Mazes are exciting, intense and thrilling. But not when you spend your teenage life amidst four mountainous walls opening gates to a maze, not when you aren’t even told that you’d end up in one, not when you have limited food or water supply in the maze, not when your told the Maze could be the last thing you remember, not until you realise it can lead to many deaths. Well, come and explore the thrilling and bewildering journey of Thomas and his friends in the book, The Maze Runner.
DISCLAIMER – Contains Spoilers; continue if you wish!
Author’s name – James Dashner
Genre – Sci-fi, Mystery, Thriller
Rating – 4.8/5
Plot
What…? Where am I? Who am I? More importantly, why am I surrounded by 4 enormous and intimidating walls? All these questions attacked Thomas into confusion and frustration as he woke up not even knowing his name for a few minutes. Clueless of the people who enclosed Thomas with eyes of desperation and despair, he stepped out the rusty elevator that delivered him to the so-called ‘Glade’. Meet Alby and Newt, the leaders of the Glade. They were the first ones to be here in the maze. They set up basic rules of which everyone in the Glade has to oblige. Perplexed and curious of many questions, these Gladers have been trying to find a way out of the maze for the past 2 years, yet they are still left in disappointment.
But, Thomas is unlike anyone else. He was part of the reason why these teens along with himself were here, in a maze that seemed inescapable. Thomas was involved in this scientific experiment. He was, in fact, one of the only creators of the maze who was put into it. But nothing seemed to work out for him. He couldn’t remember anything. Finally, amidst all this chaos, a spark of hope rises. An idea. Will Thomas and his friends find a way out and catch a breath for life or lose their lives as they can’t find a solution to the Maze?
What influenced James Dashner to write this book?
James Dashner had many influences under himself to accomplish writing The Maze Runner series. It started from childhood when Dashner watched a film called ‘The Shining’ by Stephen King. One of the scenes involves a little boy escaping from the main character in a garden maze. This frightened Dashner yet it seemed ever so fascinating him hence, he was quite interested in the thriller and suspense genre. In addition to that, Dashner also read ‘Lord of the Flies’ in which a group of people are stranded on an island and work together to escape it. This is one of the key aspects of the novel which makes you urge to remain in the imagination of Dashner and his the Maze.
My opinion on the book
Personally, I feel that James Dashner has successfully conveyed his intent of suspense and dread of not knowing what to expect. He also manages to create empathy and pass on each and every feeling of Thomas. However, as the book is mostly written in the first-person perspective the reader has a narrow idea of what the other characters go through. However, the entire book is very engaging and intense from the get-go!
Recommendation
In my opinion, this book is worth the read for most age groups starting from 11 but it depends more on what sort of genre you are aiming to read. For those who are interested in the Hunger Games or Divergent then The Maze runner is the answer to your next read and trust me it won’t let you down. For me, this book was beyond perfect and I think many who read this book would get a similar impression. Well, if you don’t fancy the book maybe you can give The Maze Runner movie.
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