The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Synopsis:
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

My Review:
This was a different and interesting book and I am glad I read it. The book seemed like it had elements of Ender’s Game, the Hot Zone, and the Hunger Games all role into one. All of these books involve people coming up against impossible and terrifying situations and having to work through them in order to save the people they love. I thought this book started out slow but it steadily picked up pace as the main character Tom began to understand what was going on and unravel the mystery of the maze. At first I felt detached from Tom because I could not get a sense of who he was because he began the book with no memories and therefore had no relationships to base his identity upon. Upon further reflection this was genius of the author because Tom had to start with a clean state and become who he was through his relationship with the other “Gladers.”

The girl in me wanted a little romance but that is hard when you are worrying about surviving one day to the next and there was not enough time in this book anyways. But I am sure something will develop in book two because the author hinted at this throughout the story. I did not think I would like this book as much as I did and my mind changed about this at the end. Toward the end I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next because there was a complete twist in the story and I had no idea what was going on. Looking forward to the continuation of this story and further development of the characters.