Review; The Maze Runner

Hi guys! I hope you've all had a great week, I'm absolutely knackered from my first week back at school but I did force myself to finish 'The Maze Runner.' I tried to read the book years ago but didn't finish it for one reason or another. This time I was listening to it on Audible and it once again took me ages to get into. However I would argue it was worth the effort and I can't wait to see the film now! 

TMR centres around Thomas, a young boy who wakes up in a lift with no memories of his past life, being taken into a place called the Glade, a large- sealed off area surrounded by a maze. There he meets a group of boys, the Gladers, who explain to him that they believe they have been placed there by the Creators with the purpose of trying to escape the maze- which is inhabited by the Greivers, a nasty metal/fleshy monster. Thomas sets off a series of changes to the Glade, including the arrival of a girl that he can vaguely remember- who comes heralding the news that she is the last ever delivery to the maze. 

The book does take a while to get going- which is to be expected as a certain amount of world building is necessary is these circumstances. But the characters are great, even the peripheral ones that you don't see much of get decent back stories- and Thomas himself is shown to be multi faceted, in that all sides of his personality are shown through his decisions. 

The romance type story between Thomas and Theresa, the girl delivered, is slow burning but obvious and there support for each other is one of the sweeter sides of the story. However the best relationships in the book are without a doubt the interactions between the boys. Thomas interacts very differently with all the boys but his relationship the the Gladers- Newt, Chuck and Minho especially is brilliant. The sheer description of Thomas's experiences as a 'runner' in the maze with Minho, and in the Glade itself are a testimony to James Dashner's writing, but this wasn't up there with TMI, Divergent, the Hunger Games and so many other of the well known and successful YA series that have been released. 

I'm going to take a break from the series and see how the film turns out- the movie stars Dylan O'Brien, of Teen Wolf fame, one of my favourite actors, so I'll definitely be seeing that. Who knows, maybe I'll pick up the sequel, The Scorch Trials, sooner rather than later. Until then, have a wonderful week! 

Characters; 4/5
Plot; 3/5
Overall; 3/5