by James Dashner
In this first book of the trilogy, we meet Thomas as he wakes up with no specific memories of his past, on the way to what we learn is The Glade. Thomas and some other boys are apparently being kept here, surrounded by an impenetrable maze filled with deadly monster-machines. None of them have any memories. Suddenly, the first girl ever arrives in The Glade, and triggers catastrophic events.
Seemingly the love-child of The Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies, this book is fast-paced and interesting, if not very deep. It's mostly the desire to solve the multiple mysteries that keeps one reading. Unfortunately, if that is your main motivation (as it was mine), you'll have to finish the series to really answer everything.
by James Dashner
A direct sequel to #1, picking up pretty much exactly where we left off. Thomas and the gang have escaped the Maze, but find themselves thrust into yet another life-threatening experiment where many will die. Thomas might even be one of them.
Somewhat satisfying in that as Thomas slowly gains back some memories, we can start to piece together what has happened. Since we, the readers, are not faced with death (and near-constant exhaustion, as Thomas does), we have more leisure to go back and fit his sketchy memories together. We won't have all the information, though, until book 3.
by James Dashner
In the final installment, Thomas and his friends try to figure out how to deal with the organization that has stolen their memories, made them distrust everything and everyone, and killed their friends.
Questions are answered, mysteries solved, and the human race goes on. Hooray!
Final verdict: a fun, quick read. Much more cheerful ending than Hunger Games. Gotta read the whole series to be happy, but don't really have to reread ever, in my opinion.
[This is post #95. When do you think I will get to 100? If you're right, you might win!]
I felt pretty much the same about the first book--limited character development and mainly a plot-driven story. Although the event at the VERY end of Maze Runner (you know what I'm talking about)is what made me start caring about these characters.
ReplyDeleteScorch Trials was much more emotional, as was Death Cure, but at the same time the whole trilogy is very plot-driven. Suspenseful,too--I honestly didn't know how the characters were going to survive some of the situations they were put in.
Some people have said that the end of Death Cure isn't really the end...I'm intrigued with this and if a book 4 is written, I'll definitely be in line to read it.
Thanks for commenting, Erin! If you look on Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/search?query=maze+runner), you'll see that there are prequels out/coming out soon. Perhaps that's what you heard about?
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