I’ll admit it, the only reason I read this book was because I heard that it’s similar to The Hunger Games. But as it turns out, the similarities are quite small.
Basically Thomas, the protagonist, wakes up with his memories wiped and finds himself in a place called the Glade – a village of sorts, filled with kids just like Thomas and surrounded by giant stone walls. Despite no one knowing how or why it quickly becomes apparent that Thomas is an important player in this mystery.
There were rarely any deep themes or character analysis. This novel seems to rely heavily on plot. But despite that the plot line really offers nothing new, it’s one of those stories where a group of individuals have accepted their misfortune, then comes the ambitious new guy who shows up and tries to save them.
As far as the book’s similarity with the Hunger Games goes, it’s a bunch of kids trapped in some place and manipulated by an organization of some sort. But that’s where the similarities end.
Bottom Line: there aren’t any huge flaws in this novel, but it seems to lack in many places and suffers from an unoriginal plot line. I give The Maze Runner 7/10.