The Maze Runner

By: James Dashner

Libby audiobook  11 hours

Read by: Mark Deakins

Published: 2009

Genre: YA Dystopian fiction

Ugh! I know I've read this before. My blog has books two and three in the series (blogged the summer of 2012) but I can't find my review of this one. It's not on my old Excel spreadsheet, either. 

I was surprised by how much I disliked this book. I believe I had a more favorable opinion of it over a decade ago when I first encountered it.

Thomas is irritating. He wants answers to all his questions, but is unwilling to communicate about his own discoveries. 

The whole "Why are these kids in the maze?" and "Who put them there?" and "Why were their memories wiped?" and a hundred more questions are NOT answered! By the end of the book, you know so little about this world. I won't make the mistake of re-reading the other books, though. I remember them as being unfulfilling and my blog confirms that for me.

In places, the writing and dialogue are so stilted and juvenile that it's almost painful. The reader did a fine job, but the author is definitely writing for kids and not adults!

<Above published 12.20.2024. Below added 12.13.2025.>

I listened to the audiobook again. Don't ask me why. One thing that jumped out at me this time was the bad math / logic.

Early on, Thomas estimates that there are 50-60 kids in the glade. Albie says he has been there the longest - two years. If only one person shows up per month, that would make a maximum of 25 boys. Math. Toward the middle / end of the book, the comment is made that a group of boys were sent there, then one per month. But with the deaths and Albie's comment, that would still not equal fifty people at the two year mark. 

The deaths. This is a really dark and barbaric story. I sure hope dystopian fiction is falling out of popularity. It's so bleak! Finishing this makes me curious about the Flare, the Scorch Trials, etc. but too irritated to continue with the series. 

Thomas trying to save Chuck and getting saved by him was an interesting twist. I like that their names are based on famous scientists.