The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Trilogy (Hardback))
By James Dashner

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #461 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-06
• Released on: 2009-10-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

About the Author
James Dashner is also the author of the 13th Reality series. James was born and raised in Georgia, but now lives in the Rocky Mountains with his family. After several years working in finance, he is now a full-time writer.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1


He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.
Metal ground against metal; a lurching shudder shook the floor beneath him. He fell down at the sudden movement and shuffled backward on his hands and feet, drops of sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air. His back struck a hard metal wall; he slid along it until he hit the corner of the room. Sinking to the floor, he pulled his legs up tight against his body, hoping his eyes would soon adjust to the darkness.

With another jolt, the room jerked upward like an old lift in a mine shaft.

Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls with a hollow, tinny whine. The lightless elevator swayed back and forth as it ascended, turning the boy's stomach sour with nausea; a smell like burnt oil invaded his senses, making him feel worse. He wanted to cry, but no tears came; he could only sit there, alone, waiting.

My name is Thomas, he thought.

That... that was the only thing he could remember about his life.

He didn't understand how this could be possible. His mind functioned without flaw, trying to calculate his surroundings and predicament. Knowledge flooded his thoughts, facts and images, memories and details of the world and how it works. He pictured snow on trees, running down a leaf-strewn road, eating a hamburger, the moon casting a pale glow on a grassy meadow, swimming in a lake, a busy city square with hundreds of people bustling about their business.

And yet he didn't know where he came from, or how he'd gotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents were. He didn't even know his last name. Images of people flashed across his mind, but there was no recognition, their faces replaced with haunted smears of color. He couldn't think of one person he knew, or recall a single conversation.

The room continued its ascent, swaying; Thomas grew immune to the ceaseless rattling of the chains that pulled him upward. A long time passed. Minutes stretched into hours, although it was impossible to know for sure because every second seemed an eternity. No. He was smarter than that. Trusting his instincts, he knew he'd been moving for roughly half an hour.

Strangely enough, he felt his fear whisked away like a swarm of gnats caught in the wind, replaced by an intense curiosity. He wanted to know where he was and what was happening.

With a groan and then a clonk, the rising room halted; the sudden change jolted Thomas from his huddled position and threw him across the hard floor. As he scrambled to his feet, he felt the room sway less and less until it finally stilled. Everything fell silent.

A minute passed. Two. He looked in every direction but saw only darkness; he felt along the walls again, searching for a way out. But there was nothing, only the cool metal. He groaned in frustration; his echo amplified through the air, like the haunted moan of death. It faded, and silence returned. He screamed, called for help, pounded on the walls with his fists.

Nothing.

Thomas backed into the corner once again, folded his arms and shivered, and the fear returned. He felt a worrying shudder in his chest, as if his heart wanted to escape, to flee his body.

"Someone... help... me!" he screamed; each word ripped his throat raw.

A loud clank rang out above him and he sucked in a startled breath as he looked up. A straight line of light appeared across the ceiling of the room, and Thomas watched as it expanded. A heavy grating sound revealed double sliding doors being forced open. After so long in darkness, the light stabbed his eyes; he looked away, covering his face with both hands.

He heard noises above--voices--and fear squeezed his chest.

"Look at that shank."

"How old is he?"

"Looks like a klunk in a T-shirt."

"You're the klunk, shuck-face."

"Dude, it smells like feet down there!"

"Hope you enjoyed the one-way trip, Greenie."

"Ain't no ticket back, bro."

Thomas was hit with a wave of confusion, blistered with panic. The voices were odd, tinged with echo; some of the words were completely foreign--others felt familiar. He willed his eyes to adjust as he squinted toward the light and those speaking. At first he could see only shifting shadows, but they soon turned into the shapes of bodies--people bending over the hole in the ceiling, looking down at him, pointing.

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.

Someone lowered a rope from above, the end of it tied into a big loop. Thomas hesitated, then stepped into it with his right foot and clutched the rope as he was yanked toward the sky. Hands reached down, lots of hands, grabbing him by his clothes, pulling him up. The world seemed to spin, a swirling mist of faces and color and light. A storm of emotions wrenched his gut, twisted and pulled; he wanted to scream, cry, throw up. The chorus of voices had grown silent, but someone spoke as they yanked him over the sharp edge of the dark box. And Thomas knew he'd never forget the words.

