Sean Dougherty

Sean Dougherty

The Maze Runner

James Dashner

Sci-fi

Just Right

212

1.     Currently, I am reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner. This is my second post on this book, so refer back to it to review past events. But, where I left off, Thomas was getting a strange feeling that he wanted to be a runner (a scout that searches the maze for a way out). Previously, I mentioned that the keeper of the runners, Minho, noticed a dead griever in the maze. This has never been recorded before, so this is another exotic event that has occurred. The first would include the girl entering the glade. To solve this mystery, Alby (supposed leader) and Minho go out in the maze to investigate. It gets late, and the gigantic rock walls surrounding the glade are going to be closing soon. They were supposed to be back by noon, yet they still haven’t returned. All of a sudden, Thomas, standing at the gate, notices Minho carrying Alby rushing as fast as he could to the gate. It was too late, the walls were closing and there was no chance that they could make it in time. Right before the walls close, Thomas breaks the most important rule: never leave the glade. He jumps out to held Minho; nevertheless, all three of them are trapped with chances of survival close to the estimated 0%. Minho collapses, knowing that they’re done. Thomas doesn’t give up, he suggests climbing the vines of the wall. This was quickly shot down by Minho. They hear the shrieking sound of grievers approaching them. Minho recommends splitting up, leaving Alby, and running for it. For Alby has been pricked by the griever that was supposedly dead. He needs to get in the maze, or he will die. Minho doesn’t care, so he bolts off. Thomas stays, ties Alby up high in the vines, and then runs when a griever finds him. He is losing ground when three more grievers join the run. He meets up with Minho, only to run into the way out of the maze, it’s a cliff. They wait for the grievers to come, then the jump out of the way. The grievers run off the cliff and disappear. They had made it through the night and return to the glade. By their surprise, Alby is still alive and they quickly get him to the hospitable. He survives. Thomas is welcomed back as a hero to some, and a criminal to others. He becomes a runner, however he has to serve a day in jail for breaking the number one rule I mentioned earlier.

2.     This has to be the most exciting book I read so far this year, and the biggest nail biter I have ever read in my life. The plot is so good; it gives you info, yet you still don’t quite understand what exactly is happening. That’s why it is impossible to put this book down. Dashner is such a genius. These events aren’t just conversations, they’re sudden flashbacks and paused action. For example, when Thomas and Minho find a way out of the maze while being chased by grievers. Also, for such a handful of characters, they all share different personalities and views. Thomas seems to be the only one with hope of survival and escaping the maze. Most others feel that they need to just focus on surviving and hope for the best. But the finisher is that all these characters are new people, their memories of past lives they used to live are trapped in a maze inside their minds. The personalities are ones that are rare to find in the real word due to experience.

3.     The theme of this book is hope. The plot is written through hope. If the gladers didn’t have the stroke of hope that they have, how could they even try to survive. They are put in an immense maze with almost ne way out, with no memory of anything to go back to even if they ever escape. The glade was lucky enough to get Thomas who has the most hope out of all of them. When he was trapped out of the glade with almost no chance of survival, he didn’t give up. Even when Alby was unconscious, he didn’t let him get eaten, he tied him up high out of the reach of the grievers. Thomas did survive; even found a way out of the maze. Hope led him through.

4.     My favorite character is still Thomas because of what he has become. He started with no memory, no idea that he was or what he was doing in a maze. But, he didn’t loose hope and became his own person. Created his own memory. Also, he seems to be one of the only gladers who are friendly and nice unlike the stubborn others who have lost hope living in the glade for a few years. He has the hope to make everybody else a different person. Furthermore, he seems to the hero of the story, but not in the eyes of others. He wasn’t born special; in fact he doesn’t even when he was born. In the words of Disney, he went from zero to hero.

5.     It is hard to choose my least favorite character, but it would have to be the runner, Minho. Despite his connection with Thomas, is still extremely hard to like because of his personality. He thinks of himself as more important than the other gladers, which isn’t true. They all play an equal part in ensuring survival for everyone. Then, he gives up way too easily when he still has a chance. For example, when he was trapped out the glade at night, he broke down and lost hope. Thomas was suggesting ideas, but Minho quickly shot them down saying that it would never work and that they were done for. It seems like he doesn’t like anybody except Thomas for saving his life. When he got in an argument with Gally (keeper), he beat him up just because things got tense. Violence is never the answer.   

6.     My prediction is that the gladers will make it out of the maze. Thomas has found an impassable cliff out of the maze. You can tell by the way Thomas describes the stars in the sky that he is going to come back and search for a safer way out. To continue with, all of these weird things happening after Thomas came foreshadows that things are changes, hopefully for the best. People who have gone through the changing (slim memory recovery after being stung by a griever) say that Thomas is bad news. Even Alby told this to Thomas after he went through the changing. Finally, I know that this is a series, so they have to get out of the maze to continue with the story. You have to jump over the first hurtle to get to the second one.