Between the Bookcovers

Enter my giveaway for The Blizzard by Marty Martins. Comment on this post to enter.



Author: James Dashner
Published: October 6, 2009
Pages: 400
Rating: 2/5 Stars

My Review:

Thomas wakes up to find that he has arrived in a strange place called the Glade, a and he has no memory of his past life. The Glade is a dystopic self sufficient colony without adults in the middle of a maze with lots of boys and weird monsters. This is the setting for The Maze Runner. The kids in The Glade have tried for two years to find a way out of The Glade without success. Every day several boys run through the maze trying to find a way out, every night the walls in the maze move. The day after Thomas arrives a girl also arrives, an event because there had never been a girl in The Glade before. The book explores how Thomas reacts to his situation in The Glade, what his relationship with the new girl is, and if there is a way out of the maze.

I am a huge fan of dystopian fiction and I was really looking forward to The Maze Runner. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was disappointed. The characters in the book were not well developed and there was nothing to make me care about what happened to them. Even when they died, I felt nothing for them. The premise of the story sounded good, but after hearing about the maze that could not be solved over and over again, I didn't really care if they found a way out or not. What was meant to be an adventure with building tension was a boring story that I found difficult to get through. The use of words unique to The Glade didn't make any sense. I think that if an author uses unique words or languages, there should be a reason for it. As used the words made no sense and were distracting. Finally, the end was abrupt and obviously a set up for the sequel, but I think books should have some sort of a stopping point, not just a cut off that leaves the reader hanging. There was nothing here that made me want to seek out the next book in the trilogy.

I will note that my opinion of this book is in the minority. Many other reviewers love the story and have given it very positive reviews. I encourage you to read other opinions and decide for yourself if this is a book that will appeal to you.

My Rating: A disappointment