"Nice to meet ya, shank," the boy said. "Welcome to the Glade."

An honest review of Maze Runner
Detailed, well-developed, and hardly a dull moment. The level of description and thought in the pages of Maze Runner is truly up to par. I could see, smell and hear this world on paper as it unfolded. I think my only complaint was that the phrase "Thomas felt as if" appeared a little too often, but the emotion was palpable and, more to the point, equal to the level of the challenges the characters faced.

To classify the book, Maze Runner is a sci-fi dystopia. In this increasingly popular genre (Hunger Games, Forest of Hands and Teeth, Uglies, etc) Dashner stakes his claim to a fair-sized piece of land and blazes a new trail in an unexpected direction.

Simply put, it's about a group of boys that have their minds wiped and get stuck inside a labyrinthine maze that's impossible to solve. There's only one safe spot--an acre in the center--that closes off every night. Every day when the boys wake up, the walls have changed and the maze is different. For years they've tried to think their way out of it and have made little to no progress.

Then one day the game changes entirely when the schedule gets interrupted, and Thomas arrives in the Glade. Some of the boys who've regained a few of their memories know him from somewhere and don't trust him. Tensions rise when one of the boys even tries to kill him.

To complicate matters further, the very next day a girl arrives in the Glade--the first and only one. As it becomes clear that the people trapping these children in the Maze are under more pressure to get them to solve it, things get more and more difficult with each passing day.

Dashner doesn't waste time making things happen in this story. The hooks and cliffhangers are carefully placed, and he's not afraid to beat up on these kids. The most barn-burning part of this book happened for me about a hundred pages in, when Thomas gets trapped outside the Maze at night---a major no-no, because there are savage monsters that roam the Maze and won't hesitate to tear you apart.

Like Dashner's 13th Reality, Maze Runner is a story about problem-solving, but more directly it's about optimism in the face of adversity--something more teens should be reading about. So this novel serves its purpose as it educates and entertains.

The ending is very well set up for the next book in the trilogy, tentatively called "The Scorch Trials".

The only things I could complain about in this book was the oft-used descriptive term that I mentioned before. Plus, the beginning moves just a LITTLE too slow, and the ending was very abrupt. It still worked, and that's probably just my taste, how I personally received this book. Also with the descriptions of the Grievers (the monsters in the Maze), they were much more audible than visual--I could "hear" them in my head but sort of had a tough time imagining what they looked like. Imagine a hippo with no face and no legs, with robotic arms that can pierce through its blubbery skin, powered by a high-torque diesel motor (insert masculine grunting here). The sound effects mostly made up for the visual, but that's my honest observation.

I'm still hooked and it makes me hungry for more. This is the kind of book that will fill the gap left by Collins when you finish "Catching Fire" in September. Bring on the next one, Jimbo!

Fabulous Read!
The Maze Runner kept me up to the wee hours of the morning as I raced to the finish. I loved it in every way: the pacing, the characters, the plot. Thomas wakes up to find himself in a box that opens up to the glade, the central part of an elaborate maze where monsters dwell. From the moment of Thomas's entrance into the glade, he works to try and recover any part of his memory while also trying to solve the maze and stop the deaths of the boys who live in the Maze with him. I would say this book is a cross between Ender's Game and Lord of the Flies. It's a tale that is expertly woven, true to the target audience of teen boys, and filled with enough action to keep me up all night. The only downfall of the book was realizing I have to wait for the sequel. I look forward to reading more of Dashner's work.

A-Maze-ing Read
The Maze Runner This book had me gripping my pillow and hoping not have bad dreams of disgusting metallic slime monsters. The characters are each distinct and interesting from the main character with his mysterious past to the lovable sidekick who made me laugh and want to slap him at the same time. The thread of hope and never giving up that is woven through the trials of the maze is inspiring. I loved the gritty determination in this story. Faced with impossible obstacles these kids find a way to trust each other and live together in a more mature society than some I've lived in. Overall it was a gripping and intriguing read and I tell everyone I know to READ THIS BOOK. It will make you laugh and make you cry and then make you go 'hmmm.' Can't wait for book 2.