The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (audio book)

Speaking as a librarian, nothing brings the rain to my parade like a patron who comes to check out Harry Potter, Lightning Thief, Hunger Games, fill in the blank, only to leave with nothing because that particular book is unavailable. My library department has over 72,000 books! And I have a personal list of 100 titles that I would gladly put right up there with any of those three. Perhaps above. Librarians are so passionate about books and putting the right books into the right hands that we take the trouble to compile lists, see above, of books that you will probably like based upon your enjoyment of many popular titles such as Eragon. Why not read a good book while you wait? It will certainly make the time pass more quickly.

Then you finish fill in the blank book and you don’t know where to go next. You want more. Need more. Guess what! We can help there too and if you don’t believe us, there are teenagers out there who can help, and have, because of their vote.

Last year, The Hunger Games (HG) won the Abraham Lincoln Award, (Illinois’ High School Readers’ Choice Award,) by a landslide. Don’t forget, it won the Caudill Award as well, by an avalanche. So, how do the teens vote following that media sensation? Here’s your answer – The Maze Runner (MR). And yes, the teens still seem to be clamoring for dystopian literature.

The following are the ways in which HG and MR are similar:

Something apocalyptic has occurred in the world and we are reading about what rises from the ashes, so to speak.

Both books are about survival and only the teens are forced to participate.

It is the first book in a trilogy and they are ALL already published, so you do NOT have to wait! Yea!

The following are the ways in which HG and MR are different:

In HG, we had a heroine.  MR has a hero! His name is Thomas and he is one of about 40 boys in the Glade. There is only one girl who plays a lesser, though pivotal, part.

In HG, the people were fully aware of the Hunger Games and the 24 tributes. In MZ, the boys find themselves in the Glade with the majority of their memory erased. They don’t know where they are or why they are there. They are not even sure of where they came from.

In HG, the children are a part of a game. In MR, the boys are a part of an experiment, but they think they are being tested. They live within a maze and they are supposed to find the way out. That is kind of hard to do when the walls change every night. And while they are changing at night, the boys are tucked safely within the walls of the Glade. No one survives outside of the Glade overnight.

In HG, the adults are present and the bad guy, the government, is accessible. In MR, there are no adults. Those in charge are merely the oldest, more experienced boys who have been in the Glade for nearly two years. The bad guys are running the show from behind the scenes. The boys refer to them as the creators. Their only contact is through delivery of one new boy each month and supplies through an elevator system called the Box.

In HG, the kids fight each other to the death. In MR, the boys must work as a team for survival. Some are butchers, some are cooks, others are runners, and there are even farmers. The greatest threat to their survival is the Grievers, science fiction monsters. Grievers are, well, blobby, snail-like glops that have mechanical, robotic appendages that can consist of needles, blades, saws and other weapons. These monsters are my least favorite part of the book. The description is really a bit laughable. It brings to mind Pinhead. I just have a hard time visualizing them without smirking. Sorry.

But back to Thomas. He comes out of the Box, surrounded by boys. The only thing he can remember is his name. And he wants answers! Unfortunately, no one is quick to give them. In fact they seem to be withholding information that they will release over time. Time never comes, because almost immediately things begin to change. For two years, the boys lived in the Glade, performing their duties, expecting a new boy every month, supplies every week, and Grievers every night.

The first change occurs when one of the other boys thinks he has seen Thomas before which puts the other boys on the offensive. The next change occurs when they receive a new boy the very next day. Unheard of! But even more so because it isn’t a boy. It is a girl and she is in a coma. She startles awake long enough to deliver a message and a note before slipping back into a coma. “She’s the last one. Ever.” Yes, things are about to change. Even more so, because Thomas thinks he recognizes the girl.

So far, I can recommend the first book in the trilogy to junior high and high schoolers. I think girls will enjoy it just as much. No, it isn’t HG, it is something new and different, but in the same genre.