maze runner book review essay

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Book Review of The Maze Runner: English Literature Essay

In the novel, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Thomas wakes up one day in a large, open room called the Glade (an elevator car) with no recollection of his life before. He finds that he is among a community consisting of 50 boys going by the name Gladers.

They have a leader named Alby, a co-leader by the name Newt and all they’re trying to do is solve the one maze. The entrance to the maze automatically closes every night at the same time, and that protects the Glades from Grievers (half animal, half robots) that will attack you if you get caught outside the maze. Chuck has to work alongside Thomas. They later become best friends. For the next several years, Thomas struggles to survive and find his way out only to learn that he is actually part of an experiment where they are trying to get teenagers from all over the world in order to create a cure for an unknown disease that has spread.

Uniqueness of The Maze Runner Essay

The tale is filled with suspense and adventure as Thomas attempts to find out more about the place, he has landed in. Surprisingly, a feeble teen girl with little of her memory remaining is brought in on his second day. The girl’s name is Teresa, and when she comes out from the coma, Thomas discovers that they can telepathically communicate. They, therefore, had this notion that they must have known each other before it happened to them. One evening, before the walls close and the time is running out, two runners named Minho and Alby did not return because they found a dead body the previous day. Just as the walls were almost closing, some of the runners soon discovered that they were not going to make it out and therefore they broke the first rule. Minho, therefore, decides to split up with Alby and leaves him to die because he got stung. They failed to accept that and tied Alby to the wall.

The maze runner book description

The end in The Glade gets triggered when they wake up one day, and there was no sun, after which they realized that they have existed in an environment of simulation. Thomas decides to solve the maze, and that is to get stung and go through the changing. Thomas realizes that all the teens were being used as experiments. They had been given false names from a scientist. He makes up a plan to get out of that prison, and it works. The bad thing is that half of the people die while trying to escape. When they finally managed to escape from the bondage, they met a rescue party after taking about two hours, where they get to some new location.

The maze runner characters’ description

Thomas is the book’s main protagonist, and he Is about 16 years of age, and his height is 5 ft 9. He also has black and brown hair and a set of blue eyes. Some people describe Thomas as ugly.

Among the many memorable scenes is when Alby, Thomas, and Minho got themselves trapped in the maze in the dark. I expected Minho to act as their leader, but he decides to ditch the group and go about his business on his own. The best part was the climax when they had run for about 3 hours, and Thomas meets with Minho and is surprised that he is alive. It is almost morning when they meet, but they are tired from the running, and from there, Minho comes up with a plan, and that’s when Thomas tricked the grievers into falling off the cliff. That scene was quite memorable and says that characters fought all odds, and you can even feel your adrenaline shooting even if you’re just sitting.

Other individuals who would like to read the same book would be interested in a series of books like Harry Potter. The readers must be lovers of Adventures or mystery. By reading the book, you will get hooked and know the next time that will happen, especially with all the twists within the storyline.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner - review

James Dashner, The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Series)

First The Hunger Games, then Divergent and now The Maze Runner, a dystopian novel, is being adapted as a film and will be released in cinemas later this year.

The Maze Runner is the first book in a trilogy written by the American author James Dashner. The book was first published in 2009. The similarities between The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner are striking. Firstly, the setting is a post-apocalyptic world with an authoritarian regime, secondly a young teenage hero or heroine decides to fight against the rulers, and finally the heroes are being tested in a trial and have to fight for life or death.

In The Hunger Games the hero, Katniss Everdeen, and the world the story plays in, Panem, are introduced at the beginning and only later in the book the actual trials start. Quite in contrast, The Maze Runner kicks off directly in the middle of the trial and as the title says, a seemingly unsolvable maze must be solved.

Thomas, the sixteen years old hero, remembers nothing about himself except his name. His memory has been wiped, as have all the memories of the Gladers, the teenagers who inhabit the maze. The only thing Thomas can recall is that he must solve the Maze to save himself and the other Gladers. The maze is gigantic and the fifty boys who are caught in it live on a farm in the middle of the maze, an area called the Glade. Every day a small number of the boys, the Runners, leave the Glade and head out into the unknown to find a way out and Thomas wants to become one of them.

