Sunday, July 26, 2009

Book Review: "THE MAZE RUNNER" by JAMES DASHNER


OK, my first review! I just couldn't wait any longer and "The Maze Runner", due out October 6th 2009 by James Dashner is one of my favorite books ever read. I have been stalling my first review as I did not know which book to post about first! Well James, you win! As a matter of fact James has 2 books published so far in another amazing series which I have read and will post reviews on shortly called "The 13th Reality". You can view info on these books and the soon to be released "Maze Runner" at his site, www.jamesdashner.com. If we are lucky, James has even promised me an interview for our site in late October, early November to promote the release. Thanks James! ok now to the book: (I'll try my BEST not to include any spoilers!)

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. He has no recollection of his parents, his home, or how he got where he is. His memory is blank. But he's not alone. When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large expanse enclosed by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know, is that every morning, for as long as anyone can remember, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night, for just as long, they've closed tight. Every thirty days a new boy is delivered in the lift. And no one wants to be stuck in the maze after dark. The Gladers were expecting Thomas's arrival. But the next day, a girl is sent up- the first girl ever to arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. The Gladers have always been convinced that if they can solve the maze that surrounds the Glade, they might find their way home.... wherever that may be. But it's looking more and more as if the maze is unsolvable.

And something about the girl's arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different. Something is telling him that he just might have some answers- if he can only find a way to retrieve the dark secrets locked within his own mind.

MY REVIEW:

"Wow!"..... That word alone really does sum up my feelings on this book. I could not put the book down and spent a few nights reading until I fell asleep with the book on my lap only a few short hours before it was time to go to work. I did read an ARC, so I don't want to give anything away, especially since James has been very kind to me, and will post again when the book is released. I will say this... "Lord of the Flies" MOVE OVER! Maze will definitely take over that "required reading" status for children in middle school all the way up to the college level. This i'd be willing to guarantee.

James has created a world, either set in the future or some alternate reality (<---like that one?) in which things have apparently gone very very wrong. The problem is, the Gladers, those of them who have not gone through "the changing" have no idea what is actually wrong with that world, why they were placed in the Glade, or really anything in their past before being brought up in the lift. While Thomas is the main character, there are many other central characters who share very important roles in the book and although you don't really know much about their past life, you can figure out their personalities with Dashner's fantastic character building skills. So when Thomas arrives, he quickly decides that he needs to solve the riddle of the Maze and find a way out for himself and the other boys. What bothers him is that the others have been there for some time and still are really no closer to finding a way out than when Thomas arrives.

He soon finds out the "Grievers", or the mind boggling monster/machine enemies force the boys to be inside the Glade and out of the Maze every night like clockwork (at least for now anyway). This puts a time constraint on their studying of the maze and makes it difficult to try and find a way out. This and the fact that the maze seems to change itself quite often, making it even more difficult for one to solve a puzzle with moving parts to it.

Well, the good news is the boys have learned to live in a semi-civilized manner with no grown ups as they have created their own workforce, government, as well as even daily routines that keeps them all alive. Some feel that there is something strange about Thomas that makes him different from the moment he finds himself in the Glade. Well, they are right, different he is. Thomas will take you on an unbelievable adventure, where risks provides rewards, and the nail biting, page turning suspense of what the heck could possibly happen on the next page will keep you reading until you can not read anymore.

What I loved the most was at the end of the book, you are left really thinking about a few different things. What is so special about this set of boys?, what is in store for them next, and a real big ARE YOU KIDDING ME? when you hit the last page or so of the book. These last few pages, "the email", actually made me chuckle and wish that I could really be inside of Dashner's head wondering what in gods name is going to happen in the next book???? It was not enough that each page of the book provided for the desperate urge to do nothing other than turn to that next page as quick as you possibly can, but to end a book with the same feeling multiplied by 100 x's makes me have to give this book 5 stars. Oh come on, PLEASE JUST TELL US A TINY BIT MORE! is all I was saying to myself when I closed the cover.

Hands down, "The Maze Runner" is one of the best books I have ever read. If you have read the book, please post your thoughts here while trying not to spoil anything. If you are one of Dashner's fans, i'd love to know what you thought of his other books, as I loved them and can not wait to see if and how Tick learns to control his powers and what is in store for him and the gang next.

Thanks Shanks for reading my post and I hope to see you here more as I add more reviews of the gazillion books I have read and plan to read in the near future. As always, recommendations for great reads are always welcomed and encouraged!

Dave

16 comments:

  1. OK, so I put up my first comment! BIG DEAL! I was sick of staring at a big fat 0 when i reviewed such an awesome book! DONT MAKE ME BE # 2 also! Where are all my Dashner fans???
    Dave ;O)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Dave. Magenta.

