“UhhhhhMAZEing book?” (my husband’s suggestion when I couldn’t think of a title)

by robynrobotron

I almost forgot about my 28th book for the Cannonball Read, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, even though I liked it alright.  I don’t know if I’ll pick up any of the sequels, however.  I’ll have to see if my stepson gets really into it.

We start with our protagonist, Thomas, waking up in a dark box that is moving upwards.  He doesn’t remember anything about himself or his life except his name.  He emerges into a glade populated only by boys, all of whom suffer the same amnesia, and they all entered the Glade in the same way.  They’ve built their own society using supplies that come up in the same box they did.  Surrounding the Glade is a labyrinth that moves every night and is populated by creepy bio-mechanical creatures called “grievers”.  If you get stung by a griever, you lose your mind for a bit, while gaining access to your pre-Glade memories (of course, those fade as you get better).  The kid currently getting over a sting recognizes Thomas and he is pissed.  The next day, a girl comes up in a box, the first girl ever, along with a note that she’s the last.  After this, other changes let the kids know that they need to solve this maze and they need to do it fast.  Some of the boys are “runners” in that they spend every day in the maze looking for patterns to find a way out.  Thomas is sure if he becomes one, he’ll be able to solve it.

Unlike The Hunger Games (or Battle Royale), we don’t know why these kids are in this predicament, we’re just as clueless as they are.  And even at the end, there are way more questions to be answered, which I assume is because the author wants us to pick up the next books.  It’s not that compelling of a story, however, at least it wasn’t for me.  It was cute, though, with little touches like their replacement swear words (because this is a youth title, after all 😉 ).