The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner, book 1)

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Nobody knows why the maze is there.

Nobody remembers how they got to the maze.

All they know is that they somehow have to survive and find their way out.

For Thomas, arriving at the maze is an exercise in trying to find the answers to a million questions — and it takes a long time to find people willing to give him any. I loved how this book kept me asking so many questions — it’s perfectly set up to make readers as curious as Thomas, and the more we learn about the maze and those who live there, the more terrifying and hostile a place it seems to be.

Soon after Thomas’s arrival, things begin changing. Rules are broken, strange memories begin to emerge and “gladers” (those who live in the maze) have to step up and start trying to figure out how they are going to solve the maze before their chances are gone for good.

The Maze Runner was a serious page-turner for me. It wasn’t completely predictable (yay!) and it gripped me the same way The Hunger Games did — all teenage characters having to live adult lives. The stakes are high, and Dashner had me practically biting my fingernails with the tension. The characters are strong and yet human — I believed their conflicts and their emotion. It’s not a pretty story and it has its fair share of gore and violence, but I tell you what, by the end, I wanted to get out of that maze as much as Thomas did. I get the sense that there is a lot more Dashner can do with this series, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next. Loved it.

Rated: Moderate, for violent content. All the swear words are disguised — “real” words are substituted with words like “klunk” and “shuck-face.” It was a little annoying but, I guess, better than swear words.

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