The Maze Runner
James Dashner, 2009
★ 4.06 from 1.8m ratings on Goodreads
A boy wakes with no memory in a moving lift, among boys who have built a life beside a shifting maze. The rules are simple; the questions aren't. A tense, disorienting read with a plain teenage voice, quick turns, and an undercurrent of dread as the maze keeps shifting.
Feels like serenity, dread and curiosity. About memory, society and identity.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy survival puzzles, group politics, and science-fiction setups that raise more questions than they answer. The early chapters keep Thomas, and you, in the dark about the maze's rules, so the confusion can feel deliberate and slow before it starts to clear.
Why read it
It gives you a closed world with simple rules and uneasy questions, plus a fast pull through memory loss and group pressure.
A page from the book
The faces above him are only boys. His heart doesn't get the message.
And then, as if the lens of a camera had sharpened its focus, the faces cleared. They were boys, all of them—some young, some older. Thomas didn’t know what he’d expected, but seeing those faces puzzled him. They were just teenagers. Kids. Some of his fear melted away, but not enough to calm his racing heart. What readers say
並行する三つの時代を夢の中の歴史として回想し、個人の悲哀を集団的な喪失へと広げた。読者は哀切・哀悼・望郷・愁嘆と望郷を強調した。
James Dashner.Before The Maze Runner, Dashner worked in accounting and wrote fiction on the side.
Books that feel like this
More by James Dashner
The Scorch Trials
James Dashner, 2010
The Maze was only the first test. A scorched world, infected strangers and a group of teens who trust almost no one.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Maze Runner for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy survival puzzles, group politics, and science-fiction setups that raise more questions than they answer. The early chapters keep Thomas, and you, in the dark about the maze's rules, so the confusion can feel deliberate and slow before it starts to clear.
- What is The Maze Runner like?
- A tense, disorienting read with a plain teenage voice, quick turns, and an undercurrent of dread as the maze keeps shifting. Feels like serenity, dread and curiosity. About memory, society and identity.
- What should I read after The Maze Runner?
- If you liked The Maze Runner, try The Giver (Lois Lowry), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. K. Rowling) and Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins).
A taste of the feed
A word that sounds like mercy is used for the worst punishment.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, HE WILL BE RELEASED, the voice had said, followed by silence. There was an ironic tone to that finally message, as if the Speaker found it amusing; and Jonas had smiled a little, though he knew what a grim statement it had been. For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.
The Giver · Lois Lowry
The story we invent to keep friends from seeing what we are.
Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth...
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban · J. K. Rowling
What is the cost of convincing a system it is fragile?
“I think we’ll make this whole situation a lot simpler by agreeing not to lie to each other,” he says. “What do you think?” I think my tongue has frozen and speech will be impossible, so I surprise myself by answering back in a steady voice, “Yes, I think that would save time.” “Whatever problems anyone may have with the Capitol, believe me when I say that if it released its grip on the districts for even a short time, the entire system would collapse.” [...] “It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.”
Catching Fire · Suzanne Collins
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