{"id":421,"date":"2011-03-01T13:07:06","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T18:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/?p=421"},"modified":"2011-03-01T13:07:06","modified_gmt":"2011-03-01T18:07:06","slug":"the-maze-runner-by-james-dashner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/2011\/03\/01\/the-maze-runner-by-james-dashner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Maze Runner by James Dashner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>All books have two vital elements: plotline and writing quality; and The Maze Runner<\/em><\/strong> is a trade-off between the two. On the one hand, you get a great story. Thomas wakes up in an elevator, unable to remember anything specific about his old life. When the elevator shudders to a stop, he emerges into a mysterious place called The Glade. The Glade is inhabited by a group of boys, whose ages range from around 12 to 17. The boys are stuck, getting supplies and new recruits from the elevator as they attempt to escape by figuring out a maze. The maze is filled with horrifying creatures called Grievers, who terrify the Gladers and will sting anyone who comes too near. When Thomas arrives in the Glade, he seems to trigger a strange series of events. To discover what happens next, you’ll have to read the book – but be warned! This is where the trade-off comes in.<\/p>\n

The worst thing about The Maze Runner<\/em><\/strong>, the thing that almost rendered me unable to read it, is that the writing is awful. And, as someone who usually likes every book I read, I do not make that statement lightly. Like in most books, the main character Thomas has a running internal monologue. But unlike in most books, I sometimes found myself reeling in shock at the inconsistencies and inadequate explanations that he gives. For example, in one line he states that he finally has decided he wants to become a Maze Runner for certain (don’t worry, that isn’t a spoiler). But then, a few lines later, he starts talking about how he can’t possibly tell his friend Chuck about it. The problem with this statement is that we have NO idea why he can’t tell his friend Chuck about it, so we do not care at all about whether or not anyone finds out. At another point, when one of the older leaders urges Thomas to tell him everything he knows, Thomas decides to refrain from telling the older boy anything at all! Again, we have no idea why Thomas is doing this. It seems that the older boy is just trying to get to the bottom of the problems they are facing, and Thomas is unreasonably and irrationally refraining from saying any of the helpful things that we know he knows.<\/p>\n

The one thing that Dashner does well is creating some really great action scenes. One in particular (and I don’t want to give too much away here) that involves Thomas and two of the other Runners, is very exciting and worth a look. That’s all I’m going to say about the action scenes, because I can feel a rush of spoilers ready to spill out!<\/p>\n

So, in summation, to read The Maze Runner<\/em><\/strong> is to sacrifice enjoying the writing in order to become involved in a great story. Do I regret spending time reading it? No. But am I planning on reading the sequel? No! I would recommend you at least try it out. If you can’t get past the insane writing, at least you will get some examples of what not<\/em> to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All books have two vital elements: plotline and writing quality; and The Maze Runner is a trade-off between the two. On the one hand, you get a great story. Thomas wakes up in an elevator, unable to remember anything specific … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1587,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[710,726],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review-books","category-sci-fi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1587"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dalton.org\/scifan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}