomas finds allies, like Chuck, a young boy with a big heart, and Minho, the mysterious keeper of the Runners. He also finds enemies, like Gally, a control-hungry, suspicious boy that has all his sights set on ruining Thomas before the sun has set on the first day.
As soon as Thomas thinks he’s getting the hang of life as a Glader, his life gets turned upside down once again. A girl is delivered to the curious boys, and Thomas can’t help but think how she looks familiar but can’t place where he’s seen her.
From then on Thomas finds himself in several compromising situations, one of which has the power to change his new life forever.
A far-cry from the chaos that was the movie adaption, The Maze Runner by James Dashner is a novel full of loss and mystery, as well as frustration and the brother-like love that can form between friends. Much more emotional than the movie, the book sent me into a spiral of feelings at every turn of the page. Structured in short chapters, it was extremely easy to get through. Compared to the movie, I was so much happier with the plotline and character development. Where the movie lacked in detail (and it did quite a bit), the book was able to meet and surpass my expectations.
Suspenseful and annoyingly addicting, I found myself staying up until the early hours of the morning to read just one more chapter. Although it did start a little slower than I would have liked, Dashner did a nice job of setting up the characters and setting, giving them all a unique personality and certain defining traits.
All in all, The Maze Runner is a whirlwind from start to finish. If you need a good dose of dystopian fiction, check this book out, and discover the desperate and angst-filled world of the Maze and its inhabitants. You won’t regret it.
And remember: WICKED is good.