The Maze Runner by James Dashner

A guest review from Teen Room Staff Brandon!

The Maze Runner offers little background knowledge at the beginning of the book. The reader, as well as the main character, Thomas, is thrust into a strange environment with no knowledge of Thomas’s former life. The book begins with Thomas waking up disoriented in an enclosed space known as the Glade. He soon meets the local populace, a group of boys ranging in age from around thirteen to seventeen. They call themselves the Gladers. Like Thomas, none of them remember anything from their lives before the Glade.

Slowly, Thomas learns about the Glade and the maze that surrounds it. The Gladers have been searching for two years for an exit, and still haven’t found one. Of course, their progress is hindered due to the fact that the maze is prowled by the deadly Grievers, monstrous mutations made of metal and flesh that kill anything in their path.

The next day, a new phenomenon occurs in the Glade. A girl arrives, via the same route all the boys have arrived. This is tremendous because there has never been a girl in the Glade. Ever. Thomas feels a strange connection to the girl, but keeps this knowledge to himself. That night, two of the Gladers, Minho and Alby, are trapped outside the walls which protect the Gladers from the Grievers at night. Thomas tries to rescue them but is also trapped outside the walls. Since nobody has ever survived a night in the maze, prospects are looking slim. But through some miraculous feat, they manage to survive, and Thomas then leads a crusade to escape the maze with the help of the girl, Theresa.

The Maze Runner is an exciting book from front cover to back. Just when the reader thinks the action is slowing down a little, Dashner incorporates some interesting twist. This book certainly keeps the reader guessing. For me personally, it was a bit too sci-fi for my taste, but it came highly recommended from my good friend Melissa. :)

--Brandon


P.S. from Melissa: watch for the next book in this trilogy in October 2010!

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Peak by Roland Smith

Peak has just been caught scaling a skyscraper, and faces criminal charges. Instead of a trial and a serious punishment, the judge agrees to release Peak into his absentee father’s care with the promise that Peak will be out of the country and therefore out of the newspapers. Peak soon realizes that his father’s motives might not be with his best interests in mind. His father owns and operates a mountain climbing excursion company, and he wants Peak to make history for him by being the youngest climber to summit Everest—a dangerous and sometimes deadly climb for an experienced adult climber. Will Peak make it to the top? And does he really want to?

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Stitches by David Small

A guest review from Teen Room Staff Cat!

David Small was just a boy when he woke up from a seemingly harmless operation to find he could no longer talk. The lump on his neck that he thought was a cyst was actually a tumor, though he didn’t find this out for two weeks after he had his surgery. Stitches tells the story of this boy. His life has many morbid facets, and each facet is shown in clarity. This autobiographical work seems to be a story from made up in a dark world, but this really is David Small’s life, and he manages to come out of this life brilliantly.

I loved this book. It had a relatively happy ending which is always a plus, and it’s a graphic novel, which I really liked. It is a tiny bit graphic, so be prepared if you want to read it.

--Cat

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