A review by nika_nix
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
5.0
I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. Bunch of boys being trapped in the middle of the huge Maze sounded like a great read and I was not disappointed. It is as good as it sounds. Even though the mystery of the Maze itself was exciting enough, I really wanted to know the back-story of why were they in that Maze, and again, I was amazed with how well all the informations worked together so that everything made sense at the end.
The Maze Runner reminded me of The Hunger Games and The 100 a bit, but it was actually completely different and unique. Only the feel while reading it was quite simmilar.
Some people consider the beginning of the book a bit slowand hard to get into, but that was not the case with me. I immediately got sucked in that world and really invested in the story. For me, the plot was exciting from the first page and I kept turning pages because I just wanted to find out more and more about the Maze and life inside it. All the mystery and all those intense moments (especially the ones involving Greivers) kept me at the edge of my seat. The ending (about last ¼ of the book) was a bit rushed, but I think it was supposed to be like that because a lot of stuff happen in a very short time and, in my opinion, all that excitement would be ruined if everything was described more or whatever. There were some unexpectable events which really amazed me, but there were a few predictable plot twists as well (for example, whatever stupid and reckless action Thimas did, he always succeded and that became a bit annoying after a while). But there were more brilliant and exciting plot twists so I was not very frustrated about these two flaws.
Probably the worst aspect of this book were the characters. Lack of character development was so obvious in this book! Also, I didn't really buy the romance.
Thomas was really annoying at times, and sometimes even stupid, but most of the time he was just impulsive and reckless (what I usually like, but here I didn't).
I couldn't really connect to any of the characters and I just didn't care about any of them at the end. I wasn't able to even form an opinion about some of them and decide whether I liked them or not (Newt, Alby, Chuck...). It's obvious that the plot was much more important to the author than relationships between characters, which is actualy okay and all together worked just fine.
I really like James Dashner's writing style because it's simple, straight-to-the-point, but also descriptive and detailed when necessary. But what I liked the most were all those made up words Gladers used. I think this new language gave another layer to the story and made it even more special and original. James Dashner is fantastic at describing action-packed scenes and I loved how every chapter ended on a cliffhanger and made me want to read more and more.
All in all, I really recommend this book to all the fans od young adult dystopian books because I think it's a quick, exciting fun read. It's a great way to start the trilogy, even though I'm afraid that I'm not going to like the rest of the books in the series, but there's only one way to find out, right?
The Maze Runner reminded me of The Hunger Games and The 100 a bit, but it was actually completely different and unique. Only the feel while reading it was quite simmilar.
Some people consider the beginning of the book a bit slowand hard to get into, but that was not the case with me. I immediately got sucked in that world and really invested in the story. For me, the plot was exciting from the first page and I kept turning pages because I just wanted to find out more and more about the Maze and life inside it. All the mystery and all those intense moments (especially the ones involving Greivers) kept me at the edge of my seat. The ending (about last ¼ of the book) was a bit rushed, but I think it was supposed to be like that because a lot of stuff happen in a very short time and, in my opinion, all that excitement would be ruined if everything was described more or whatever. There were some unexpectable events which really amazed me, but there were a few predictable plot twists as well (for example, whatever stupid and reckless action Thimas did, he always succeded and that became a bit annoying after a while). But there were more brilliant and exciting plot twists so I was not very frustrated about these two flaws.
Probably the worst aspect of this book were the characters. Lack of character development was so obvious in this book! Also, I didn't really buy the romance.
Thomas was really annoying at times, and sometimes even stupid, but most of the time he was just impulsive and reckless (what I usually like, but here I didn't).
I couldn't really connect to any of the characters and I just didn't care about any of them at the end. I wasn't able to even form an opinion about some of them and decide whether I liked them or not (Newt, Alby, Chuck...). It's obvious that the plot was much more important to the author than relationships between characters, which is actualy okay and all together worked just fine.
I really like James Dashner's writing style because it's simple, straight-to-the-point, but also descriptive and detailed when necessary. But what I liked the most were all those made up words Gladers used. I think this new language gave another layer to the story and made it even more special and original. James Dashner is fantastic at describing action-packed scenes and I loved how every chapter ended on a cliffhanger and made me want to read more and more.
All in all, I really recommend this book to all the fans od young adult dystopian books because I think it's a quick, exciting fun read. It's a great way to start the trilogy, even though I'm afraid that I'm not going to like the rest of the books in the series, but there's only one way to find out, right?