The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Imagine waking up in complete darkness in a strange box and knowing nothing more than your name. Thomas awakened to that reality on page 1 of the Maze Runner. Where is he, why is this place filled with nothing but teenaged boys and why can he remember nothing specific about his life prior to the box? Once a month a new boy is sent up through the box where he is taken into the Glade and trained in several jobs to find each boys strong suit. Thomas shows up no different than any other 'Greenbean' or 'Greenie' (new kid) but less than 24 hrs later the alarm sounds again notifying the boys that another person is coming up in the box... only this time when it reaches the top, it's a teenage girl and she's in a coma. She has a message for the boys that Everything is going to change.

The days to follow the girl and the message lead to many strange occurances in a place where things are always in Order and on Schedule. They must solve the puzzle of their captivity in order to find the Creator of their locked up world and fight for their freedom. Is it worth fighting for anymore or is the world outside even worse than the maze they exist in now where you must avoid being stung by terrible animal/machine creatures that what nothing more than to steal them away and tear them apart? Without a memory of their life before the Glade, none of them truly know what they are fighting to get out to... just what they are fighting to get away from.

The Maze Runner is the first novel in what will be a trilogy written by James Dashner. It takes place in a dystopian society where teenage boys with a strange dialect seem to be in charge and running things pretty smoothly. Thomas shows up and wants to be a "Runner", the people that run the maze to find an exit. He doesn't know why he wants to do it because it's extremely dangerous, but deep in his gut he is driven to this job in particular. Thomas's character is not very well developed but since he has no memory of who he is prior to the box all we know is the integrity and strength we see as he performs his daily tasks and through his eyes we get a better glimpse of some of the other characters, like Minho, Chuck and Newt.

Unlike most YA genre books there were no romantic ties at all in this book, that was a good change for me. It moved along at an Ok pace and had enough action and drama, I suppose, but it seemed to lack something for me. I really had to force myself to finish the book so I could see how it ended and I found myself skimming the pages a lot just reading the dialogue. The story was different and new but not anywhere near the calibre of the Hunger Games trilogy, another dystopian series I very highly recommend. It was an entertaining enough read if you have nothing else on your TBR list.