I'm not entirely sure what I expected when I picked up The Maze Runner for the first time. I came a bit late into the hype over the series, as I do with most popular books. In fact, they had already released the trailer for the Maze Runner movie by the time the book had worked it's way through the forty-some library requests to get itself to me. The commercial looked promising enough and I was excited to get into the series, and I must say I was very impressed. James Dashner took an epic concept that goes back to Ancient Roman literature and transformed it into a exquisite sci-fi story that included a plot that never stopped twisting and turning. Although I was impressed, the first book definately wasn't complete. Even so, I found myself a bit worried about the sequel, The Scorch Trials. After the brilliance of The Maze Runner I was afraid the concept would be lost upon beginning the sequel, but again, I was not disappointed, nor could I bear to put it down as the plot thickened in every way possible. The original brilliance of Dashner's opening book to the trilogy extended all the way through the books and never ceased to amaze me.
Dashner's ability to tell a believable story that excites and captivates is something that is lost upon many authors of his genre. Despite it's popularity, dystopia style stories can be difficult to create and tell, especially original dystopias. Often dystopia becomes it's own concept that is copied over and over with slight variations to story and characters. While the original concept of The Maze Runner is similar to a few other dystopia books, it develops into a story that I believe is one of the few truely "original" dystopia stories that has been put to paper in recent years. Many people, when refering to the plot of a book, movie or teli show refer to it as a "roller coster." The Maze Runner is exacly that. New bends, twists and loops hide behind every corner, jolting the rider back and forth so that, although they have countered many sharp turns, are never ready for the next one. Dashner weaves together brilliant story with epic plot twists that build upon each other and never stop doing so until the book is closed.
While Dashner is a brilliant storyteller, one thing his series lacks (for the most part) is really solid characters. While his character development is good, the characters themselves are a bit dry. Dialouge is similar, but not nearly as much. In every Dashner book I've read so far (The Maze Runner Trilogy, Eye of Minds, Rule of Thoughts) it seems to prove true that he focuses mainly upon the story and less upon the characters that live in his concept.
While The Maze Runner Trilogy has no moral, per se, the series ultimately demonstrates how friendship and hard work can get someone through the worst life has to offer, even being thrown into a maze with nothing but a few supplies and a ton of monsters. It also tackles the very difficult question of, "Does the end justify the means?" Ultimately, it's up to the reader to decide for himself if the controversial actions of "The Creators" can be justified in the name of the greater good (may even be worth a blog post in time), but if point made in this series is unarguable, it's that people with good intentions, with no one to hold them accountable, can be corrupted and eventually fall far away from their original goals.
The Maze Runner Trilogy is possibly the most brilliant modern dystopia I've read to date. While characters aren't everything I like my protagonists to be, the concept of both the story and the antagonists are downright brilliant, and I'd definately recommend it to anyone looking for something fresh in the world of dystopia and science fiction.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5 stars.
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