The Maze Runner

I recently just finished reading, “The Maze Runner,” by James Dashner. I decided to read this book to get over the, “Hunger Games hangover.” This book is listed as one of the books to read to satisfy your “Dystopian” craving. I enjoyed reading this book, but it was lacking story. Everything in the story happen so fast! The author could have stretched the idea into at least one more book or into longer chapters.

It only took a few hours to read; maybe something you would read while on 3 hour road trip.

The concept of this book is very interesting. I liked how they throw a bunch of kids together, who have above average intellect, so that they can figure out how to solve an extremely difficult maze. The people who succeed get chosen to help make a cure for a disease that is killing everyone on the planet. The main characters of the story are named after people that are very smart, like Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison. In my opinion this idea is wicked…There is so much you can do with this, but unfortunately the author did not expand on the story.

Instead, the author had the main character succeed in everything. With no overwhelming obstacles to overcome, besides escaping the maze. Now I like reading novels with a lot of obstacles, and certain-doom situations the character has to get through. After reading all these conflicts, and then to have a character(s) in the story sacrifice their own life for the greater good, is what makes me teary. Even though, something like this happened in, “The Maze Runner,” I was not emotional moved. The action leading up this event was dull. Therefore, my “emotional wall” was still standing strong.

If I was the person to re-write this book, I probably would add more conflicts. I would have built more ideas around the maze. I would set traps for the characters. Add variety of creatures as antagonist, that steals resources, kidnap children, and really just mess up things for the protagonists. As well, I would like to see more female characters not just 1 female per 42 males. That really sucked. I would add more character building situations, where you can get to understand the characters. This was something the author was missing; While, I read the book the main character was just “Thomas” and nothing more. I had no connection towards him, because I really did not know anything about him. Although, the main part of the story is Thomas re-learning about himself because his memory got wiped. The story could have used a lot more character building.

Overall the book was okay to read, but I would have rather read something else.       My Rating 2/5

Jason Cardinal

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