Critique

Certainly not as good or as groundbreaking as the first, The Scortch Trials was still an interesting story that kept me intrigued enough to continue reading. It’s hard to follow up a book like The Maze Runner, because, much like Lord of the Flies, it would probably work better as a standalone novel. Everyone’s got the series craze though, nowadays, so it’s hard to escape with just one. There were certainly a few plot twists along the way, but nothing like what The Maze Runner could offer, since the premise of that book was entirely based around discovery. Still, I would recommend it as a good read.

Critique

Attention – this review contains spoilers. Typically, I don’t give away the surprises throughout the story, but I have to for this review. If you want things to be a surprise, which I recommend, don’t read this review and read the book based off of my recommendation.

The Maze Runner was exactly what I was hoping it would be. The world that Dashner has created is the perfect type of dystopian society that science fiction books are typically known for. However, what makes it particularly unique, is that this dystopian world is a world within a world.

The world that Thomas wakes up in with his memory lost is a Lord of the Flies type of scenario. The maze world is populated only by teenage boys, and each has particular tasks that they’re in charge of performing in order to make sure that their little world can continue working. The other world is the outside world, that some of them seem to have some faint memories of, and when they go through the Changing, they remember that their world is not a world worth going back to. However, they still hold out hope that there must be something better than what they have now, and so they attempt to solve the maze

What Dashner has cleverly done to avoid the boys fighting amongst each other is given them something to hope for, something to work toward. They channel all of their respective energies into solving the maze and finding freedom rather than fighting against each other. In that way, it’s unique from Lord of the Flies or many of the other dystopian science fiction novels.

There is a good balance between the death of the boys, and the difficult situation they’ve found themselves in, and the hope they retain for discovering freedom, coupled with their intelligent pursuit of that goal. They crack codes, which is an interesting discovery process as well for the reader.

Lastly, the ending is perfect for the way the setting and plot slowly reveals itself to the reader throughout the novel. You don’t know any more than the characters do themselves, and that’s part of the adventure. In addition, the fake murder of the scientists, and the false hope they’ve placed these characters within yet again makes for a tantalizing next novel. Often with follow up books, they are rarely as good as the first because everything has already been revealed, and there is no mystery. I recommend this book to all readers 13+.