Maze Runner

Dashner, James. Maze Runner. Book One of the Maze Runner Series. 2009. 374p. ISBN 0385737947. Available both as a book at FIC DAS and as an eBook on Overdrive.

Thomas doesn’t remember anything but his name. And when he wakes up in an elevator, he is suddenly thrown in a controlled environment, the Glade.

Other boys live here in the ever changing maze, and their sole purpose appears to try to discover a way out of it. None of them remember their former lives, and all share with Thomas the knowledge of their name and fragments of memories they can’t quite put together. All they know is that W.I.C.K.E.D. has put them here.

Thomas joins the small elite group of maze runners, who explore the maze and return home at night to map it. They’ve been trying to discover patterns, but so far they have nothing. Kids have been living in the maze for years now, and they seem no closer to finding an exit than when they started.

But then, the following week, instead of a boy being brought to the maze, a girl emerges from the Lift. Like them, she only remembers her name: Theresa. Thomas feels like he’s seen her before. More importantly, she carries a message: There will be no more. No more food, no more boys, no more of anything.

Now the maze inhabitants must escape before it’s too late. But with all of the vile creatures living in the maze, and all of the deadly puzzles, escaping from the maze might very well cost the maze runners their lives.

Fans of the dystopian novel will like this book, and might also enjoy the following: Arena 1, Starters, Ship Breaker, Reboot, Not a Drop to Drink, Birthmarked and Divergent. Thomas and Theresa's story continues in The Scorch Trials.