The Maze Runner by James Dashner: First Look

“If you ain’t scared… you ain’t human.” - James Dashner

As most of you can probably figure out by now, I love dystopian themed books. From the Hunger Games, to Divergent, to Feed (the book I just finished reading) and now the new book I am going to read, The Maze Runner. As I was in the movie theater getting ready to watch The Giver, which is another dystopian book, the trailer for this movie came up (shown on the left) and I was like: 'I have to watch that movie!'. Later on, I figured out that it a movie based on a book, and I was like: 'whoa, guess what is the next book I am going to read!', and for the looks of it, maybe even become my next favorite book.

In the beginning of the book there is a kid who wakes up in an elevator with no memory of his past except that his name is Thomas. After roughly half an hour, the top door opens and he sees a bunch of teenage boys doing what seems to be like mocking him. One of them says, "Nice to meet ya shank ... Welcome to the Glade." (Dashner 4).

In my opinion, the author does a really good job at describing the first scene. "A courtyard several times the size of a football field, surrounded by four enormous walls made of gray stone and covered in spots with thick ivy." (Dashner 5) We are then introduced to Alby, who seems to be the leader of the 50 teenage guys. Although he seemed mad that Thomas showed up, he yelled at the other boys to stop taunting him. 

Throughout the first couple of chapters, you have to keep in mind that Thomas has no memory whatsoever. Even a little hint of his age or something of the sort would help, but no one would talk to him. Another new character named Newt shows him to his room and explains the basic daiy routine. But, after he leaves, Thomas collapses and wishes that he can wake up from this "dream".