The Maze Runner

Hello, readers!

Today we’re reviewing James Dashner’s The Maze Runner. Now, I know this book has been out for sometime, but I bought it around the time I got really into The Hunger Games. Therefore, it sat among the other books stacked on my computer desk, collecting dust. Anyway, I’m reviewing it. It’s dust-free and read and bookmarked. So if you’ve read it already, fill free to skip past this review. :P

The Maze Runner centers around a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a large, metal box with no memory of who he is but his name. The top to the box opens up, revealing an unfamiliar crowd of boys who speak words Thomas does not recall remembering and an unfamiliar, new territory that Thomas must now come to terms with: the Glade.

The Glade, Thomas discovers, is at the center of a maze, a maze that is accessible to only a select few during the day. During the day, those select few, called Runners, search the Maze for an exit they’ve been trying to find going on two years. During the night, however, the Runners stay inside the confines of the Glade, not only because the Glade’s doors, more like walls, close before dark— but because, at night, horrible, flesh-tearing monsters called Grievers thrive.

Thomas learns to cope with the new life he’s been hurled into, especially seeing as he can remember close to nada of his last one. He seems to be getting used to his life in the Glade, though the Maze and being a Runner for some reason call to him. Then something big happens, something that, in the Glade, has never happened before: a girl appears in the box. The girl, face familiar to Thomas, triggers something in the Maze that is pertinent to the Gladers living in the center of it: the end. Thomas, with the help of others, before time runs out, must find a way to overcome the labyrinth that is full of moving walls and monsters. As time runs short, secrets of Thomas’ past are slowly revealed, secrets that seem better kept than spread until they become valuable, essential. Until they seem the only way to overcome a maze no one’s been able to solve for two years.

Where to start…

I liked The Maze Runner. I really did. There was a lot of hype about it, and I know that the second book is already out. That hype lived up to my standards. Thomas was a refreshing and reluctant hero, a very convincing teenaged boy. He also could be quite noble if the occasion called for it, at the same time modest. I liked the other boys in the story, too. There are some great personalities in here. A boy named Newt and a boy named Chuck were among some of my favorite characters. Dashner knows how to characterize boys. They’re crude but likable, strong but vulnerable. They come in all shapes and sizes. Each boy is unique, his own snowflake, and so we say, “Good job, Dashner. You did it.” :)

It’s neat that the boys of the Glade are all boys, 18 or 19 and under. It’s like a village of kids trying to create order, and they’re good at it. They make rules. No one can go in the Maze except Runners, for example. You’re given a job that best fits your strengths. People are Banished if they do something wrong. They have a Slammer, too. There’s a dialect Thomas picks up on when he arrives. It’s all klunk and shuckheads and shucking, but, after a while, it seems natural, normal.

It’s funny, actually. For a while, I felt like I was reading a book inspired by something like Ender’s Game. I say this not only because of the interaction of the boys of the Glade, but also because of what happens throughout the book. Seriously. The plot and the way the story moves feel a lot like it. I mean that in a good sense, not in a copycat kind of way. It’s a high compliment coming from me, because I love Ender’s story. However, no matter how similar (Or perhaps the word is comparable?) the stories and their characters seem, The Maze Runner stands on its own.

The action in this story is riveting and suspenseful. It leaves you on the edge of your seat, wondering what’s going to happen next. The Glade is a mysterious and exciting place to be. The events that take place in and around it are of the same caliber. That said, praise thrown down, I don’t know. There was something missing. I think that something entered when the girl, named Teresa, actually unconscious for most of the story, becomes a leading character in the book.

