Book Review: THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner

THE MAZE RUNNER has been on my TBR list for a while. I pick it up every time I'm at the bookstore but ultimately put it back on the shelf and say, "Next time." So finally my mom bought me the book for my birthday. Actually, she bought me the trilogy box set! I've only read the first one so far, and I really enjoyed it.

The story begins with Thomas, a teenage boy who wakes up in an elevator-type lift. He knows nothing about where he is, who he is (apart from his name), or what has happened in the past. When the lift opens, he meets a group of other boys who live in a mysterious place called the Glade. Next to the Glade is an enormous maze, and every day some of the boys (called Runners) sprint through the Maze, searching for a way out. The catch? The Maze changes every night, and it's full of monsters called Grievers that no one wants to be caught by.

Thomas barely has one day to get used to the Glade when a girl is sent up in the lift, the first girl ever to be sent to the Glade. She brings an ominous warning, and life in the Glade changes. Escaping the Maze is more important than ever, and Thomas begins to wonder if he is more linked to the Maze (and its mysterious creators) than he remembers.

This story is propelled by all the questions. The reader only knows what Thomas knows, which is (frustratingly, at some points) not much. The other Gladers dodge most of his questions for the first quarter of the book, and it isn't until page 100 or so that the real action and answers start to come along. But I stuck with it because I was DYING to know the answers, which we do eventually get. The book is very plot-driven, which keeps things exciting, but that also means we didn't get a ton of character development (not too surprising, since Thomas can't remember his past). I didn't care about him much as I read. I kind of just used him as my lens to get answers to my questions. Hopefully in the next book we'll discover more about who Thomas is.

My favorite character was probably Chuck, the younger boy who tags along with Thomas for the majority of the book. He's funny and adorable and a little vulnerable. I also like Minho, the leader of the Runners who teaches Thomas about the Maze.

I'm looking forward to reading THE SCORCH TRIALS and am hoping for more answers. I've heard a lot of mixed things about the trilogy (particularly about the last book, THE DEATH CURE, being a disappointment), but I'm going into it with an open mind.

What are your thoughts about this trilogy? Loved it? Hated it? In between? No spoilers about the rest of the series, pretty please!

Book Review: LEGEND by Marie Lu

I normally keep my list of dystopian novels trimmed down to the basics: Hunger Games and Divergent. Since discovering BookTube, however, I've watched book reviews of tons of dystopian novels that everyone seems to love. Now I'm on a dystopian trilogy kick, so be prepared for lots of book reviews!

LEGEND is the first book in Marie Lu's Legend Trilogy. LEGEND takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles, part of the Republic. The story alternates between two points of view: June, the Republic's military prodigy, and Day, the Republic's most wanted criminal. When June's older brother is killed (not a spoiler, I promise, it's written right on the book's inside flap description) and Day is considered the prime suspect, June sets out to track him down and get revenge. Along the way, June discovers that some of the things she has grown up believing about the Republic aren't what she thought.

The book is action-packed, and I found myself flipping page after page, eager to see how these two characters' stories would converge. June and Day don't meet until a third of the way into the book, but I also enjoyed learning about their individual stories. There's a little romance, but mostly we see the protagonists' relationships with their families and the other people around them. I liked seeing Day's interactions with Tess, the younger girl he travels with. Even June's interactions with her strict (and pretty vicious) commander intrigued me.

One small thing that struck me as odd were the characters' ages. Both June and Day are said to be fifteen, but they sounded (at least to me) more like 17-18 year olds. Both their voices are very mature and they react rather calmly to intense situations. This might be because they've been forced to grow up fast (Day has been on the run for years and June earned the highest-ever score on her Trial, a test to measure military aptitude), but I wish Lu had made them a bit older. Then again, Harry Potter faced Voldemort at age eleven, so I guess I shouldn't judge based on age!

Overall, I really liked this book and am planning to buy PRODIGY, the sequel, soon! I've heard it's even better than LEGEND.

Have you read this series? What parts do you like about LEGEND? No spoilers about PRODIGY or CHAMPION (the third book), please!