The Maze Runner

By James Dashner

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.

Holy cow. This book is...I don't know how to even describe it. Amazing. Horrifying. Unputdownable. I've been dying to read this and waiting for Christmas was nearly unbearable. I stayed up until 3 AM finishing it, simply because I honestly could not put it down. The book begins with Thomas waking up in the shaft, and you have to find your way along with him. No memories except for brief fuzzy images. He knows what pizza is, he knows what skyscrapers are, but he has no recollection of faces or names. Not even his own family. But when he finds out that the place they are being kept is a maze, and that every day the boys called Runners go out into the maze to find their way out, he wants more than anything to become a Runner too. But they must also face the Grievers, horrible monsters that are let loose in the maze at night, and sometimes during the day too. As Thomas tries to figure out why the maze seems so familiar, everyone is in an uproar when the girl comes...the first girl ever to come. And she has a message: "Everything is about to change." It took me a full two days to decide if I liked this book or not. It certainly had my emotions in turmoil. Especially since I wasn't expecting the gigantic cliffhanger at the end. I would've been so much happier without the epilogue. That's all I'm saying. This book reminded me a lot of how I felt the first time I read The Hunger Games, so if you like that book, I definately reccomend Dashner's new series. Wow.