THE MAZE RUNNER
by JAMES DASHNER :
Review by Ned O’Brian – Year 8
(contains some plot spoilers)
The maze runner is a really good book for the people who are interested in the dystopian genre. The book is based in a maze and the characters within do not remember anything about themselves. The book ends with a cliffhanger that makes you want to keep on reading the series to find out what happens. The book is arranged with no chapter names and bringing in surprising events every few chapters. It is suitable for readers aged ten and up. This book is a classic dystopian story, it is set in the aftermath of terrible sun flares and medical warfare.
In the book all the people are nick-named after real people as remarked on by Thomas who is the main character (names for Thomas Edison) to ‘Newt’ (who is named after Isaac Newton).
For me the most interesting parts in the book were when Gally came back and everybody was surprised that he was alive. I also liked when they found the code to get out of the maze towards the end. Some less interesting bits of the book is the beginning where the world they know is being built. The book was good at saying that we should not make use of medical weapons in warfare. Each character in the book has an important role, Minho is the leader of the runners who each day run, and map the maze. Newt is the one who leads The Glade (The Glade is the name of the territory at the center of the maze). Thomas is the ‘greeny’ (greeny is what they call the new person). Thomas is the one who found the code. Newt is the one who holds everybody together in the times and he made all the tough decisions.
It all starts with Thomas coming up in the box to the glade and a few days on the box came up with Teresa who is the last one ever to come up. then one day he runs into the maze as the doors are closing and then he saves Alby and Gally from the Grievers then he becomes a runner and becomes friends with Minho. Then the Grievers start taking them one every night then Thomas realises that he needs to remember by getting himself stung by the Grievers then he and some friends find the code. After this the ones that think that it is best to go which is most of the people head to the grievers hole to get out of the maze. When they get to the hole they have a battle with the grievers then they eventually put in the code and shut down the grievers and everybody gets to the slimy room where Thomas, Teresa, and Chuck shut down the Grievers then they walk down a hall and go down a tube. At the end of the tube they see Gally who throws a dagger at Thomas but then chuck steps in front of Thomas and then he gets stabbed then Thomas gets real angry at Gally and runs at him. When he gets to him he starts to bet Gally up until the others stopped him. When this happened soldiers came running in and took all of the Gladers outside and onto a bus that took them to a home where they got a nice meal and then went to bed. Then you find chancellor Paige’s letter to her partners speaking that both mazes are a success.
I think that the maze runner is a good book because of the story and of the character names based on real people who existed in the past. The story is good by the idea that they do not have any memories of their past. Another thing that is good is the describing in the book of the maze. This book is the first in a series of 5 books. I highly recommend it.
