Friday Reads: The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner

Know what I am LOVING right now?  The Maze Runner series by James Dashner.  It's YA and seriously good post-apocalyptic fiction.

I picked it up after reading so many great reviews, but even going in I really didn't have any idea what it is all about.  Even to the end of the first book, you don't really know what's happening.  I'm currently on book 3 and am happy to know there is a prequel so I can still live in this world a little longer once I am done.  I am going to try really hard to not spoil it for you...

Book One: The Maze Runner

Kid wakes up in a box at a place called the Glade.  he has no personal memories prior to that moment and is now living in a weird world where only teenage boys are and where there is a maze right outside the doors that changes nightly and holds horrific creatures named Grievers.   Then, the next day, the first girl arrives with a message...that she is the last that will arrive and that their end is near.

I loved how this book set things up for the trilogy.   It leaves the reader questioning what happened to bring them to this point and is a constant adventure to see how they will get out of it.   When questions of who to trust and why they were all brought to this point arise - you really get to see these kids run to overcome.   And get a seemingly strange happy ending that is cut short...and leads right into book two.

Book Two: The Scorch Trials

After the rescue from the maze, the kids discover that they were not alone in the maze trials...there was another group running in parallel...but that was all teenage girls.  Now both groups have been given a bit more information about why they are enduring the trials being put on by a group called WICKED and they are released into the "Scorch" - a quarantine for those most sick - to see who can persevere and live on.   Alliances are made, team mates are lost and loyalties are tested.   This book continues at the pace set by the first book and really keeps you turning the pages to see what WICKED will throw at these kids next.

Book Three: The Death Cure

I am still reading this one so can't give you much background except to say the trials are seemingly over and trust is at an all time low all around.  This one is another page turner so far and I don't expect that to end...

It is easy to see that the critical acclaim these books have received is well deserved.  It is a very creative take on post-apocalyptic YA fiction that *surprise* doesn't consist of a girlie romance element like books like the Hunger Games and Divergent are.  The world as it was known is over and it is hard to see who the good guys and the bad guys really are - even when you think you know the answer.   The characters read honestly and while the writing initially struck me as unpolished, the ingenuity of the story sucked me in to a point where I don't notice it anymore.  

Highly recommended.