The Maze Runner

Having watched and reviewed the film adaptation of James Dashner's The Maze Runner a few weeks back, and the first book being available through Kindle Unlimited, I decided to give it a go.

Thomas wakes in a steel box going up and emerges into the Glade, a contained, pastoral subsistence community peopled by amnesiac young men like himself. The Glade is a sanctuary at the heart of the Maze, a vast and shifting complex patrolled by deadly, biomechanical Grievers, but Thomas brings change to this community, and the arrival of a girl, Theresa, triggers the start of an endgame; a deadly new phase of their trials.

The Maze Runner is a book that is not without problems, in particular that the characters are all to one degree or another annoying. On the other hand, they are almost all teenage boys, and in fairness their annoying traits are mostly justified by this. They are moody, aggressive, impatient, awkwardly horny and occasionally very dim. They are also incapable of giving a straight answer to a question or explaining anything in advance of the most dramatic moment, which is a bit less excusable. Dashner's prose is not helpful, being at times repetitive (see below) but the pace is good and the book is a quick and flowing read. The Glader slang is a little forced at first, but feels more natural and fluid later in the book, which is perhaps as it should be.

In comparison to the film, Theresa is a stronger character, at least once she wakes up and stops being the comatose subject of Thomas's obsessive adoration (and when the Gladers aren't calling dibs or otherwise being creepy little dweebs); I could have done with at least one fewer passages mewling over her perfect white skin and vivid blue eyes. She is an active participant in the escape plan and the one who cracks the maze code, and her telepathic bond with Thomas gives her a larger role in a narrative which focuses entirely on Thomas's POV. The boys, on the other hand, are probably weaker. I don't know if it's a flaw, per se; they're probably more realistic, whereas the film versions were more iconic.

The ending is, alas, no more satisfying than that of the film, and still leaves one wondering what can be gained by the bullshit experiments and what is just needless cruelty.

The answer is in books that I would still have to pay for, so watch this space.