    I saw your comments at the end of Dashner's post, so I thought I'd say I'm sorry and give your review a try.

    Gotta say, you were absolutely right when you promised little to no spoilers. I don't know much more than I previously did about Maze Runner. And yet, my urge to have the ARC in my hands right now has most likely tripled, or quadrupled, or something! Big thanks to you! ^_^

    Whenever it is that I finish Maze Runner, I'll give you the link to my review post. Long live James Dashner!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, what an awesome review! Thank you, I'm honored. Nothing like hearing that someone liked your book. Or better yet, loved it. Thanks man!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very nice review! I have to say that I'm pretty much counting down the days until this book comes out because it sounds so interesting and intense. And now I think I have a better idea of what to expect. Thanks! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Erin so much for posting a comment! The book IS awesome and the way James wrote the story, I seriously had a hard time putting the book down. Each page made you so anxious to get to the next it was crazy. I truly did love the book and what I loved the most was that towards the last few chapters you did get many answers to questions James had you asking yourself throughout the book however, he still left many unanswered questions that it leaves you thinking for days and dying to read "Scorch Trials"! I'd love to hear back from you once you read it and hang in there, it will be out soon enough. Maybe if James gets some more ARC's you could even have a chance to read it sooner. Ya never know.
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh man! Don't get my hopes up like that with talk of ARC's! Hehe. I will definitely let you know what I think after I read it. What other books are you planning to review so I know what to check out?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, this list is going to be long! Probably real soon I am going to write a review on the 2 "13th Realities", The Hunger Games AND Catching Fire ARC by Suzanne Collins, Graceling and Fire ARC by Kristin Cashore, Witch and Wizard ARC by James Patterson, Artemis Fowl series, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (received it and read the whole thing today!), Death's Head, The Candy Shop War, a few books by James Rollins including Jake Ransom and The Skull King's Shadow, The City of Ember series, and there are more I can't think of off the top of my head. I also have close to 50 books that I recently purchased that I am trying to read as soon as possible to get reviews up. SOME of these include, the Septimus Heap series, The Nicholas Flamel Series, The Time Traveler and The Time THief, Tunnels and Deeper, The Warrior, Wizard, and Dragon Heir Series, The Fablehaven Series (Dashner's buddy Brandon Mull), The Percy Jackson series, Benedict Society series, The Jimmy Fincher series of course, the Inkheart series and some others I have either just bought or plan to buy shortly. Also, keep in mind, my wife and 2 daughters are planning on starting their reviews this weekend (if the weather isn't great and we are not at the beach!). My wife will probably review Candy and Tori Spelling's books and a few others, my older daughter will start off with the Twilight books IM SURE OF and my younger one might review Because of Winn-Dixie and maybe the 39 Clues books to start off with as well as a few others. That was the idea for our site to begin with, having the 4 of us who read some of the same books, but mostly different, we can have a whole array of reviews on here. IF you are a fan of Dashner, you will probably want to check out my reviews, but you never know what you might find on theirs too. I'D LOVE for you to post some great books you have read that you loved, or what you are currently reading or plan to read in the near future. The one thing we wanted to do with our site was share great books with others, so we would love everyone to be interactive and post about some of their favorites. Thanks again, and check in from time to time for as we grow our site we plan to hold as many contests and giveaways as we can. You are welcome to sign up to follow our site if you wish and receive updates. Thanks again, and spread the word about our site if you could as down the road I plan to reward those of you who have been with us from the beginning and stick around :O)
    THANKS AGAIN!
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cool Review...sorry I dont write life story comments.....

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks #1 Dash fan for checkin us out! No sweat on the comments. This is a stress reliever for me. Sign up for the site if you want as I plan to hold many contests and giveaways as soon as I pick up some followers and will reward those who have been with me since the ground floor. The only thing I would ask of you for posting is if you read anything you love or have some favorites, please share with us. I am always looking for great suggestions and im sure others are too. Thanks again!
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hiya Dave. Just wanted to check out how many comments you're getting for your great Maze Runner review. Looks like you're doing good, but I can understand your confusion that a lot more Dashner-fans are not checking this gem out. Well, don't get discouraged. Just keep doing what you're doing ^_^

    A lot of the books you mentioned in that "life-story" comment I've read myself. These series are pretty sweet!

    I've read the Hunger Games (how did you get an ARC of Catching Fire?!), Artemis Fowl, The Books of Ember, a few books of Septimus Heap, 2 out of 3 Nicholas Flamels, Time Traveler and Time Thief, Fablehaven, Percy Jackson (still have the last book to read), Benedict Society (there's a third coming out!), Inkheart (I actually didn't like this, so I haven't read the third), Twilight, Because of Winn-Dixie and the first two 39 Clues. Of course I've read the 13th Reality series, only I'm 12 chapters away from finishing #2. I haven't read The Candy Shop War, Tunnels and Deeper, or Jimmy Fincher, but I've heard of them.

