Emanuel's Reviews > The Maze Runner

** spoiler alert ** To begin, I will say that I am a fan of Dashner since my reading of the Mortality Doctrine series. Sometimes his writing style isn't the greatest, but he certainly has a way of keeping me interested and dedicated until the end. Even after the end, he keeps me hungry for more.

Using that as a spring board, I think that the first book in the Maze Runner series (The Maze Runner) is fantastic, hence the 5 star rating. The plot was very interesting, and original as far as I can tell. The only book that might remotely resemble this is the Hunger Games, but its pretty far off.

Of course, no book is perfect. One of the biggest problems that I have found with this book is the enormous amount of mystery and unknown factors throughout the story. Being honest, its enough to the point where it becomes infuriating.

One of the other problems was how the main character, Thomas, has such a condescending view on everything. He is very cynical. He seems to think he is special and better than everyone else. Though he does turn out to be special, along with the girl who arrives the day after him.

"He wanted to cry, but no tears came; he could only sit there, alone, waiting" (Dashner 1).

I find the quote above very interesting. It symbolizes how little control we can have over our lives at times. Thomas had his life erased and was put into this maze without his consent and he was expected to deal with it. This really shows how literature can help us better understand what happens in our lives and ourselves.

If I had to recommend this book to someone, it would really be to anyone as it doesn't really seem to follow any single genre to me. I think that anyone could find it interesting, especially as the "riddle wrapped in a mystery" begins to unfold and more information is revealed. I am definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the series.