The Maze Runner by James Dashner

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Really disappointed, much ranting ahead, feel free to avert your eyes if you're a die-hard fan. I came into this one with such high hopes because there are almost 10,000 ratings on Goodreads and this book has managed to stay at 4-stars, plus someone liked the story enough to suggest making it into a movie. After I finished all I could think was really, are we reading the same story?
Thomas wakes up in a box with no memories of his past or why he's suddenly found himself in the middle of the Glade with other adolescent boys. Surrounding them is the ever changing Maze filled with creatures called Grievers that come out at night and have a terrible venom. They must return by nightfall because no one survives the night in the Maze. Each of the boys in this little community has their own job, and the job Thomas feels strongest about is a Runner. The Runners go into the dangerous Maze everyday to figure out an escape or some kind of pattern that will let them escape. Thomas feels he knows the answers, but the memories aren't there to help him solve the problems.
The most irritating thing for Thomas is not knowing the answers. As a reader I could identify with his feelings of isolation and frustration at his treatment. Yet after about halfway this song and dance became intensely irritating. Thomas spent what seemed like every other paragraph with these 'feelings' but took them nowhere. I wanted more action or some kind of something other than Thomas's recycled thoughts again and again. Plus the constant pep-talks from him were not inspiring, just awkward.
These boys have no adults keeping order and they've managed by following their immutable rules. I'm not expecting them to be mature, but they have the most annoying made-up cuss words, replacing shit with klunk and damn with shunk (or something like that, I can't recall). I thought it lent an air of silliness when the mood should have been desperate and serious. Just…terrible. The characters overall were also very one-dimensional in their predictability, especially Thomas and Chuck. Relationships like friendship were blah and I didn't believe a lot of their actions were realistic for their situation.
Then the actual meat of the story was the escape from the maze. It was very anti-climatic. This entire story felt like a mix of the TV show Lost with Lord of the Flies and not in a good way. Maybe this story is heading somewhere exciting, but I didn't get that this time around.

Copy Source: Paperback purchased