The writer did not include a clever title

By Cady Q.

I go through Dystopian themed books within days, but I always end up hating them. They’re like drugs; you know it’s bad for you, but you still keep going. Basically, all dystopian books are addicting piles of ox-sh*t. The Maze Runner was not an exception. Within the first chapter we are introduced to sh*t shuck face Thomas. Instantly the book swerves towards the popular, “Where the hell am I. Damn it, I lost all my memories.” sci-fi plot device.

Some how Thomas is able to make his first enemy without saying jacksh*t. I guess he had a bitchy aura to him or something. What concerned me wasn’t that Thomas made enemies and friends faster than Donald Trump, it was how cringeworthingly bad Dashner made Thomas’s “enemy”. Not only is Gally a dumb f*ck, but he’s also ugly! I basically had problems with all the characters in this book aside from Minho. Though, maybe I’m just biased because Minho is Asian, has the same name as Minho of SHINee, and is a sassy little sh*t. Ah, but nobody in this book was worse than Thomas. You see, he went from a hundred to zero real quick. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character progressively go from a heroic strong leading character to a weak ass sissy that fast. It would be ideal to have a protagonist who doesn’t want to throw up after every single event.

           I swear, the first few chapters were made to make you fall asleep so you didn’t have to read through the sh*t fest ahead. The pacing of the Maze Runner has had to be one of the worst in dystopian book history.  Why were the chapters so short? Dashner literally made it so that the climax of the story had 3289 mini chapter bursts that were 2-3 pages long. I don’t know if it’s to make it seem like you’re reading fast or what, but it really irritated me. That’s like if you wanted to kill someone and you decided to shoot bb gun bullets at them instead of shooting them with a handgun.  

The idea of stuffing a group of kids in a Maze to potentially save a humanity swallowing disease isn’t bad at all. In some ways, Dashner was incredibly innovative with the design of the maze. However, the “plot twists” were extremely crusty and bland. I don’t think there was a single major death or puzzle piece of the maze that I didn’t predict. It really didn’t help that the whole book was just one huge plot hole. Honestly, couldn’t the kids have just made a big ass ladder and climbed their way out of the maze? Damn, I thought they were supposed to be smart.