Teresa was funny, and I liked her quick wit. However, I just didn’t accept the way she and Thomas almost instantly got along. I know they were connected in the past somehow. That’s apparent when Thomas, now and then, contemplates how and whether or not he knows her. I don’t know. I just… it happened too quickly? Their camaraderie? Dashner takes a good three-fourths of the book to flesh out all these boy characters. I love them, I do, each and every one of them. They make me laugh, smile, pity, fear for, etc. Teresa… I don’t feel any of that for her… and I’m a girl. I just didn’t care about her, which unpleasantly surprised me, because I cared so much about everyone else. :/

Dashner had me hooked from the moment I started reading. There’s so much danger in his novel, what with the Grievers and the Maze and its timed-to-shut walls, that its hard not to be drawn in. I don’t know. I was just so impressed with how he portrayed all the boys individually. Teresa… it’s like she just popped in and was like, “Hey, guys! I’m a main character now. Deal with it.” It’s even something her spunky character would say. I needed more to that spunk. I needed more hesitation, more motive. I know she had her memory wiped too, but still, I needed more… I just needed more. Once she came into the story, it was like I wasn’t as happy with what was going on. The story is still thrilling and great and entertaining… just not when she’s around? That’s mean, I know, but it’s a little true. Her character, among all the fleshed out boys around her, just didn’t seem real. Characters, whether they’re from Mars or are vampires or mermaids or talking rabbits that go to war should always SEEM real. She didn’t. *Shrug* She was underdeveloped, in my opinion, and that, in turn, seeing as she was a main character, made the story suffer.

Just because one character isn’t as elaborate as the rest doesn’t warrant enough reason for someone to overlook this book. It’s good, hands down. It’s worth a read. I promise. I just also promise that it may seem a little lacking. This is why. Read it, and you’ll see.

That said, the second book to this series is out, The Scorch Trials. I haven’t read that. Maybe if I read it, Teresa wouldn’t bother me as much? Maybe I’d be totally fine with her as I read on? Maybe not? Who knows? I’ll read it later and see. For now, I just think she’s a little too denuded.

Rating?

 

Fiction or Literature?

55% Fiction, 45% Literature

Good or Bad?

85% Good, 15% Bad (Only due to Teresa)

Don’t get me wrong; the end of this book is brilliant. This book is a page-turner. It’s got some deep and significant themes floating along throughout. Adults vs. children. Brain vs. brawn. Common good vs. greater good. It’s there, and it’s done well. It’s just my honest opinion that Dashner could have stopped and maybe added some more details to the mysterious girl from the box. He could have let us see “Teresa on her own” rather than “Teresa around the guys,” especially before she became a main character, because he really doesn’t. Maybe we’ll get that in the next book? If you’ve read it, let me know. :)

Till next time,

Alex

The Chemical Garden Trilogy

Hello, readers!

Today is dedicated to Lauren DeStefano. The book we’ll be covering is actually her first book ever. It’s the starting book in a series called The Chemical Garden Trilogy. The book itself is called Wither. The second book will be coming out next month, so I figured it'd be a good reading pick for this month. :)

This book is about a girl named Rhine who lives in a world where, due to the failure of modern science and medicine, women don’t live past the age of 20, and men the age 25. A vicious disease, virus, really, overcomes everyone without fail, and they die, young. Because there is an adamant demand for populating a world that is slowly falling apart, women are a hot commodity. They are so hot a commodity that it is not uncommon for the pretty ones to be kidnapped and sold off to men called Governors, men who have stables of wives to make for them little sons and daughters for a future world that seems to be forever searching for a way, a cure, to live past the time allotted.

Sixteen-year-old Rhine is stolen from her New York home, taken in the night from her sleeping twin brother. She is married off, whether she chooses it or not, to a twenty-one-year-old named Linden. Three other girls are married to him as well. One is named Rose. She’s been with Linden forever. The other two girls arrive at the same time Rhine does. Rhine and the new arrivers, however, are quick to pick up on the fact that Rose is dying. They will be Linden’s replacements to get over her.

