James Dashner’s “The Maze Runner:” A Race for Civilization

Reviewed by Jack Morgan

Darkness, fear, waking up to your worst nightmare, only to realize that it is reality.  This common fear is living inside of every single person, and unfortunately for Thomas, he is a victim.  In a world surrounded by towering, stone walls and a seemingly unsolvable maze, these are the conditions Thomas and the gladers must live by in James Dashner’s Maze Runner.

The Maze Runner is a exciting, chilling story of a boy named Thomas.  Thomas “didn’t know where he came from, or how he had gotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents were.  He didn’t even know his last name” (Dashner 2). With a completely blank memory, Thomas is forced to learn how to live the life of a glader on the fly.  He quickly learns that all of the gladers are brainwashed, just like him, and have no idea why they are stuck at the glade.  The day after Thomas is dropped in the glade, however, a female, Teresa, arrives as well.  There are two things that are weird about this.  The first is that gladers always arrive in 30 day intervals, and the second is that there has never been a female glader before.  Unlike the others, Thomas feels a deep connection with Teresa, but not in a romantic sort of way.  Thomas feels as if he has encountered her before, and Teresa feels similar.  Working together, Thomas and Teresa utilize their strengths in an attempt to save the gladers from a nightmare that no child should ever have to go through.   

I think the plot of this book is absolutely genius.  The setting, the objective, and the circumstances all tie together perfectly into one of the best novels that I have ever read.  I’m not much of a reader, I will admit it, and I have a habit of putting books down quickly if I don't like them.  This book got me hooked, however, and I found myself tearing through the pages.  The plot of this book is sort of similar to the book, The Lord of the Flies.  Ironically enough, it is the book we have been reading in my english class for the past month!  It has a similar idea of unsupervised boys (except for Teresa) that are forced to survive and live by themselves.  With plenty of conflict over leadership roles and survival decisions, this book rarely has it’s boring moments.  “That shuck-face is gonna pay a heavy price for acting like that--he’s lucky we don’t Banish him.  Remember what I told you about order” (Dashner 177).  

James Dashner’s writing style is very gripping, and he does not let you go.  Using vivid imagery throughout and even adding a touch of humor, he makes this fast-paced book very easy to read.  With other books, sometimes you have to re-read because the author does a poor job explaining the scene.  That is not the case in this book, for the author uses excellent descriptive words and it flows very well.  "It looked like an experiment gone terribly wrong - something from a nightmare. Part animal, part machine, the Griever rolled and clicked along the stone pathway. Its body resembled a gigantic slug, sparsely covered in hair and glistening with slime, grotesquely pulsating in and out as it breathed. It had no distinguishable head or tail, but front to end it was at least six feet long, four feet thick" (Dashner 126).  This quote describes the grievers, the monster-like figures that roam the maze.  Descriptive paragraphs like this one are abundant throughout the book, and the reader always has a good visual of what is taking place.  

Although I loved reading this book, there were a couple things that I noted along the way that could have been improved.  I know that all of the characters had a blank memory, but I still would have liked to know a bit more about Teresa, the lone female character.  She was in a coma for a majority of the time, but she is such an important and meaningful character in this book, and I feel like the book would have been better if we knew just a little bit more about her.  I have done some research on the second book in this series, however, and it seems like the you get to know her better in that book if you choose to continue on with the series.  Anyway, the second thing that caught my attention was the slang that was constantly thrown around in this novel.  This book can be pretty funny, but I personally didn’t enjoy the slang that much.  I thought of it as a weak attempt to make the reader laugh in suspenseful parts of the story.  “Try to keep some buggin’ order, here.  If you’re gonna blabber your shuck mouth every time I say something, you can go ahead and bloody leave…” (Dashner 153).  Although I found the slang annoying, I could see how other readers might enjoy it.  For that reason, I do not consider it much of a negative in this book.  

All in all, I would highly recommend this paperback to people from ages 10 and up.  It has all the components that make it appealing to a crowd of all ages, and a strong plot really makes this novel stand out.  The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, is a prime example of a classic fiction novel that leaves you wanting to read more and more.  The good news about this book, however, is that there is more!  This thriller is the first of three in his series, which I will be reading soon.  Anyway, get this book in your hands and read it, its suspense and eerie mysteries are one to be remembered.