Author: James Dashner
If I had to make up a recipe where the end result was The Maze Runner, I'd take one part Lord of the Flies, one part Ender's Game, one part Super Mario Bros, and one part The Hunger Games, shake them all up, and toss out anything that doesn't raise the heart rate. After taking a long elevator ride, Tom wakes up to a life where he remembers nothing about his past except his name, and he's living in a community of teenage boys who fear nothing more than being left at night outside the gates of the castle-like structure they inhabit. After Tom arrives, the rules begin to change. He heads out into the maze beyond the gates, and along with the other boys, tries to find a way to finally bring them all home.
The Maze Runner is a compelling book and an interesting read. I sat down and read it in basically one sitting, and I think I would have read it quickly even if the Whitney deadline hadn't been looming. It's a story that I think my own kids would bust through in a couple of years. But a story that you can't put down isn't always a good read, and I'm not sure if it was intentional or not on Dashner's part, but the story seemed somewhat lacking in emotional intensity and character development, likely because the characters themselves didn't have histories they could remember. I'll still read the next book in this series, but I think I'll approach it with somewhat lowered expectations.
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