Rhine looks for a way to escape this new life she’s been thrown into. With the help of a servant named Gabriel, she plans to escape the world she’s been trapped in, a world of lies and illusions, to get back to her brother. The mansion she is a prisoner in is looked over by Housemaster Vaughn, Linden’s father. It is the Housemaster she must look out for as she pretends to be someone she is not in order to get what she wants, sneaking around at every chance she can get. It is apparent Vaughn is a man with a dark past and, perhaps, an awaiting darker future. He is willing, in the name of family and as a father, to go to any lengths to make sure his son is happy. He is willing to, in the name of science and as a doctor, go to further lengths, lengths even his son does not seem to know about, lengths Rhine wants to get very, very far away from. In a house of sister wives and no freedom, Rhine must be careful about not only what she does and how she manipulates her husband Linden. She must be wary of who she trusts, and, perhaps most importantly, she must be careful that she doesn't let the illusion of having everything she wants at the push of a button fool her if she ever hopes to return home.

There is a moment when you finish a book and you set it down and breathe. You sit there for a minute— let the story and its ending sink in. Then you flip to the last page and read it five times over. That is the endless moment where you let the words someone else wrote slip into your head and fester. The moment where you stare at the wall and realize someone came up with the novel sitting your lap, the novel lying down on your couch arm, your bed. Someone came up with the story, the characters, the images, the words, the entire fictional world. That moment is a rare moment that some books are not allowed to ever be a part of. That moment is a moment the reader, no questions asked, gets with Wither by Lauren DeStefano.

Oh. My. God. I’m all about having a favorite series author. It started when I was young with J. K. Rowling. Next, I got addicted to Cassandra Clare. Most recently, I got addicted to Suzanne Collins. Now there’s a new addiction in town. Freaking Lauren DeStefano. Oh. My. God. Stunning. Gorgeous. Phenomenally staggering. OhmyGod.

Okay, I’m done with my incoherent speech patterns. I’ll do some actually talking here. UGH! The book was flawless. First, the way it’s written is simply to die for. Here’s a quote, just to give you a sample of the amazing that has me drooling:

“And here we are:

two small dying things,

as the world ends around

us like falling autumn leaves.”

Um, yeah. That’s a single sentence in a heap of quote after quote. Seriously, the way this was written, the way so much thought was put into it, the imagery, damn, it makes me jealous that I’ll never be able to write that way. It’s freaking poetry page after page, and it NEVER gets old. It’s written in first person, which always makes everything seem more poignant and now and urgent. Rhine is a beautiful girl with beautiful memories and a beautiful voice that calls out hauntingly to readers and draws them in, word by word. This book is emotive, unforgettable, and, all the way through, tragic. The writing is just one small little part of what makes these things all the more possible.

Moving on: conflict, motivation, and character likability. It’s done with grace, like this isn’t the first book DeStefano has ever published. It's shocking, really. You hate people, then you like them, then you hate them again. It’s a game of tug-of-war, a constant struggle, a never ending battle, and it’s done well. Every character is simultaneously flawed and brilliant and believable. It makes you suspicious whether or not DeStefano has been writing books for years and just hasn't bothered to have any of them published. Especially because she's young. Like... 20's young. Amazing.

Moving on: overall story. Everything happens for a reason and at the right time, and there are so many secrets, there are so many small stories in a big one waiting to be uncovered. There is so much pain, but it’s all so beautiful, it’s all so inspiring. DeStefano breaks your heart and leaves you empty. Then she fills you up.

Rating?

Fiction or Literature?

0% Fiction, 100% Literature

Good or Bad?

100% Good, Can I give a negative percentage for the “Bad”?

Read this. Read it, read it, read it. I’m going to recommend this book to everyone because it’s that good. God, I’m so glad this is the first book in a series. I’m so in love with this book that, even though I bought a digital copy on my Nook, I’m going to go out and buy a REAL copy of it, new and hardback if I can find it. Same thing with the second when it comes out in February!

Till next time,

Alex

Wondrous or Strange?

Hello, readers!

