When he regained his consciousness, he was standing in a shaking cabin amid metal scraping sounds. It was an elevator cabin and it was going up. Where to? Where from? When? Why? Questions that were left unanswered because there was only one thing in his mind. His name: Thomas! And that was all. A name, along with some scattered images that he could not relate. Empty space occupied his memory. Until, at some point, the elevator’s motion stopped and…
A loud clank rang out above him and he sucked in a startled breath as he looked up. A straight line of light appeared across the ceiling of the room, and Thomas watched as it expanded. A heavy grating sound revealed double sliding doors being forced open. After so long in darkness, the light stabbed his eyes; he looked away,covering his face with both hands.
He heard noises above—voices—and fear squeezed his chest.
…these were the voices of other teen boys, who had the same experience with the lift, and who were now trapped in Glade. Exactly the same place Thomas is now.
What is the Glade? It is a fictional place coined by the imagination of the American writer James Dashner, a place were the heroes of the book “the Maze Runner” live. This book was published in Greece in March 2010 by Platypus Publications, translated by Andreas Miaoulis.
But, where were we? Oh, yes! We were when Thomas came into the Glade…
They stood in a vast courtyard several times the size of a football field, surrounded by four enormous walls made of gray stone and covered in spots with thick ivy. The walls had to be hundreds of feet high and formed a perfect square around them, each side split in the exact middle by an opening as tall as the walls themselves that, from what Thomas could see, led to passages and long corridors beyond.
Glade is a creepy place! Place of the Skull. It makes your heart beat at rates way above normal. And the plot, builds up the agony and the anxiety, from the first page till the last. An undiminished agony of more than 500 pages!
The plot of this young adult novel? What should I write first? The plot is incredible and very interesting! You cannot imagine or even speculate, not what will happen in the next chapter, but not even what will happen few lines later! The strong points of the plot are spread throughout the book so skillfully that bring much excitement to the reader. And the pictures that the author creates in your mind, are so vivid that the adrenaline “hits red”!
The very talented author James Dashner introduces Glade gradually. Glade is the community and the small society that those trapped teens have formed and organized. He created an entire mythical world “tickling” your thoughts even days after you have finished reading the book.
Tip of the day: begin reading “The Maze Runner” only if the next day you don’t have to go to work or to school. You will steal many hours – or should I say all – of your night sleep, since it will be impossible to let this book out of your hands!
Concluding this presentation, let me tell you what got my attention, even before I started reading “the Maze Runner”. Many times an author dedicates his book to someone important in his life. There, on the first pages I saw one of the most tender dedications I have ever read “To Lynette. This book was a three-year journey, and you never doubted.”
Read it!
A movie based on “Maze Runner” will be released on September 2014. The story continues on the second book titled Scorched Trials.
The synopsis at the back of the book:
If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Everything is going to change.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.