AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The Maze Runner
Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Audiobook Narrator: Mark Deakins
Series: Maze Runner (Book One)
The only thing Thomas can remember is his name. That's the way it starts for everyone that lives in the Glade. Even those who have been there since the beginning don't understand everything. They know that they've been sent to the Glade by the Creators, and that every morning the walls surrounding them open, revealing an ever changing maze. Every night the walls close off. Anyone left outside is taken by the Grievers, and never seen again. Each day the runners do their best to plot out the course of the maze, and hopefully find an exit, but after two years, all of their attempts have been fruitless. Then Teresa arrives and everything changes.
I picked up The Maze Runner after hearing it favorably compared to one of my favorite books, The Hunger Games. Although they are ultimately quite different, I can see where these comparisons come from. Like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner is an action oriented young adult dystopia, filled with plenty of nail biting suspense and an emphasis on survival. Like The Hunger Games, there's plenty of excitement to be found in The Maze Runner. At the same time, there were certain things that really frustrated me about this book that I would like to get into. As The Maze Runner has a lot of secrets that I don't want to spoil for people that haven't picked it up yet, this review will have two parts. The first part will cover the content in the beginning of the book and possess no real spoilers. The second part will have spoilers and be located beneath a cut.
Our protagonist Thomas enters the book with no memories about himself or the world around him. He has a lot of questions, and he's very insistent on getting answers. I didn't have any issues with this behavior, as it seemed logical given the situation. What bothered me were the reactions of others, which were not only to refuse to answer most of his question, but to respond rudely to his ignorance. They make it clear that Thomas is much calmer than most of the amnesiac boys are upon first entering the Glade, which explains their reaction somewhat, but it seems really strange to me that Thomas would receive next to no sympathy from all of these characters who went through the same confusing beginnings as he did. It just makes the rest of the cast look like jerks, which doesn't make them all that likable to begin with. Such delaying of information doesn't seem that natural, making it feel as if the author is just stringing you along. Fortunately things pick up once Thomas first enters the maze, and the book gets better the deeper you read into it.
Thomas eventually gets the answers he seeks about the world outside of the Glade by purposely getting stung by a Griever, which allows him to access blocked off memories. Although I predicted that this would be his course of action, it's hard not to admire Thomas for his bravery. After all, it's not something I would have had the guts to do. The revelations that he makes about the maze are quite interesting, and really whets the reader's appetite to find out more about the creators. On the other hand, there were parts about these revelations that frustrated me again. When I thought that the Glade was just made up of a big group of scared teenage boys, I could understand why not one of them considered the possibility that the maze was a code. Once we learn that they're all supposed to be very smart, I was somewhat skeptical that after two years no one had even considered the possibility until Teresa came around.
Thoughts on the Audiobook: The narrator, Mark Deakins, has done several audiobooks in the past but this is my first time encountering his work. I thought he did a good job here. Deakins manages to create a nice variety of voices for our cast of teenage boys by utilizing various different accents. He also really pulled off some of the more emotional bits.
Final Thoughts: The Maze Runner is a dark dystopia filled with plenty of suspense and action. There were certain aspects of the book (such as Thomas's initial reception from the Gladers) that left me feeling frustrated, but the book offered enough to keep me interested. As a result, I am planning on reading more of the series, even if it's not at the top of my list. The Maze Runner would be a good book for fans of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Sereis. The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld and Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Three and a half stars.
Next I will be reviewing Morning Glories, Vol 2: All Will Be Free by Nick Spenser and Joe Eisma.
Author: James Dashner
Audiobook Narrator: Mark Deakins
Series: Maze Runner (Book One)
The only thing Thomas can remember is his name. That's the way it starts for everyone that lives in the Glade. Even those who have been there since the beginning don't understand everything. They know that they've been sent to the Glade by the Creators, and that every morning the walls surrounding them open, revealing an ever changing maze. Every night the walls close off. Anyone left outside is taken by the Grievers, and never seen again. Each day the runners do their best to plot out the course of the maze, and hopefully find an exit, but after two years, all of their attempts have been fruitless. Then Teresa arrives and everything changes.
I picked up The Maze Runner after hearing it favorably compared to one of my favorite books, The Hunger Games. Although they are ultimately quite different, I can see where these comparisons come from. Like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner is an action oriented young adult dystopia, filled with plenty of nail biting suspense and an emphasis on survival. Like The Hunger Games, there's plenty of excitement to be found in The Maze Runner. At the same time, there were certain things that really frustrated me about this book that I would like to get into. As The Maze Runner has a lot of secrets that I don't want to spoil for people that haven't picked it up yet, this review will have two parts. The first part will cover the content in the beginning of the book and possess no real spoilers. The second part will have spoilers and be located beneath a cut.
Our protagonist Thomas enters the book with no memories about himself or the world around him. He has a lot of questions, and he's very insistent on getting answers. I didn't have any issues with this behavior, as it seemed logical given the situation. What bothered me were the reactions of others, which were not only to refuse to answer most of his question, but to respond rudely to his ignorance. They make it clear that Thomas is much calmer than most of the amnesiac boys are upon first entering the Glade, which explains their reaction somewhat, but it seems really strange to me that Thomas would receive next to no sympathy from all of these characters who went through the same confusing beginnings as he did. It just makes the rest of the cast look like jerks, which doesn't make them all that likable to begin with. Such delaying of information doesn't seem that natural, making it feel as if the author is just stringing you along. Fortunately things pick up once Thomas first enters the maze, and the book gets better the deeper you read into it.
Thomas eventually gets the answers he seeks about the world outside of the Glade by purposely getting stung by a Griever, which allows him to access blocked off memories. Although I predicted that this would be his course of action, it's hard not to admire Thomas for his bravery. After all, it's not something I would have had the guts to do. The revelations that he makes about the maze are quite interesting, and really whets the reader's appetite to find out more about the creators. On the other hand, there were parts about these revelations that frustrated me again. When I thought that the Glade was just made up of a big group of scared teenage boys, I could understand why not one of them considered the possibility that the maze was a code. Once we learn that they're all supposed to be very smart, I was somewhat skeptical that after two years no one had even considered the possibility until Teresa came around.
Thoughts on the Audiobook: The narrator, Mark Deakins, has done several audiobooks in the past but this is my first time encountering his work. I thought he did a good job here. Deakins manages to create a nice variety of voices for our cast of teenage boys by utilizing various different accents. He also really pulled off some of the more emotional bits.
Final Thoughts: The Maze Runner is a dark dystopia filled with plenty of suspense and action. There were certain aspects of the book (such as Thomas's initial reception from the Gladers) that left me feeling frustrated, but the book offered enough to keep me interested. As a result, I am planning on reading more of the series, even if it's not at the top of my list. The Maze Runner would be a good book for fans of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Sereis. The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld and Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Three and a half stars.
Next I will be reviewing Morning Glories, Vol 2: All Will Be Free by Nick Spenser and Joe Eisma.