The Maze Runner | Series Review

Let’s get straight into it shall we? The first thing to think about in any book is the plot. I really liked this concept generally, however I felt the first book was the weakest in this department. My favourite idea was The Flare and so naturally I preferred The Death Cure (the third and final book) and The Kill Order (the prequel to the trilogy) as they focused on this aspect the most. One small criticism, I feel like Dashner tried to incorporate too many plot points into this trilogy as the was the initial sun flares, which led to natural disasters, which led to overpopulation, which lead to the release of the virus, which led to the maze. It seemed like he tried to cram a lot into one series, rather than separate the concepts. In his defence, he did execute this well as he linked all the events, bit I still found the books to be very dense and disjointed in places.

Lets take a look at Thomas. At face value, I like him. I think he was a good character who had a decent amount of development throughout the series.

This is where my praise of the characters ends. I felt like Dashner seemed to confuse character development with an overuse of racial stereotypes. For example, Newt was made incredibly British in his dialogue through his constant use of phrases such as 'bloody hell', while Jorge (from the scorch trials) was a Spanish character and called all the characters 'hermano'. I felt that Dashner over used these stereotypes or, if I'm being generous, personality quirks and mistook them for actual character development and depth.

My next point doesn't count for the whole series, but is a huge problem at the beginning of the first book. All authors use repetition to enforce an idea that is pivotal to the plot, but isn’t overly complex and wouldn’t pose a problem for an eight year old to understand. However, Dashner used the exact same phrasing to express how Thomas losing his memory was important, throughout the beginning of the book. It did annoy me when it occurred, but I was happy to find it happened less and less as the series progresses. I put this down to a growth in Dashner's writing ability and so didn't notice it in the later books, but I still think it's worth mentioning for when you’re trudging through the opening chapters.

Finally, the ending. (WARNING: SERIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD!)

In the end of The Hunger Games, Katniss chooses Peeta. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth chooses Mr Darcy. Don't, I repeat, DON'T establish a love triangle and then kill off one of the corners! Teresa's death in the final chapters of The Death Cure meant Thomas could only be with Brenda... Why would you do this? Why would you set up a love triangle in the second book, simply to have an ending where his choice is not a choice, but rather by default. Why? (this makes me so angry that I really can’t even talk about it anymore than this!)

There we are, my thoughts and nuggets of genius (or possibly lunacy) regarding the Maze Runner. I'm sure there are other things that I liked and disliked about this series, and over all despite how negative this review sounds, I did enjoy the series and would rate it highly in comparison to some other dystopian series. What do you guys think?

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