I’m baaaaack, and today we’re talking about author Lesley Livingston’s Wondrous Strange. It’s the first book in a series named after the starting title. This is the cover…

Mysterious redhead and scrolly text. Cool cover. Let's get past that cover. Wondrous Strange— where to start? Unfortunately, we can start at the part where I don’t lie and admit this book is not so much wondrous as it is strange. :/

I’m a fan of faerie stories. Just look at the books I’ve reviewed in the past. However, I will admit, I’m also very picky when it comes to stories with fey in them because— not surprising seeing as I’m interested in the, if you will, supernatural— I eat, sleep, and breathe knowing all there is to know about fairies, vampires, blah, blah,  dragons, etc. I’ve got so many books on fantastical creatures, mythology, and folklore that I could start a fantasy reference library. When I was in classes in college, and people wanted to know about mermaids or the story of Heracles (because, yes, it's spelled that way in the Greek so that's how I say it), they came to dorky old me. I was the one, ten minutes into del Toro’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, that said, “Faeries! The things in the basement are faeries! See the circle of clovers on that little hill? That’s a sign of… and now you guys are staring at me like I’m the biggest loser in the world. Shutting up initiated.” Hello, guys. Yeah, I’m THAT GIRL. ;P

END OF TANGENT. BACK TO REVIEW.

I’m a picky reader of faerie fiction. That said, my being a picky reader isn’t what made me— dislike is too strong of a word— disappointed by this beginning series novel. Now, the other books may get better. However, let me tell you, readers, where this one went wrong.

First: the story is told, chapter to chapter, by alternating protagonists. One is named Kelley. She’s an aspiring actress living in New York, trying to, even in a no-name theater (not literally, I mean that in the sense that it’s a crappy playhouse no one would ever actually go and pay money to watch a performance at), make a name for herself. In the midst of rehearsing for a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kelley finds herself not only tending to a horse that can somehow climb its way up into her not-first-floor apartment and live in her bathtub, while simultaneously being stalked by a mysterious boy. Enter protagonist number two: Sonny. Sonny is part of an elite force that enforces that the gates keeping faeries in their own realms actually keep faeries in their realms. His life becomes intertwined with Kelley's when she shows up at the park he's stationed at, which is where the gate he guards is, and something about her aura sparks, making her very interesting in addition to beautiful specimen. The title he’s given is: Janus. I’m not sure where this idea stems from unless it's from a Roman god who had two faces and was the god of transitions/doorways/time. To be honest, I didn’t even try to look. Why? It was bogus, and I figured all that would come up were articles on the freaking Jonas brothers. No, but really, why? BECAUSE SONNY IS THE MOST BORING PART OF THIS ENTIRE BOOK.

Okay, that was harsh. Let’s be specific. He’s the most boring part of this book with the exception of the first 100 pages. On my Nook, there's a little over 200. That was nicer. Seriously. The only reason I finished this book was because I paid for it. That’s not saying a lot. Granted, as I mentioned before, it DID get somewhat interesting after the 100 pages. That's because, reveal, faeries exist and Kelley has something in common with them (not so much a spoiler as a reason to potentially read on): she is one. Now then, let’s move onto the second reason this book was just not really jiving with my faerie zen.

Second: the romance between the two protagonists, which is, duh, predictable, is in NO WAY believable. Kelley starts to dig Sonny after he stalks her consistently and then gives her a flower. Oh. And the whole faerie thing. He informs her that the horse in her bathtub, which she previously saved from drowning in a lake (Random much?), is a kelpie. I guess if a guy is hot and willing to throw down some info on faerie secrets, he’s instantly not the creepy stalker in the background that you previously went so far as to threaten with pepper spray and he’s to die for. *Chuckle* Did I mention how much I hate Sonny? Ah, and that’s not even because he calls her his Firecracker— gag— or because, man, I'm sorry if you're named Sonny, has a dumb name. It’s because his character is flat, flat, flaaaaat. He’s just… there. He says some cute words to her, tells her about how faeries exist, and she eats it up, allowing him to even call her “heart.” Ugh. Gag me with a spoon.

