Well, let’s accept a fact, that I am not a teen anymore, and the book I’m going to review is a teen thriller, but nonetheless I loved this book, the story, the suspense, the thrill, and whoever like the fantasy thriller genre, will love this book too, so here goes my review for James Dashner’s’The Maze Runner’. I must accept that this is my first read of the author, and one fine day during Diwali weekend, Amazon give an offer on this book, and I ordered. It costs me only Rs.118 and it took me only 15 days to complete this 371 pages book.
James Dashner is an American writer known for young adult fiction, and today is his birthday(Nov 26 1972), his published works includes Jimmy Fincher Saga(4 books), 13th Reality Series(4 books), Maze Runner Series(4 books, 5th in progress), Infinity Ring series(2 books), Mortality Doctrine(3 books), also won 2011 Best Fiction Young Adults & 2012 Young Reader’s choice award for this book. The Maze Runner was first published in 2009, my copy was published by Chicken House, and is already adapted in a 2014 movie.
Its a story of an unknown place called’The Glade’, and the story’s central character just reached there in an enclosed space called the box, he didn’t remember anything except his name, which is Thomas. There are other boys in the arena for whom this arrival of his looks normal, and he came to know everybody has only single name(i.e. without surname), and everybody suffered memory loss. They all are trying to solve a Maze from last 2 years, living in the glade at night, but unable to solve it. And every month they receive 1 more guy to add up to their group. But they receive an unconscious girl in the same month, and which triggers some changes, on which their survival depends. Will they be able to solve the maze, will they be able to get back their memories, and what they all are actually doing there? Read’The Maze Runner’.
The story has all the elements of thrill and fantasy, and if you’re lover of these genres, you should check out this book, well thought story. You could feel that the book is on the line of’Hunger Games’, but I will say that this is still different. Both the series depict post-apocalyptic surroundings, but in HG we know the truth and what is going on, but here the main characters as well as the readers are taken in the surprise, as nobody knows what could come next. The characterization is also put in suspense, as it will increase the suspense for the reader since we don’t know the background stories of them or the setup. And then the author throws a curious guy into the plot who just wanted to know what happened to him, and what actually is going on, so as a reader, we instantly hook up the main character of the book Thomas, and started reading the book vigorously, we also want to know what is going on. The pace of the book is fast, with every page being an event-turner. Since the setup is different, the clan of boys also developed some new words like shuck-face or Greenie, which are used widely in the book. The book’s story ended on solving the questions related to the maze, but all-in-all opens up a new set of questions for the overall happenings, so just whenever you put down the book, it urges you to take the 2nd book of the series. I have read on wikipedia that the 4th book is related with past events of these happenings. Currently I am reading the 2nd one.
This is a fast-paced thriller, and I loved this book a lot, it may not sounds fun for everybody, esp who either don’t like the genre or don’t like the teen fiction. But I am onto it, so I rate it 4.5/5 and highly recommended. Do check it out once, and enjoy the journey. The book is unputdownable. Soon I will be watching the movie.
GRuchirG.
Jai Raam ji ki:)