The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Thomas wakes up in a metal box without any memories of his past and dozens of eyes peering down at him from above. He has been sent to The Glade, a large piece of ground at the center of an ever-changing maze. The other boys, Gladers, have been trying to solve The Maze for two years but no one has found a way out and no one caught in The Maze after dark has survived the night. In a novel that is part “Lord of the Flies,” part “Hunger Games,” and part “Ender’s Game,” there is an abundance of danger and action but little explanation of why I should care. Most of the boys, with the exception of the protagonist, felt interchangeable. When you have characters that do not have any backstories there needs to be some other mechanism or plot point that draws me into the lives of at least a few of them.  Mr. Dashner has definitely created a page-turner. I was anxious to find out if the boys could find a way out of The Maze but all the life-threatening action fell a little flat because I wasn’t invested enough to care if or when someone died.