Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner

Goodreads

I'm not even gonna hide the fact that I just picked these up so I can stay true to my whole "I would NEVER watch a book-to-movie adaptation with out reading the actual book." And that's pretty much my entire motivation for reading them.

And to be honest, I've had a lot of mixed feelings about they will be summed up on one gif:

A Quick Summary: 

We join the protagonist, Thomas, in a box. Moving upwards. Why are we in a box? We don't know. But what we do know, is that Thomas has no idea what's going on, and no memories of his past.

Anyway, Thomas wakes up in the Glade, filled with 50-something guys, all differing in age and race, and poor, little Thomas is so confused, and literally the first thing these guys do is literally, poke fun at Thomas for being scared and confused, even though we later find out that these boys were no different at their arrival. (Boys.) As it turns out, the Glade is surrounded by a maze that goes on for miles on all sides and its crawling with monsters and little robotic cameras, and after escaping their torture chamber, the boys find out they are basically lab rats for an organization named WICKED.

But wait, there's more!

After escaping, they discover that half the world's been burnt up, and half of the remaining population is dying because of an outbreak of a biological weapon, that slowly destroys the brain, and turns humans into cannibals.

(It's a Zombie Apocalypse)

 The Writing:

So much of the book is based around the the whole "world is ending" but there is no world building at all. Even after reading all three, there was just not enough to satisfy me, It focuses more on the trials these poor kids are going through, and it almost feels like a bit much. Dashner is so focused on the whole good vs. evil ordeal, but almost to the point where you just want to slam your head against a wall. And of course what really go to me were the descriptions like this one:

(In reference to hearing a creaking sound)
"As if Minho had bumped into a low-hanging chandelier, sending it swaying back and forth" --The Scorch Trials

Getting to the point, it just wasn't concise enough for me. And all that did was make the books drag out longer, and just build up unnecessary suspense

The Gladers:

I had a profound attachment to Minho, Newt, and Chuck. i found these three to be the most unique, there is no significant character devlopment. And as unique as the community of Gladers are, they sure do have a hard time making up their mind. One second they trust Thomas completely, and the next, he's a traitor. And to be honest, they all sort of started to melt together after a while.

"Good that."--Literally every Glader ever.

Final Verdict:

Curse Senior English classes for forcing me to find deeper meaning in every novel, that the author may or may not have intended me to find. The meaning i found in this trilogy is that W.I.C.K.E.D. is so black and white as everyone would like to think. Is there a good vs. evil thing going on? Yes.

But what makes understanding this novel so hard is that everyone is good and evil. There is no definite answer.

And in a twisted way, the whole good vs. evil thing works. Because in the end, the struggle only represents one thing--humanity. It represents us, and what we're willing to do for the greater good of all, and that's where the idea of  "Good" and "Evil" really come in, doesn't it? The bad guy, may not necessarily be the bad guy. Maybe the protagonist is the bad guy. The whole focus of the novel is so obscured, because you don't know who's good and who's bad. And to me that's what made this series so intriguing.

Because even after you get to the end, there is no definite answer.

Rating: 3.5/5