As if solving a gigantic maze wouldn't be challenging enough, the walls of the maze move every night to create new dead ends and new paths. And each night the walls directly surrounding the Glade, the place where the boys live, close and shield the Gladers against the dreadful monsters that inhabit the maze. It has been two years since the first boys have found themselves in the maze with wiped-out memories and now Thomas has joined them. He soon notices that he knows more about the maze and the reason why they have all been placed in it. With his help the Gladers are closer to solving the maze than ever before.

The story is very action-packed and reading the book feels very much like watching a movie. In contrast to The Hunger Games, where twenty-four boys and girls must kill each other, The Maze Runner seems more like a mystery book. In my opinion, The Maze Runner is more suitable for younger readers. Reading The Maze Runner really feels more like watching a movie. The book is also written in the the third person, whereas The Hunger Games is written in the first person, which allows reals insight into Katniss's thoughts and puts you in the middle of the action.

I think The Maze Runner definitely is a good book and I am looking forward to the movie, which will be action-packed and thrilling, just like the book. However, in comparison to The Hunger Games The Maze Runner doesn't feel as realistic and serious, thus isn't as engaging and shocking.

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Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Title: The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner

Genre: Dystopian/Apocalyptic, Horror, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Thea James is one half of the maniacal duo behind The Book Smugglers. She is Filipina-American, but grew up in Hawaii, Indonesia, and Japan. A full-time book nerd who works in publishing for her day job, Thea currently resides in Astoria, Queens with her partner and rambunctious cat. COOKING FOR WIZARDS, WARRIORS & DRAGONS (available August 31, 2021) is her first cookbook.

40 Comments

I haven’t read this one yet, but it is totally on my radar. I read The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Gone. Loved each of them.

Have you read The Knife of Never Letting Go? Dystopian YA book on crack!! An Adrenaline rush from page 2!

I read this last month, and also loved it! I thought the ending was just incredible.

Jaime – Talk about a gut-punch! I loved it, and I do like it when authors aren’t afraid to go certain places with their endings. The only frustration is knowing we have to wait a whole freaking year for the next book! 👿 I’m so glad you loved The Maze Runner too!

What a great concept for a book! You have done your evol pimping ways yet again.

Rhiannon Hart

You’ve made me really want to read this one now. I think I’ll buy it next week!

KB – You knows how much of a pimp I am 😈 This is a great one, really enjoyed it! I hope you get a chance to read it and lemme know what you think!

I teach junior high gifted and just read Maze Runner over the Thanksgiving weekend–WOW. loved it! I also loved Hunger Games and both of the choas walking books by Patrick Ness–if you haven’t read them yet, run don’t walk to go get them–sooooo well done. Can’t wait for the second part of the Maze story–Scorch something???

😆 loved this book but other reviews where dead wrong 👿

The Book Smugglers » Blog Archive » Book Review: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

[…] did I read this book: I truly enjoyed The Maze Runner, Dashner’s first book in this post-apocalyptic/dystopian/SF adrenaline rush of a series, and […]

Jennifer (An Abundance of Books)

I really enjoyed your review and included a link to this post in my own Maze Runner review.

I especially liked your comment about “Lost” – I too felt that I was trying really hard to figure things out but got enough little answers that I don’t thinkg Dashner will leave me hangin’ . 🙂

The Maze Runner | One More Page

[…] Reviews: The Book Smugglers Steph Su […]

I absolutely hated this book with a passion. I literally was upset I spend my time reading it. It’s some of the worst writing I have ever read, the only reason I kept reading it is because the author drags out the simplest parts and give no details until the very end. And even then they don’t make sense.

