Wednesday, January 25, 2012

B.Y.O.B Book club Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte
Format: Audio
Purchase: Indie Bound


This was the second audio book I listened to in its completion. It was a hard transition from my first choice but as I got going, I found it to be quite fun to listen to. My B.Y.O.B Book club chose this as our first young adult book to read. I was planning on reading it but I thought I would give the ol' audio a try.

A brief description from Indie Bound:

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.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess.
If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.


My friend Laura wrote her review from the book club since I made the silly mistake of overbooking myself and missed the meet up. Check out Myriad Musings for her take. My opinion will be a bit different since I was the only one who listened to it.
It was an intriguing story and I was eagerly anticipating what was going to happen. Would they get out of the maze? Who was really controlling it all? Why did Thomas seem to feel like he had been there before?

I was easily intrigued and looked forward to getting back to the story after each pause. Once again, I listened to it in my car so it took me a good two weeks to finish. My only real issue with it all was the language in which the characters created. Having been confined to this world surrounded by a maze with no recollection of a life before, they essentially created their own swear words. They would call each other "Shank!" and "Greenie". It was a tad bit annoying at first and it took me a few discs to get used to. Also, there were several different characters and one narrator. He did a good job making each individual character stand out, however, some of the voices were a bit over the top. It got a bit jumbled at times. If I had read it, I don't know if I would have had the same irritation with it. Usually if there are parts that I find a bit tedious in reading, I would skim. You can't really skim with the audio version.

Most of my fellow book club friends continued on with the series; Scorch Trials and Death Cure. I had the best of intentions to do so but ended up choosing other things to read and listen to. I can't say that I won't in the future but not at this time.
Overall, they all seemed to enjoy it.

Rating: Recommend
This would not be my favorite young adult read, but I did enjoy it. It was fast paced once it got going and kept my interest. It was different enough and the world of the maze was interesting. This would be more suited to a younger reader, perhaps a fan of Maximum Ride series by James Patterson or The Last Apprentice series by James Delaney.

Next Book Up:
Blindness by Jose Saramago (March)

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child





6 comments:

Julie@My5monkeys said...

I enjoyed this book , but haven't read the last 2 books in series yet.

Tales of Whimsy said...

Great honest review. I bet I would dig this on audio.

Christine said...

I know my library has this book and even the second one in the trilogy. It sort of floats around on my "I should read that someday" list. ;)

Marce said...

You confirmed for me not to read it, this was one of the first YA's I was going to try before I gave up on them for the most part. I may just read Blindness also, is it for Feb or March?

Jenni said...

Now I really wish you had been at book club! It's like you and I read two different books. I thought this was one of the worst books I have read. Poorly written. Poorly realized. Here's my review: http://www.covertocoverblog.com/?p=955

christa @ mental foodie said...

I felt the same way as you. I like it but don't love it. I haven't felt the urge to continue with the series yet. I gave it a 4 stars then, but now having read a few more YA dystopian, it's more of a 3.5 or 3.75. Here's my review if you are interested!
http://mentalfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/06/book-review-maze-runner-by-james.html