By James Dashner
“If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.”
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers–boys whose memories are also gone.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out–and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
I might have been slightly influenced as I had seen the trailer for this book before reading it, but I found the first half of this book thoroughly creepy. Like, I couldn’t read it creepy. These kids just sitting in this open glade, surrounded by these tall walls that open and when they do, the kids that go out in the maze run of the risk of being attacked by these creepy monsters….ugh.
Though once we actually see what these monsters are, I was a little more at ease. It’s that thought of being haunted by something unknown that really ups the suspense. There’s a reason you never see the monster in a horror movie fully until nearly the very end.
This book had some very strong overtures of Lord of the Flies. Maybe it was because it’s mostly just a group of boys, but it reminded me more of that book, than of The Hunger Games which it’s often compared to.
What worked really well in this novel, was the suspense. What is the Maze? Who is Thomas and who was he before he went into the Box? Who is the girl, the first ever girl to arrive in the Glade? And what is the connection between the girl, Thomas, the Maze, and the world outside the Maze?
Overall, I liked this book and I’m looking forward to reading the others in the series. There’s some pretty interesting things that are revealed at the end of the book that really have the potential to propel this series in a whole new (and probably creepy) direction.
I’m also looking forward to seeing the movie…it seems like they’ve done a good job capturing the world of The Maze and The Glade.
