terça-feira, 18 de fevereiro de 2014

Book Review: The Maze Runner by james Dashner



2014 Book Genre Challenge

Thomas wakes up on a lift with no memory of who he is and how he got there. When the lift opens, he finds himself in the Glade, a mysterious place with no way out and with a maze to explore. Not long after he gets there, a girl, the only girl to ever appear in the Glade, arrives with shocking news. Thomas and the others need to find a way out of there and fast. Before it is too late.
I was very excited to read this book: I had heard so many good things about it. I believe I got into it wanting too much, that's why I was disappointed. 
I really liked the world. I liked the mystery that surrounded the Glade and the Maze and everything else there. I was sucked into the story and wanted to know all the answers to my questions and learn more about the characters and the world the author created. However, most of the time everything just felt... flat. I was expecting a lot more from it, especially from the Maze. In my opinion, it was way underused. The name of the book is 'The Maze Runner', but I saw too little maze running. Yes, Thomas had his moments in the Maze, but they were very few. In the end, the Maze wasn't all that. The mystery in the beginning made me expect a lot more from it. 
The characters felt too much alike for me. Thomas was a normal character following the ever-present trope of a guy who gets somewhere and then suddenly everything changes. He has all the answers, he is able to solve all the mysteries and problems. Something the other boys were trying to do for a long time and failing. 
Let me explain this, I wouldn't have problems with that if I liked the way the situation was handled. But I didn't. Thomas did mostly everything the others had done before him, but, of course, he was successful whereas they failed. And, of course, he was different.
My problem is not only with the characters, but as well when it comes to how we go to know everything. We didn't have enough clues to understand the situation by ourselves. We didn't solve the mystery along with the characters or had any chance of understanding what was going on before it was explained. Everything was given to us rather abruptly.
I liked the story, the world, but I didn't like how the story was handled. Too many of the plots and devices in the book were underused. The Maze could have been better explored and we should have had the opportunity of trying to solve the problem along with the characters. That said, I am still looking forward to the other book. 

Rating: 3/5 stars


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