Book Review: The Maze Runner

Finally, I am getting to the review of Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Genre: YA dystopian

Synopsis: If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
 When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
 Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
 Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
 Everything is going to change. Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
 Remember. Survive. Run.

My Take:  Finishing the book didn't improve my opinion of the story. Unfortunately, my boys enjoyed it so we will be continuing to read the series.  I keep wondering what is wrong with me, that everyone else really likes this series, and I am just not into it.  I think that part of the problem is that I find the whole thing so impossible to imagine. Maybe I have a better hope for humanity, or as a parent I know I would never ever allow something like this to happen to my children. I also know that most parents I know would die before letting something like this happen. There is nothing in the set up to give me the ability to accept this alternate reality. With Hunger Games, I can understand how the world could end up that way. Same with Divergent (though to be fair, I only watched the movie. I haven't read the series yet.) 

But with Maze Runner we are dropped into this situation that makes absolutely no sense, and gets harder to comprehend as the story goes along. Another piece I struggle with is seeing a group of teenage boys functioning like that to survive. Sure it implies that the creators laid down a bunch of rules, and that the boys know they are being watched, but nothing to indicate that the creators ever got involved in enforcing those rules. 

 I'm sorry, I know too many teenage boys. Sure there are some who would be responsible for a time, but to have a whole glade of boys who all followed the rules and work together for the most part without any adult interaction? Lord of the Flies was a more accurate representation of boys left to their own devices.