The Maze Runner
Ratings863
Average rating3.7
This started off really slow (I'm sure on purpose) but halfway through started to pick up speed. The last 4th of the book rekindled my interests in the mystery and into owneding the next book in the series.
To be truthful i read this as a teenager which was 8 years ago but i remember absolutely loving it so im rating it as i would've at the time
I was looking for some YA lit to take on a trip with me, and I stumbled upon this one. I give this four stars for the ending and epilogue. The protagonist is just okay, and the macguffins are highly visible. The way we glimpsed the depth of evil present in the world beyond the maze is fascinating and I want to see how Dashner continues to develop the world.
Very different book
I really liked this book. I can't wait to read the second book. I really liked the way that everything was kept to the end of the book and now the second book is well positioned to continue the story
I found this a bit slow going at first, but about a third of the way through it picked up more and it just got better towards the end. The last couple of chapters definitely left me wanting to read the next one
This was a bit painful. The premise is interesting but the writing and characters are so flat it took all the joy out of the experience. I felt zero for any of the characters, least of all for the main character. Eyes were rolled. many times.
aughhhhh
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-193-the-maze-runner/
This book was just kinda... bleh. I didn't hate it but I didn't feel any really positive things for it either.
I will say the use of ‘shuck' and ‘klunk' instead of any actually swears actually started to annoy me.
I understand this was aimed at a younger age range, but as an adult I would've rather there had been no swears than a constant stream of faux curse words and, to be honest,
even if I had read this when I was in its age range I think I would've been annoyed by the faux curse words. It feels like something media for kids under ten would do and this book is definitely aimed for pre-teens/teens.
It's not a discover, i have already read it 2 times, one in French and one in English. But i couldn't say no when my friend offered me to buddy read it ! And i have NO REGRETS. Even though i already knew the book, it was still a real page-turner. Discovering the Glades, appreciating every shanks, a real beautiful experience. Some twists are predictables but it doesn't remove the stress we have through the book.
This book was basically a script bible for the movie. Dashner spends more time explaining his world than letting his characters actually live in it, and the subtitle might as well be “Please god option this, I need cash so badly”
One of the few times when I'll say definitively “Watch the movie instead”
I think that this book is a bit on the slow side despite being a dystopia and that kind of made me lose the interest at the beginning. But then, at some point, it got better enough to make me wanna read it to the end.
I'd say it's an “okay” book, it isn't great and awesome, but it isn't bad either so... I guess, anyone who loves to read dystopias will like this book.
I had high hopes for this book because I really liked the movie. I hardly ever say this about books but I liked the movie more than I liked the book. With that being said I really did enjoy reading this book. It had so much more information than the book did.
I really liked this book and I know a lot of people were complaining that the characters didn't have any personality. While they don't have a lot of depth to their characters, I believe that it was for perfectly good reasons. One being that nobody remembers anything about their lives before they arrived at the Glade, so how can you really have a deep character when most characters are built on memories that shaped them? The second reason is the story line revolves around the Glade and the Maze itself (which makes it a real page-turner). The only essential characters are Thomas and Teresa, and there is more depth to Thomas since he is the main character.
I had very high hopes for this book as, quite unusually for me, I saw the film first and thought the book must be better! Well it is but only just, it just lacked something. I can't really put my finger on it but it did. I'll be reading the rest of the series as I can't just stop at book one!
CONTAINS SPOILERS
I don't have words to describe how I feel like this book was written by a drunk 17 year boy who has massive personality issues. First off please tell me how the word “shank” came to describe people in the book. The broken english did not at all add to the underdeveloped and nonsensical story line. While it had it's moments I felt lost most of the time and even had to re-read some parts to make sure I had an idea of where it was going. Thomas and Theresa's story makes no sense. Plain and simple. You introduce these two characters, don't at all explain how they came to play the role that they did, then go oh by the way you two have the keys to sharing everyone...have fun. This is total garbage. I could go on and on, but we'd be here all day. Overall I did enjoy the character development though. There wasn't one person I felt didn't develop in an appropriate manner to accommodate the story. Would I read this again, maybe.
As a whole, I like the book. I was going to give it four stars because I felt a compulsion to read it to find out what was going on. Even during the rather slow beginning, I kept reading quickly because I was curious. (Even though I got annoyed immediately with all the ‘I won't tell you' and ‘don't ask questions'. Secrets for secrets sake.) However, ultimately two problems knocked the rating down by a star.
First, I never actually liked the main character. At the beginning I found Thomas absolutely insufferable. After the halfway point but before I hit three-quarters, I thought he was just ‘alright'. Then he went back to me not liking him. It's not hatred, but I don't like his character at all.
Second, and, surprisingly perhaps even more important for this book, it was predictable. All I knew going into the book was that is was dystopian of some sort and what I read on the back of my copy. (Which wasn't much.) So it wasn't like I had too much information. I believe this is the first ever dystopian I've read. So it wasn't like I've seen it all before. But, you know, I don't think I was ever truly surprised by a twist. There were several parts I saw coming in their entirety and others that, while I didn't see all of it coming, I saw most of it. While with most books that wouldn't be much of a problem, I really feel that this book was trying to surprise me. Which it never really did.
I actually enjoyed it, even if the action scenes were a bit too graphic for me. curious to know what's coming. bunch of kids living Lord of the flies with discipline in a hunger games setting...
Very interesting plot, very immature writing style. Probably better categorized as a middle grade book.
BLUF: Skip this series. If you do choose to read this story, don't expect it to be anything like the Hunger Games.
Pros
- Good idea for a story
- Poor execution of the story
- Characters have no depth
- Characters use works like “shuck” in place of f... (I'm not a fan of slang as is)
- Characters suddenly and miraculously know solutions to their problems, without any sort of struggle or lead up to the realization
- The book drags
- The book ends in a cliffhanger