James Dashner is a nice guy. I've met him more than once, and other authors are always telling me this, too: James Dashner is a nice guy. If you don't like James Dashner, you're not a nice guy, because James Dashner is a nice guy. James Dashner is the kindest man you will ever meet don't you dare bash on his novels.
So before I tell you what I think of this series, I have a disclaimer: James Dashner is a nice guy. I read all three of his
Maze Runner books. They have nice covers and the man who reads them on Audiobooks is really good at doing Irish accents. So that was fun.
I know some of you love these books. You think James Dashner is a
really nice guy. You give his books five stars on Goodreads. You must be a nice guy, too. I guess I'm not a nice guy. Not only am I a girl, but I'm not a
Maze Runner fan.
I really hate writing bad reviews. It disturbs me. Because I get this evil little adrenaline rush from doing it, like it's fun. And really what I'm doing is asking a nice guy to please go cry. I hate that it's fun. I hate that I get no guilt trip out of this. But here's the thing.
Everyone loves this book. These books. All three of them. Four if you're The Dedicated Fan who reads the prequel. Somebody has to stand up, in the name of Suzanne Collins and Ray Bradbury and Orson Scott Card and point out what's really going on.
It's like watching
Psych. I love
Psych. I find the pineapple every episode. But you're not looking for pineapples in
Maze Runner- this book is like
Psych on an intellectual level. This book isn't hilariously stuffed with jokes from 1992. This book reminds me of the way, in general, a cute little crime show typically goes about its business.
So say you're a
Psych fan. For those of you who aren't
Psych fans, this is how it goes down: little Shawn and Gus run around, make an 80's movie reference you don't get, and- Gasp! Look! There is blood on that man's shirt! Shawn makes a dramatic face, the camera zooms up on the blood and it glows. He's our killer!
That was thrilling for you.
Then one day you hear all these crazy people talking about
Sherlock. And they say It's totally like
Psych you'll love it! and you're thrilled because season 5 or 16 of
Psych doesn't come out for a whole month, so you need something to occupy your time and you guess you'll try this show.
You turn on Netflix. Two hours later you turn off Netflix. You just sit there looking at your TV. Holy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For those of you who aren't
Sherlock fans, this is how it goes down: This show was invented by geniuses. Forget the slightly-open door being your clue to the murder, forget 80's movie references. That was cute, but you can't look at that show the same way again. You're on a new level.
There are millions of apocalypse/dystopia novels out there in the world. Publisher Heaven chucks down one every hour. Off the top of my head?
Hunger Games, Shatter Me, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Ender's Game, Matched, Unwind, Fahrenheit 451, Uglies, Divergent, please make me stop. I know that's a random list. Not all of them a gems. But some of them are.
Picture yourself watching Shawn and Gus trying to solve a
Sherlock crime. They make the same, basics-of-simple observations and 80's movie references. Even worse, Sherlock and Watson are sitting next to them telling them what geniuses they are and worshiping at their feet. And the worst part is? It works, and they solve the crime.
This is what reading this series was like. In the usually sophisticated genre of dystopia, amidst the Sherlocks of
Hunger Games and
Fahrenheit 451, in walks a really nice guy. The decisions I watched James Dashner's characters make were painfully straightforward. But every other character within the book regards them as genius.
Even the series' plot itself is basic, but loopholed and frilled up until you would have no idea. The world has been attacked by a virus that makes people go crazy. The only rational explanation is, of course, to gather up a group of fifty adolescent boys and build a life-size maze for them to live in, filled with giant slugs that may attack them. With needles that come out of their skin. March these children through a desert, strike them by lightning, make several of them telepathic. Bring in tiny mechanical spiders. Threaten these children with vivisection and . . . if I remember correctly, human sacrifice. Oh, spoiler alert.
The end result is so simple and obvious that I just sat there for a moment, listening to the Audiobook fade out with this blank expression on my face, wondering if that really could have been what I'd been waiting three books for. I was alone in a room. But I was slightly shouting, "Really. Really. That's it."
YA fiction, particularly YA dystopia/apocalypse has become this flooded refugee camp for all the other demographics in the world who've been disappointed by adult literature or tween books. Everybody's figured out young adult is the place to be. As a YA writer, you're facing the most competitive, the most intense, the fastest paced but the cleverest genre there is right now. You as a YA reader no matter what your age are expecting the best. You deserve it.
No book is completely bad or completely good. In addition to having a CD reader who was great at Irish accents, this series is a group of quick reads with sharp, clear writing. They are action-packed
and hit the nose with a love triangle I didn't expect, thrown in on the side.
I don't think James Dashner is a bad writer. I think he is a good writer, actually. But cerebrally, his writing can't stand up to this genre. I know he's also written successful series for middle grade readers. The intellect of books he writes for older teens and adults is still on the same middle grade level, and after three books and a prequel, it doesn't look like he prepares to step it up. But for a quick adrenaline read that won't tease your brains too much, these books are harmless.
I have two exceptionally petty issues with this book as well, which you'll understand if you've read the novels. Click.
Check back here at Read My Print for a new post every Friday. Before the end of October, I have a Halloween reads post, and, of course, the annual October Companion Novel Awards. Annual starting . . . now!
The middle-grade novels I give props to:
Got through these books thanks to the awesome audio reader:
