Review Detail

Reader reviewed by darklightkid

As the novel starts, a teenage boy named Thomas is riding a strange elevator up to a place called the Glade. Thomas steps out into a strange world, armed only with his name as he is unable to remember anything else. The first interesting thing about the Glade is that it's entirely populated with teenage boys. The second interesting thing is that it's surrounded on all sides by a deadly Maze. The third interesting thing is that the walls around the openings to the Maze shut every night at sunset and don't reopen till sunrise. If anyone is left outside, they are as good as dead, thanks to the dreaded creatures known as Grievers that stalk the Maze at night.

Thomas makes a quick friend - young Chuck, who until Thomas' arrival was the most recent Newbie, or Greenbean, in the Glade. He makes a quick enemy, too - Gally, who has major anger issues and will do anything to get rid of him. He forms a tenuous, terse semi-friendship with some of the Maze's top rankers - Alby, a black guy who serves as the de facto leader; Newt, Alby's second-in-command; and Minho, an Asian who is the official leader (having been in the Glade two years, longer than any of the other inhabitants) but often is out in the Maze looking for a way out, as he is the chief of an elite squadron known as the Runners.

But immediately the day after Thomas shows up, he is followed by another - a rarity because new arrivals only come in once a month; a double rarity because this time the new arrival is a girl; a triple rarity because she comes with a cryptic message: "Everything is going to change."

And change it does. All the normal rules of the Maze are broken as the Gladers make a mad dash to try and figure out how they will escape - if in fact it's even possible.

This is a novel that should come with a government health warning: "Do not read if you have high blood pressure, recent injuries, or pregnancy. It is one of the wildest literary roller-coaster rides you will ever read. Before reading, please ensure you have signed the waiver form I20CK [a totally random code btw] in triplicate, absolving the publishers and author in case of accidental heart failure or other illness."

Do not miss it, whatever you do. Also keep an eye out for copies of the sequel, "The Scorch Trials."