This book should have been written solely from Kelley’s perspective. It would have been more interesting, more fiery (because, yes, she is a firecracker, though I hate that cheesy nickname), and the story would have been less about an unconvincing couple and more about a girl searching for her identity in a darker-than-she-thought-it-was world. Now let’s get to that third reason, the reason that’s probably been bugging YOU for a while now, and bugged me even as the book ended.

Third: Kelley keeps a horse in her New York apartment. I don’t think I need to elaborate on this one. You know that “strange” I was talking about? Um, yeah, though entertaining, that, quip intended, enters stage right here. New York apartment. Horse. Living inside. Alright, now that I’ve reiterated that, let me put in a few positive notes, because, yeah, there were some.

Positive Notes:

1.) I like Kelley. She’s spunky AND an actress; that, to me, is unique. You don’t get protagonists in faerie fiction who are in theater that often. I liked it.

2.) Puck, though he’s given a stupid name rather than Puck (What’s with all the lame names?), is in this story. Puck, along with Shakespeare’s play, added a level of background and plot to this story that I genuinely enjoyed. Thank you, Livingston, for the folklore.

3.)  Though the horse was bunk, it was also original. I'd never witnessed a character keep a pet kelpie before, seeing as their liable to rip off your flesh and devour it. Though not believably something that could get into an apartment, I liked how Kelley bonded with the kelpie, the kelpie ALSO given a lame name… Lucky. Oh well; it was original while it lasted.

Kelley finally gets her act together in the end of this book and becomes a stronger character. Notice the "er." I'm not implying she's "strong," just "stronger." Why "er"? Well, we would notice more character growth if she wasn’t, before putting up a fight, crying over the fact that her true love or whatever isn’t there to help her. *Shrug* Try this story out if it seems interesting. I think it was just a “Meh,” maybe even a “Did I really just waste all that time?” I could be wrong, though, or the second book could always make the first book worthwhile. If you do read it and beg to differ, differ. I’m not reading any more of these. I’ll hold onto my cash and read something by Holly Black or Julie Kagawa. To each his or her own.

Rating?

Fiction or Literature?

100% Fiction, 0% Literature

Good or Bad?

25% Good, 75% Bad

Strange… It was all very strange.

Till next time,

Alex

A More than Modern Take on a More than Well-Known Tale

Hello, readers!

Today’s post will be dedicated to Marissa Meyer's Cinder. This is the first book in what will be deemed Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles, and it is also Meyer’s first to be published book. Congrats to her on her debut!

Meyer’s Cinder, as it may sound and as the cover slightly hints, go figure, is a retelling of one of the biggest fairy tales out there— Cinderella. However, retelling though it may be, that’s pretty much where the similarities stop.

Cinder, the story’s Cinderella, lives in a very much future-world where there are people living on Earth, Earthens, and people living on the moon, Lunars. The world has been through many wars, nuclear and destructive. It has rebuilt itself, and this shows through where Cinder resides herself: in the large metropolis of New Beijing. Androids, netscreens, and advanced technology run rampant through all the world. But even if technology has advanced, there is still a war that the Earthens are striving to end: disease.

When the crown prince’s father becomes sick with a plague that is killing off billions, the prince, Kai, is faced with the decision of whether or not to ally with the cutthroat Lunars of the moon. At the same time, when Cinder finds one of her stepsister’s and only friends has become sick with the same plague and she may hold the key to curing it, she is faced with the decision of helping cure her world or escaping the confines of her home in which she is more of a prisoner than a resident. All these problems must be faced with the burden of an upcoming royal ball weighing on everyone in the background. 

