Book review: The Maze Runner Trilogy

The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner
 - The Maze Runner    ★★★★★
 - The Scorch Trials    ★★★★★
 - The Death Cure       ★★★★

Finished this trilogy last week. Now I want everyone else to read it.

The Maze Runner starts with our main character, Thomas, in a box elevator. Memories wiped. He remember his name and general knowledge of the world, but no specifics about the world. For example, he remembers what the ocean looks like, but no memories associated with the ocean. He quickly finds out that he is in a place called the Glade, there are many other boys in the Glade, all teenagers around his age, all without memory. The Glade is surrounded by the Maze. Every day, Runners go out to explore the Maze in hope to find a way out; every night they come back to the Glade and the walls of the Glade closes, locking them in. Grievers come out in the Maze at night. These are manmade killing machines with blades and needles as appendages.

This book is definitely a page turner. Although I doubted if I liked the book after reading the first few chapters, I couldn't put the book down after chapter 7 or so. It is a very good first book of the trilogy. It is suspenseful and action packed. Towards the end of the book, it steers the stories and hints at the bigger issues in the their world; life beyond the Maze may not be what the Gladers envision it would be.

I can't go into the synopsis of the second and third book without giving spoilers. So no synopsis!

The second book is also very action packed and suspenseful, in a different way from the first book. In the first book I kept reading because I want to know what the Maze is about. In the second and third book I've already found out what the Maze is about, I kept reading because I want to know what happens to the characters. All of the characters develop and grow greatly as the story unfolds. But I have to say, I really, really, really, REALLY, was annoyed at Thomas in the third book. SERIOUSLY. He passed up on SO many opportunities to find out the truth. Even if he doesn't want to know, I WANT TO KNOW!! It almost felt like James Dashner cheated by not giving us the truth so he doesn't have to write that part of the stories. Cheated on some serious character development. There is a prequel coming out. It is possible that James Dashner withheld some information to write the prequel. But I feel like he has sacrificed the third book to do that. I was expecting so much more answers in the third book that I didn't get. It was mildly irritating and disappointing.

Overall, I would recommend this trilogy to anyone who likes action, suspense, dystopia, sci-fi books. It is categorized as children/young adult literature, so it is an easy and fun read. I think I will pick up the prequel after it comes out. Hopefully it will explain the holes left in the Death Cure.

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