The Maze Runner (Maze Runner, Book One): Book One

by James Dashner

Book Overview

Book one in the blockbuster Maze Runner series that spawned a movie franchise and ushered in a worldwide phenomenon And don't miss The Fever Code, the highly-anticipated series conclusion that finally reveals the story of how the maze was built

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385737955
• ISBN13: 9780385737951
• Release Date: August 2010
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great read!

It was suspenseful, exhilarating, and somewhat terrifying! Great read for people who enjoy the Hunger game series.

This series is just awful.

I read this entire book today because I thought it would be good. It turned out to be convoluted and so needlessly dramatic that it was ruined. I thought the other books might be better, but after checking some reviews and reading the cliff notes for both sequels I've decided not to waste any more of my time on them. I will be donating this one to a charity book store instead of wasting space on my book selves.

Great Quality!

I read book 2, 3 and 4 after the first movie came out, and I was never able to read the first one because it was always checked out at the library. I love this book, and I already bought the rest of the series, so I am definitely going to be rereading the whole series over and over again.

It was ok I guess.

I started to read this book because of the hype that a lot of my reader friends gave it. I got through half of the book, but still couldn’t really get into it.

I absolutely love this book and series!!

Don't listen to the people that tell you this series is just a rip off of the Hunger games because that is so false on so many levels. I have read both series and they aren't really alike at all. I mean there is very few similarity but not enough to call it a rip off. My personal opinion would be that I prefer this series to the Hunger Games mainly because the characters but that's just me. Also if you read the book then you can fangirl with me because at this moment this is my favorite series.

My fav!

This is an amazing book! I love all the characters and the action/suspense was awesome! I am truly amazed by James Dashner!

The Maze Runner wasn't nearly as good as i expected it to be.

Okay, so maybe part of the reason I wasn't into this book was because it is so overrated, but it just wasn't my favorite. It took me a month to read this book, whereas I usually read books of this size in a couple of days. The plot dragged, and Thomas' character annoyed me. To me it seemed like Thomas was only heroic in the big moments. He just made selfish desicons when no one was looking. I wasn't a fan of Teressa either. Her character seemed unessential and poorly written. To me, it seemed like the author wanted her to come off as sassy, but he tried so hard to make her sound sassy, that she just sounded mean. It seems like taking her out altogether would have made the story flow better, and taken away her unessasairy presence. I understand why so many people like this book. It is intriguing, but I assure you that it is not for everyone. That being said I would recommend that you try to read it if you think it sounds interesting, but borrow it from your local library, and don't set your expectations too high.

Favorite Series

If you love books about dystopian societies (Divergent, The Giver, the Hunger Games, etc.) you should definitely read this. You will laugh and cry. You will want to keep reading once you start.

Stunned

Talk about amazing! I absolutely loved this book! It is my favorite YA dystopian sci-fi I think I've read to date (granted I haven't read The Hunger Games yet, which I hear is incredible). I am SO excited for the next book in this series, The Scorch Trials, to come out. This book was so eerie, & I couldn't put it down. While reading it, I kept thinking about Ender's Game & Lord of the Flies - it gave me the same sense of curiousity, nervousness, excitement. The Maze Runner is definitely worth owning - I actually checked it out from the library, & as soon as I finished, went online to order it. I'm excited for the day when I can read it again with my children & have them experience it too. Wow - I'm stunned!

Fabulous Read!

The Maze Runner kept me up to the wee hours of the morning as I raced to the finish. I loved it in every way: the pacing, the characters, the plot. Thomas wakes up to find himself in a box that opens up to the glade, the central part of an elaborate maze where monsters dwell. From the moment of Thomas's entrance into the glade, he works to try and recover any part of his memory while also trying to solve the maze and stop the deaths of the boys who live in the Maze with him. I would say this book is a cross between Ender's Game and Lord of the Flies. It's a tale that is expertly woven, true to the target audience of teen boys, and filled with enough action to keep me up all night. The only downfall of the book was realizing I have to wait for the sequel. I look forward to reading more of Dashner's work.

An honest review of Maze Runner

Detailed, well-developed, and hardly a dull moment. The level of description and thought in the pages of Maze Runner is truly up to par. I could see, smell and hear this world on paper as it unfolded. I think my only complaint was that the phrase "Thomas felt as if" appeared a little too often, but the emotion was palpable and, more to the point, equal to the level of the challenges the characters faced. To classify the book, Maze Runner is a sci-fi dystopia. In this increasingly popular genre (Hunger Games, Forest of Hands and Teeth, Uglies, etc) Dashner stakes his claim to a fair-sized piece of land and blazes a new trail in an unexpected direction. Simply put, it's about a group of boys that have their minds wiped and get stuck inside a labyrinthine maze that's impossible to solve. There's only one safe spot--an acre in the center--that closes off every night. Every day when the boys wake up, the walls have changed and the maze is different. For years they've tried to think their way out of it and have made little to no progress. Then one day the game changes entirely when the schedule gets interrupted, and Thomas arrives in the Glade. Some of the boys who've regained a few of their memories know him from somewhere and don't trust him. Tensions rise when one of the boys even tries to kill him. To complicate matters further, the very next day a girl arrives in the Glade--the first and only one. As it becomes clear that the people trapping these children in the Maze are under more pressure to get them to solve it, things get more and more difficult with each passing day. Dashner doesn't waste time making things happen in this story. The hooks and cliffhangers are carefully placed, and he's not afraid to beat up on these kids. The most barn-burning part of this book happened for me about a hundred pages in, when Thomas gets trapped outside the Maze at night---a major no-no, because there are savage monsters that roam the Maze and won't hesitate to tear you apart. Like Dashner's 13th Reality, Maze Runner is a story about problem-solving, but more directly it's about optimism in the face of adversity--something more teens should be reading about. So this novel serves its purpose as it educates and entertains. The ending is very well set up for the next book in the trilogy, tentatively called "The Scorch Trials". The only things I could complain about in this book was the oft-used descriptive term that I mentioned before. Plus, the beginning moves just a LITTLE too slow, and the ending was very abrupt. It still worked, and that's probably just my taste, how I personally received this book. Also with the descriptions of the Grievers (the monsters in the Maze), they were much more audible than visual--I could "hear" them in my head but sort of had a tough time imagining what they looked like. Imagine a hippo with no face and no legs, with robotic arms that can pierce through its blubbery skin, powered by a high-torque diesel motor (insert masc

A-Maze-ing Read

The Maze Runner This book had me gripping my pillow and hoping not have bad dreams of disgusting metallic slime monsters. The characters are each distinct and interesting from the main character with his mysterious past to the lovable sidekick who made me laugh and want to slap him at the same time. The thread of hope and never giving up that is woven through the trials of the maze is inspiring. I loved the gritty determination in this story. Faced with impossible obstacles these kids find a way to trust each other and live together in a more mature society than some I've lived in. Overall it was a gripping and intriguing read and I tell everyone I know to READ THIS BOOK. It will make you laugh and make you cry and then make you go 'hmmm.' Can't wait for book 2.

This guy owes me sleep!

I picked up a galley at BEA, where I heard this author speak on a panel. He was funny and quirky so I was curious about his novel, which he described as a modern "Lord of the Flies". It was a little slow moving until page 35, and then I couldn't put it down. I ate dinner with one utensil so I could hold the book in my other hand. I stayed up till 3:30am to finish it. Now I'm looking forward to reading his eariler books. Wonderful imagination and unforgettable characters.