Camilla's Reviews > The Maze Runner

I think I'm too jaded when it comes to dystopian young adult fiction to give this book a fair shake. I listened to it, and it started out as Hunger Games but ended as Ender's Game. Science fiction/fantasy trope after trope, written by what felt like a new author (he's totally not new--he's written a million books!). I liked Thomas and I enjoyed watching him discover pieces of his new world and work out the riddle of the maze. I would have liked the maze to have had more of a role in the story. As it is, the maze was really just a minor presence, meant to be haunting and mysterious and unsolvable but really just there and then quickly defeated.

The story was less complicated than it should have been, which made it hard for me to maintain my interest throughout. The character development was incredibly weak, which was perhaps the worst aspect of the novel. We come to know quite a few of the Gladers, but all of them are pretty one-dimensional, including Thomas and especially Theresa. It hurts to see that, because without a strong, original, and complex story, I could still enjoy a book with some excellent character development.

As for the positives, I liked that the book was not unbearably long (it's YA, people! Keep your stories short!) and that each chapter ended with such a good cliffhanger that I was interested enough to continue reading. I'll be continuing the series and am hopeful that it picks up a bit.