The Maze Runner: A Somewhat Mystery-filled Dystopian Series

Near the end of winter break I started reading the Maze Runner series, which was recommended to me by my cousin (again, this is like the third time). And I think it was a pretty good recommendation, because I was able to read the three books in about two weeks while balancing a lot of schoolwork.

Anyway, the Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who wakes up in the Glade, which is pretty much a big field with a stone maze around it. When he gets there, he has no memories except his name. There are about 50 other boys there, and Thomas learns that each month for the last three years a new boy has been coming up what they call “the box,” which seems like some sort of underground elevator that also sends up supplies. 

In the Glade, everyone has a job. All of the boys arrived with no memories and by working together hope to escape the maze. Some of them are called “Runners” and they spend each day going through the maze, remembering patterns and copying them down, analyzing differences day-to-day. Every night, a stone wall closes, closing off the Glade from the maze. During the night, the maze shifts, and slimy metal-covered creatures called Grievers roam around, and they can’t get into the Glade because the wall is shut. 

As Thomas spends more time in the Glade, the situation gets worse and worse and the boys have to figure out the maze before they all die. 

The next two books are about what happens after the maze, when Thomas arrives in a dystopian, disease-filled world and meets the people who put him in the maze, who call him the “Final Candidate,” the one who they think will help find the cure and fix everything.

I really enjoyed the first book. I liked the mystery of the maze, wondering why all these boys are in there and how they will get out. I liked the writing style, and though it was in 3rd person and I usually like 1st person more, I think it fit well and didn’t bother me. 

The next two books were pretty good but sometimes didn’t make a lot of sense. The main characters spend a lot of time deciding whether a group called WICKED (World in Catastrophe, Killzone Experiment Department) is good or not. I can’t say a lot without spoiling something, but I felt like a lot of the mystery had mostly disappeared and all the questions left were “is WICKED trying to fix the world?” “Are they doing it in the right way?” “Are they telling us the truth?” and “How can we fix the world if they can’t?”

But there was never a point where I considered stopping, and I still enjoyed the series a lot, though the ending was a little disappointing.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this series, and with only three books (besides the prequels and other extra books) it’s not much of a commitment.

-Janny