    If you want suggestions, I've got a really great one! http://alvor-daretodream.blogspot.com/
    This link will take you to the blog of Laura Bingham, a budding published author from Idaho who wrote Alvor. Not only does she write an awesome blog, but she also has the entire 1st chapter of her book lining the bottom of the page! It's really neat, and makes you beg for the rest! So keep your eye out for Alvor, 'kay? Also, I hope you'll check out my own book review blog, if you're ever in the mood:
    http://bettinasbooks2009.blogspot.com/

    It's a good thing you're okay with long-ish comments, because I'm usually prone to writing them. :P

    If you're going to be posting about any of those above books sometime soon, I think I'd better follow you... and also so I can get a slice of that contest and give-away action! hee hee.

    Until next time... see ya! Hope you post again soon!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Magenta,
    Thanks for the encouraging words, and of course I love long posts. Short are ok too, but the whole idea of my site was to share "book/reading/fun" ideas in other words, interactive. I love hearing from others! I'm probably going to post a few more reviews tomorrow and the rest of my family will post their first each (I hope). I'm so glad to hear you read many of those books. I bought the Inkheart series and sort of just keep looking at it on the shelf, passing it up as next to read, and telling myself I'll get back to it. Now, I'm even more discouraged to read them trusting your opinion. I'm sure one day I'll be in some sort of situation where the time will be right to read them. Until then, plenty of other good books to read. Today I'm reading the rest of The City Of Ember and I'll also probably finish the second Artemis Fowl (I love this series so far). My problem is I can't stop buying books, even though I have so many to read. I have the Supernaturalist, The Enders Game, and The Harry Potter new box set on it's way (I stopped after the 4th Potter and figured it wss time to finish them) I read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead yesterday and have to think before I review that book. I liked it, but am still not sure how much or what I'm going to say about it. It was weird. To answer your question about Catching Fire, I happen to get this copy from a VP at scholastic that I called in a HUGE favor on, but I know there are copies on EBAY. I know these are not supposed to be for sale, but heck, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I heard of a guy ;O) who got an ARC of "The Maze Runner" on EBAY for $8 and when he got it in the mail and opened it, it was signed!!!! The seller didn't even look inside the book! And yes, that "person" was me, however I fully intend on buying the book the day its released to A. Support James and B. Have a copy that is not already put away and wrapped in plastic a hundred times! I'm not promoting EBAY, but let's be realistic, if an ARC is listed there, someone is going to get it. If it is a favorite author and a "MUST READ ASP", I see nothing wrong with picking it up as long as you go out and buy a copy to support your author when the book is released. BTW, you can find some Catching Fire on there now and they have gone down in price A LOT! Used to sell for $150!!!! Thanks again for the post and Fire, the sequel to Graceling by Kristin Cashore is another of my favorite series. I loved them both! Thanks again and I plan to check out your site today while reading on the beach!
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yeah. I agree with Magenta. I made it through the first inkheart book okay. I actually enjoyed that one. But the second one . . . I still haven't made it past the third chapter. But I just finished this book called "Gone" by Michael Grant that was good. It's like Lord of the Flies meets X-men. So that's one people might want to check out. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. So upset to hear about Inkheart, but I appreciate the heads up. They will sit in the "to read" pile for a while. I already put Alvor in my "barnes and noble cart" after I checked out the site! Can't wait to read it! That's why I always ask for suggestions. That looks like a book I want to read ASAP. Thank you. And I stopped by your site before and will check it out more whem I get home from the beach. I opened City of Ember and fell asleep 5 minutes later, so all I got was a nice burn today. If you guys who stop by here can spread the word about our site I PROMISE later on when we have enough people to hold contests I will remember your help. Not that contests are fixed ;O) and hopefully by that time, no one will come back and this post! I'm planinga few reviews tomorrow but I also want to read Ember as I might move Alvor to the top of the list. Thanks again!
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for the publicity Magenta! Whoever checks this site out should check out Magenta's book blog site too as she has read maby of the books I have or plan to. She had read the "Amber" series, which is what I'm currently reading. And soon (fingers crossed) after she reads her ARC of "Maze Runner" she too will post a review of it also. So... Check her out @ http://bettinasbooks2009.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hey Dave,

    Sorry I'm so delayed in getting a comment up on your blog!

    Great review, and I agree that Maze Runner is awesome. I actually read it in one day. Started Wednesday morning, finished Wednesday night. Definitely hard to put down!

    ReplyDelete
  16. You know I have to say after reading that review I am very intrigued and will be certainly looking for this book when it releases!

    ReplyDelete