Cinder, the story's main protagonist, is an outcast. Mechanic with constantly oil-stained cargos, no one expects much but an easy fix of their portscreen from her. However, when it becomes apparent she is more than the best mechanic in New Beijing and may be able to solve the missing link to the cure of the plague due to her immunity to it, she becomes an important figure. Sneaking around her stepmother’s back and even the prince’s, should he get his hopes up, Cinder with the help of a man, Dr. Erland, seeks to find a cure before Cinder's sister and Earthens all over are taken by the illness.

Not only does Cinder keep the secret of her immunity from her suspicious ball-obsessed stepmother and very much healthy and jealous second stepsister, but she also keeps the secret that her and the prince have been corresponding. Their correspondence, of course professional, at least at first, results from the mechanic fixing a royal android. However, it seems Cinder has a lot of secrets. Perhaps the biggest one, however, is not the secret that she is vital to finding a cure. Perhaps it lies in the fact that she’s one of the most detested races known to man, a cyborg, and she’s kind of falling for someone she never should have fathomed falling for in all the world, Prince Kai, and he's kind of falling for her, too.

Whoo! Sound like a lot of plot? Uh. Yeah. It is. And I couldn’t even tell you half of it, because I’d ruin the story with spoilers!

In short: not the Cinderella story you guys are used to. Not the Cinderella story ANYBODY is used to. Yet it works. Promise. The retelling elements are all there, blinking and clear. :)

Cinder was refreshing. I’d never read a sci-fi Cinderella retelling before. The idea of it sounded ludicrous, but look where we are. The story itself is phenomenal. Great characterization. I usually hate Cinderella as a character, but Cinder was vocal and daring and not afraid to speak her mind. I want to say so much more about her in this, but I guess I’ll just write an essay on it or something to appease myself, because I don’t want to give anything away. In essence: Cinder is a badass. I loved her and believed everything she did, never questioning her along the way. Kai is charming, but he’s also logical and not too romantic or annoyingly irrational, a nice change from the Disney prince who just goes for the hot chick in the dress. A lot of the story is told from his side, which is nice on the political/war side of the story. I know what you're thinking. "Politics and war? Sounds a wee bit boring." It's not. It's thrilling and brilliant.

This story is not campy. When I started reading it, I kind of figured it would be, but it wasn’t at all. It’s dark. You will be mad when certain things happen. Bad things WILL happen. There is no “happily ever after,” at least not yet. This is the first book in a series—remember? ;P

That said, I kind of loved it. I thought it was a clever portrayal. None of the language got overtly sci-fi, which can happen in sci-fi; trust me. There was a nice balance. I even like how Meyer breaks the story up into 4 different parts. The action in the book is amazing and imaginable. I was there. I could see everything, even the new technology described, perfectly.

Marissa Meyer, I’d say you’ve gotten our attention. I’ll be awaiting the next publication. ;)

Rating?

   

  

Fiction or Literature?

85% Fiction, 15% Literature

Good or Bad?

95% Good

This book, sci-fi, obviously may not be a book for everyone. I am a fan of sci-fi, and, if you are, I suggest you pick it up and give it a whirl. I think the books to come definitely promise even better. This book was fun!

Till next time,

Alex

A Big Fat "Sorry for Being Lazy During the Holidays!"

Hello, readers!

Yes, I know, I've been bad. This was supposed to be a weekly blog, and well, I haven't posted a review in over a month. *Gasp* Yes, it's true. HOWEVER, no more will it happen. My New Years resolution is for it to not happen. Fear not, also, though I haven't reviewed, I've been reading, reading, reading, and I've a lot to talk about. The next postings, if you're interested, will be on:

Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices Series
Alley Carter's Gallagher Girls Series
Lesley Livingston's Wonderous Strange
Douglas Rees' The Juliet Spell
Jackson Pearce's As You Wish
Allie Condie's Matched
Marissa Meyer's Cinder
Aprilynne Pike's Wings
Moira Young's Blood Red Road
Kiersten White's Paranormalcy
Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers Series
Shannon Hale's Goose Girl

See... I have been reading. :)

Promising a next time,
Alex