Thomas awakens in a lift on his way into 'The Glade' where a group of boys have been placed with no memories of their previous lives. Outside of the Glade there is a maze, which the 'runners' try to find an exit from. The maze is filled with creatures named 'grievers' after dark when the walls close. When a girl, the first girl, arrives in the lift, things in the Glade start to change and the Gladers realise they need to find a way out… and fast.

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend the Maze Runner series. The book is very plot driven, and the plot is the only good thing about it. It's a good idea, but it isn't written well. You learn there have been sun flares which have scorched the earth, but also there is a deadly virus ravaging the remaining population which was accidentally released by the government, and all I could think was PICK ONE.

The main character Thomas isn't interesting at all; he's very one dimensional and you just cannot relate to him at all. The main girl, Teresa, you expect to be a strong confident girl but she ended up being boring, annoying and just frustrating. The telepathy between the two characters is pointless; it serves no purpose at all other than causing other people to become suspicious of them. I wanted more of the character Newt; he came across as a more appealing character than Thomas and by the end of the series seemed to have gone through more and developed more from that.

The name of the 'evil' organisation is WICKED. No more needs to be said really. It's not exactly subtle or at all inventive.

The words Dashner have the boys create are typical of young boys, but are inconsistently used and you never really learnt what all of them mean. I like when authors have their own curses, "Seven hells!", "Rocks!", "By the angel!" – they make you want to use them yourself in everyday life. But "shuck face" and "clunk" just don't appeal.

Overall, I'd give the Maze Runner series 1 star. The books just don't improve as they go on. I think it has promise to be made into something good as they're making a film of it, but I just couldn't wait to be finished with it so I could read something else. I couldn't get into it at all.

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