Pleasantly Surprised
James Dashner’s The Maze Runner has been on my list to read for quite some time. I put the books on hold and got started on them this summer. I held neutral expectations going into the story, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the books, especially given some of the negative reviews I’ve read.
A Series Overview
The Maze Runner trilogy is a YA, dystopian series. It’s comprised of The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure.
There are two prequels to the original trilogy as well (The Kill Order and The Fever Code).
We’re taken to a world that has been completely devastated by solar flares and where its inhabitants are being ravaged by a mysterious, incurable disease – the Flare.
We meet the primary protagonist Thomas and follow him and his friends throughout the rest of the series as they face a trials designed by the government agency WICKED in an effort to find a cure for the Flare. Because of the structure of the books, that’s probably all I can say about the plot without revealing too many spoilers. The reader primarily stays in the dark along with the characters, so I have to be careful what I reveal.
What I Liked About Maze Runner
- Plot – I found the plot of each book to be creative and unique. There were a few predictable moments, but there were also many surprises. In The Maze Runner especially, I thought the whole idea of the giant changeable maze to be super neat. It reminded me of the clock-themed arena in Catching Fire (book two in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins). It was captivating.
- Worldbuilding – In dystopian novels, readers really need concrete descriptions of the settings and circumstances to be able to understand and imagine the new futuristic world in which we are dropped. I felt that, while not a flowery or lyrical writer, Dashner described everything well. I never felt confused. I could picture the maze, I could picture the characters, I could picture the Scorch, et cetera. I saw his world.
- Dashner uses very simplistic adjectives and cliches to describe things, especially people, which I didn’t particularly like. “Pretty,” “smart,” and “scary” were very common words to show up. He has a plain writing style, but it accomplishes the job because I got the picture.
- Characters – While none of the characters were fleshed out or heavily layered (I’ll get to that in a minute), they were at least likable. I was rooting for these guys.
- Character dynamics – I am a sucker for good friendships and relationships in books. I enjoyed the friendships amongs the Gladers, like Thomas, Newt, Minho, and Chuck. I didn’t always love the individual character, but I appreciated the friendships, the devotion, and the sacrifices they made for each other. Even in the chaos, they found ways to pick on each other, prank each other, and joke around.
- Side note: There is a lot of “made up” slang that the Gladers use (words like “shuck,” “slim,” “klunk,” and “shank” to name a few). Part of me hated that and found it super annoying. The other part of me thought it made sense, and I could see why the author did it. Put thirty middle- and high-school boys together. What is supposed to happen but some gross humor and language? I was just glad that Dashner kept the story age-appropriate for readers and didn’t put in actual swearing.
What I Liked Less
- Writing Style – I already said the wording is plain. Additionally, Dashner employs the “tell you” writing style. Instead of utilizing plot points or characters to reveal key details and move the story along, he pretty much just tells you what’s going on. Commonly, one character would learn something and tell the rest of the characters in the book and the reader. It triggered a lot of weird pacing and long, boring dialogues. It may have gotten the job done but not very well.
- One way to think about the writing style is to say that the reader never learns by feeling; the reader is just told what’s happening and how to feel.
- A spin-off issue is the pacing. Because of the way the plot moved along, it would be slow for several chapters and then BOOM! A bombshell of information would be dropped in a page, and the whole story changed. It was awkward.
- Characters – I told you I’d come back to them! I did like the characters. However, I do think they were poorly developed. There was no growth for any of them. The main protagonist Thomas is shallow, and he does get special treatment from the get-go making him seem untouchable. He bounces between Theresa and Brenda (the two main female characters in the original trilogy), but there was little development or build-up there, so I found myself disconnected from the little bit of romance in the story. Dashner really could have made these books incredible if he strengthened his characters.
Telepathy!?
One last thing that doesn’t really fit under my other bullet points is that there’s a telepathy part of the story that felt very out of place to me; I just couldn’t get behind that. It was weird…
A Satisfying Ending
Now, I was surprised by the ending in The Death Cure. It wasn’t what I expected, and it certainly caught me off guard. After mulling it over, I decided it really was an appropriate way to close out the tale.
Throughout the series, there was always an underlying battle, a central theme: Thomas’s fight for autonomy, for his own thinking, and for his freedom. And yet, after all of that fighting, someone else was always in control. It was chilling.
Final Thoughts
All in all, I’d say the series is not as mature as other dystopian books, like The Hunger Games or even Divergent by Veronica Roth. But I don’t think it’s supposed to be. It’s an easy, fun read that keeps you guessing and rooting for the characters. If you prefer more complicated books, deeper reads, or even just more literary and eloquent novels, then you may choose to pass over this one.
As for me, I liked the books. While I wasn’t deeply attached to the characters and didn’t feel particularly emotionally invested while reading, I deeply wanted to get to the end to see what happens and solve the mystery. And I wasn’t disappointed. I’ll give the trilogy three stars!
Copyright James Dashner and Dell Publishing. Image from Amazon.com.
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