Once Upon a Twilight!: Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner
The Maze Runner #1
Author: James Dashner
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian | Science Fiction | Adventure
Released: September 25th 2009 (Original)
Review Source: Random House

Read the first book in the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series, perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent. The Maze Runner motion picture featuring the star of MTV's Teen Wolf, Dylan O’Brien; Kaya Scodelario; Thomas Brodie-Sangster; Will Poulter; and Aml Ameen, and hits theaters September 19, 2014! Also look for James Dashner’s newest book The Eye of Minds, book one in the Mortality Doctrine series.

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.

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.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run.

A friend recently send me a copy of this book and said that I had to read it. A few days later the opportunity to do a review of the entire series came up and so naturally I couldn't resist.

The story revolves around Thomas who wakes up in the middle of Glades with no recollection of how or why he is there. Thomas quickly learns that the Glades is a remote location that is populated with boys who spend their days and nights just trying to survive and solve the mystery of the Maze.

They are provided with all of the essentials that they need to survive but in the two years that they have been in the Glades, they have made no progress on how to escape this place to get back to where they all came from. To make matters worse, the Maze is overrun with Grievers who hunt them down while they are in the Maze and can kill them or worse, make them go through the torturous "changing" process.

Things have started to change since Thomas has arrived, a few of the boys can't shake the feeling that they have seen Thomas before..and not for any good reason. Thomas himself cant shake the feeling that he's been her before, in the Glades, in the Maze.

Finally a mystery girl arrives, the first one ever. The boys have no idea of what this means but she has come with a message that she is "the last one ever." What follows is an action-packed adventure filled with mystery and adrenaline on every page.

Halfway through the book my 12 year old daughter checked it out from her school library and read it with me, we ended up finishing the book together and we both loved it.

The Maze Runner is set for its big screen debut in September, 2014. I am totally looking forward to the next books in this a-MAZE-ing series.