Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner is a fantastic, fiction book, that will keep you guessing. To put it simply, this book is about solving a complex maze. Though this sounds very uncomplicated, the book in very tricky and complicated. Through the book I took in several factors and predicted several outcomes the book could end with. However, all of my theories were very far off and the result and way the problem was solved was twisted, unpredictable and clever.

"My name is Thomas." This is all he new. As far as he could tell he was in a dark metal room, fairly small and cold. Thomas could remember nothing...except his name. He didn't know where he was, or came from. He just knew he was scared. "Someone...help...me!" he screamed for the last time. But, instead of hearing his echo as he had before, he was cut off by a terrible noise that sounded like machinery grinding. Above him a line of light appeared, following the illusion of double sided doors opening above him.

He was greeted by several dirty, teenage boys that welcomed him to a place they called Glade. Thomas was frightened and even more disturbed that he could not remember anything. This place called Glade was surrounded by stone walls covered in Ivy. There were four doors, one in each wall. Every night the doors closed, no one knew how or could even remember when they had started closing. They just always had. A boy named Alby introduced himself as the leader of the village. Alby showed the "Greenie", or new boy around. According to Alby a new boy came through the box to glade every month, it had happened that way for as long as he could remember.

Thomas was terrified. His, first morning was shaken from his sleep and woken by Alby's right hand man Newt. Covering Thomas' mouth he stood him up and informed him that he was going to teach him why never to leave the boundaries of Glade. As he led him up to a wall of Glade, Thomas shook. As Newt approached the wall he removed a patch of ivy revealing a window. Tommy stepped back, first of all taken back by the appearance of a window which didn't match Glade's old, run down feel. Secondly, he was shocked at what lied beyond the window. The most horrific thing Thomas had ever seen stood before him. "A large, bulbous creature the size of a cow but with no distinct shape twisted a seethed along the ground in the corridor outside. Wicked instrument-tipped appendages protruded from its body like arms: a saw blade, a set of shears, long rods whose purpose could only be guessed." Then to Thomas' surprise it charged at him and hit the wall in a failed attempt to kill... a griever.

Greivers lived in the maze that surrounded Glade. The maze had never been solved and according to the boys in charge of solving the maze (runners), it couldn't be. Every night the walls of the Glade closed, the walls in the maze moved, making the maze nearly impossible to solve. This problem scared Thomas but at the same time intrigued him. He wanted to be a runner, he didn't know why. He felt that he had some connection to the maze, strangely, but Thomas felt the urge to solve the maze.

This wasn't the first strange thing that happened the first full day Thomas encountered. Grievers contained needles that surge out of their skin when approached. If you are touched by one of these needles you die, unless given grief serum. But there are side affects to taking the serum. After being injected with the treatment you go through a terrible phase called the changing. The changing includes a great amount of strain and wear on you body as well as putting you through a terrible mental state, in which you remember your life before you arrived at Glade. There were only two boys at Glade who had survived being stung and going through the changing. Though memories fade once again after the changing, both have reported knowing Thomas, following an attempt at murder towards Thomas. Tommy, as well as the people of glade start to wonder about his past and who Thomas really is. Then, out of schedule, lights start flashing warning Gladers that there is another boy coming up in the box. But the new kid was different, first of all she is a girl! Secondly she is out cold and wakes up just long enough to warn the people of Glade that everything is going to change. Maybe it's coincidence, maybe not.

Something about the girls arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different... Just like he feels familiar with the maze, Tommy feels that he knows the girl somehow. Something is telling him that maybe she has answers to his past, and clues to the maze. Maybe she has some answers about the statements of the two stung Gladers. Maybe she knows about his past ,and maybe she can unlock some of the secrets locked in his mind.

In conclusion, The Maze Runner is a very good, clever written book. The book ends leaving you wanting more and directs you straight into the sequel. I would definitely recommend any student middle school or older to read this book. Mostly because the book can become dark in some parts. I give this book an A and advise you to read this if you want to read an action packed, awesome book that keeps you guessing with every page turned.