Cassidy Ammorette's Reviews > The Maze Runner

This freaking book had me feeling some type of way. Usually, I'm not the sort for "Dystopian" novels. The Hunger Games were a hit, then miss for me. (The movies were better- go ahead, shoot me) I only read about half of Delirium before I got annoyed and bored (maybe I'll come back to it) and Divergent was written so poorly I couldn't get past the first page. But The Maze Runner was written by an absolute genius. James Dashner- your three years of work certainly paid off.

My motivation for reading this novel, I'm not gonna lie, was based solely off the fact that Dylan O'Brien looked really attractive in the previews and I thought, "Hey, I wouldn't mind imagining that face for the duration of one book!"

Anyway, The Maze Runner was written in a simple but creative tone of voice. I found everything easy to imagine, from the actual maze to the Grievers (who at some points, caused my lunch to threaten to make a reappearance). What I'm excited for, is to see how the Grievers will look in the film adaptation.

In a way, I was expecting the ending but at the same time, I was still blown away. I was completely baffled by the choice to kill off Chuck, although when thinking about it, the little boy probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyways. It was brutal, it was heart wrenching and Chuck will forever leave a scar on our hearts. I can't say the same for Gally or Alby. They were annoying.

Dashner gave the characters very realistic personalities, all except for the main two: Teresa and Thomas. They come off as very flat to me. Teresa has zero personality, hopefully she'll develop more in The Scorch Trials. Thomas is a bit stereotypical. He's brave, he's caring, he's the obvious underdog-turned-leader and the best friend anyone could ask for. Does he have any flaws?? He rose to superhero standards quite quickly and I find it hard to believe that it took those kids two years without notice of any pattern in the maze and him only about two weeks to figure every little thing out.

Some "plot twists" were extremely obvious to me. It occurred to me way early on in the book that Thomas would get himself stung on purpose to regain memories. Dashner dropped too many hints at it- something like that should take us by surprise. Another thing that bothered me was the way, in the beginning, Thomas just knew he had to become a Runner. It's okay to say it once, or maybe twice but to keep mentioning his desire, his calling, his destiny relentlessly was a little excessive. It's pretty obvious by the title of the book that he would become one, anyway.

Two characters I was very fond of were Newt and Minho. Making Newt English was a great touch to show how the boys were selected from all over. Newt was a leader but his flaw was caring too much about his friends. I honestly found him a better leader than that shuck-faced Alby (hah) who only wanted to do things his way and not consider all the other possibilities. Minho was dedicated and smart and willing to risks, sometimes irrationally, which we needed.

Chuck, of course, was dear to my heart. We always want to dote on and adore the helpless, baby, naive character. It saddens me that I'll have to read on without him.

Overall, I am completely obsessed with this series. It gives me hope for other dystopian novels. I can't wait to pick up the Scorch Trials and of course, go see the movie! Seeing the scenes I've created in my mind come to life on the big screen is always an experience! I hope they don't change too many things... :D