The Maze Runner « Tanz

[…] The Book Smugglers […]

Well, I didn’t hate it as much as anna, but it certainly doesn’t deserve a rave review. The premise is good but Dashner just doesn’t come through. The writing is flat and derivative (the opening scene is a complete rip-off from Murakami’s Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World) and the characters are one-dimensional. There is a lot of weak and lazy writing. The long tease is never really satisfied and the actual resolution is bogus. If the key clue was going to be given to the boys in the maze, why wouldn’t they get it from the outset, 2 years before the events in the book? I have lots of other problems, but they would involve spoilers, so I’ll leave it there.

loved your review im after going out and buying the second one thinking it was the first one so would it be ok just to carry on from the second one or should i start from the first one??? 😀 😉

the ending of the book was just smashing and i loved how chuck sacrifised himself for the sake of the gladers ❓

The Maze Runner | UTSIKT FRÅ LIA ~ VIEW FROM THE HILLSIDE

I found the review so helpful! I loved the Maze Runner, but the Scorch Trials (the second book to the sequel)but it wasn’t as good as the first book! Most reviews aren’t helpful=P…but yours was, so thanks! 😉

Lol, jk. I hated this bullshit.

Five Years of Book Smuggling… | The Book Smugglers

[…] Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner (11/12/2009) 2. The Half-Year Mark: Best Books of 2012 (so far) (7/2/2012) 3. From the Page to the […]

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jacob otteni

The book is awesoe but totaly not horror :opps: :cry

I love this book SO MUCH! However I was a little disappointed with the two sequels and prequel… I think The Maze Runner was the best one. The series went a bit downhill from there.

MagicianWinnipeg

Famous Magicians from Winnipeg An Evaluation Of Winnipeg’s Magicians

For those who taught me something, I thank you. Here are my views, although I have mixed feelings about many magicians in Winnipeg. Remember, these are only my views regarding some renowned Winnipeg magicians. You may not agree!

A short film about the Magicians in Winnipeg was released last summer. Entitled “Pick a card, any card”, this video shows us some of Winnipeg’s working magicians.

Although a cameraman came out to film me on Canada day, my contribution to the film didn’t make it past the cutting room floor. I can not help but believe that this is due to the fact that I was performing manipulation that day. “Flourishes”, as they’re recognized in magic are “not magic” according to many magicians. Even though my manipulations were published in genie magazine in 2011, absolute manipulation isn’t consistently respected by magicians; who consider it to more similar to juggling.

When I whip out a cobra cut, a flipback fan or a cross cut some magicians put their underwear in a knot. Others think I am awesome because they understand the ability and discipline required. You also see me one day and in case you are a Magician, come speak to me! I always love sharing magic with others. Even if you are a complete noob, come and speak to me. I am open to sharing my magic alongside you!

i love The Maze Runner book. I could’t put the book down.:)

Francesca Moore

I hadn’t heard of this book until I stumbled across the movie trailer on the Goodreads website. I’m really looking forwards to seeing the film but need to read the book first. Bought myself a copy and am planning to read it on a beach in Greece in the next couple of weeks.

I LOVED The Maze Runner!! It was one of the best books I have read, I am not joking. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in 3 days! It made me smile, laugh and cry. It mad you feel like you were included and actually in it! I cried at the end because 1. i can’t ell you this ‘coz it will spoil the end 2.The book was AMAZING and 3.I didn’t want it to end! I would definitely recommend this book! 10/10

Amazing piece of work by Dashner. It is a horrifying-thrilling Sci-Fi book that keeps you at the edge of the seat even after the end!

Itssss..realllyy tooo good to read..the book keeps u glued to it until u reach the end n unfold the DAM GOOD MYSTERY!! L**E it

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The Book Smugglers purchase books for review on this site, but also receive free review copies from authors, publishers, and other third parties.

Home / Essay Samples / Entertainment / The Maze Runner / “The Maze Runner” Book Review: A Journey into the Unknown

"The Maze Runner" Book Review: A Journey into the Unknown

Category: Literature , Entertainment
Topic: Book Review , Literature Review , The Maze Runner

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