Book Review | The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Release Date: October 6th 2009
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 374
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Summary

"When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone. He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade - a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there - or what's happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything - even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrols its corridors, to find out."

My Thoughts

This book absolutely blew me away! I literally could not put it down when reading, each chapter ending so that you could do nothing but continue on. I found it so refreshing to read a book after so long where I just couldn't predict what would happen next.

The plot was interesting and moved at excellent pace so there were never any times when I was loosing interest. I found the world building to be really well executed in this novel, each aspect of the glade and maze was constructed in such a way that it felt real, that this place could really exist. The main issue I tend to find with some dystopian novels is the lack of presence the world has, most tend to go with 'huge mushroom cloud explosion and now the world is in tatters' type explanation and then because of this don't necessarily give great descriptions of the surroundings, instead just assuming you think of ruined lands.

I really like the main character Thomas, especially the way that he interacted with the others in the novel. It was very realistic in the beginning with how much questions he was asking and his reactions to being ignored. Also with this aspect I liked that a lot of information was withheld from the reader. It made the story more intense as piece by piece the mystery of the maze unfolded keeping with great pace and suspense. The other characters in the book really all had great conversations, it was the right amount of sarcasm, wit and friendship that really tied them all together. You really experienced a great dynamic within the group and I think that was especially well done by not going overboard with the introduction of characters.

The only 'flaw' I could give this book, and I say that loosely, was the use of third person narrative. Personally I think that in certain cases, such as Harry Potter, it works well as the author can switch points of view to reveal more to the reader, but in the Maze Runner I just didn't think it was necessary. At first it bothered me slightly as I'm not so used to reading in that narrative but after a couple of chapters I forgot about it. (As I said VERY minor 'flaw')

Overall I thought this book was amazing and I would totally recommend it to most people who enjoy anything young adult dystopian, SciFi or Fantasy (or all of them!). I also think this would be a great book for males, especially as it has the uniqueness of having a pretty much all male set of characters. (I say this as I know many boys/men can be put off the YA genre as a lot of the books are geared towards females).

Rating

Book Review | Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Release Date: January 1st 2011
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Genre: Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 386
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Summary
"Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. 

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them. 

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. 

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. 

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. 

A world at stake. 
A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?"

My Thoughts

I loved this book so much! I'd heard a lot of people rave on about it which made me worry that I held it with to high expectations, but they were all met and surpassed. This book is sheer genius, it incorporates a kind of vintagey sci-fi feel that you would expect from the 'virtual reality' type story but sets it in the not so distant future. For one I found that the futuristic elements are featured in a realised way that fits with the current state of the books world. There are not 'flying hover boards' or other things that seem to always be lumped in with anything to do with the 'future', the only really stereotypical futuristic element is the virtual reality game 'the Oasis' but its shown in a way that it isn't so successful because of the progression of the current world but because all of the decay it has experienced  The game offers a world where people can escape their current environment and become literally anyone or anything they want. This is one of the main things that really drew me into the book, the realistic world building that Cline does is just phenomenal, it's really depicting what could really happen with the world as more and more people rely on the internet as an 'escape'.

The plot of the book I felt moved along at a really good pace, I liked how there were gaps of time that passed between the finding of the keys rather than they all be found at once and it just be one huge race to the finish. The events that happened were a lot more intense than I was anticipating but I really enjoyed that as there were moments that you were caught by surprise. Also like pretty much every other person who seems to have read this book I ADORED all of the referencing (mainly 80's), and how well it all connected together into the plot. I've read a few review where people found this distracting and a lot of the references seemed to be just shoved in to prove a point, although I can understand why people may think this I don't really agree as sometimes the way that things were mentioned it was in a very fact based way and this in my opinion is because this is the type of way our main character Wade thinks.

Although there are many other characters featured in the book, Wade is the only one that we truly get the chance to know. I found his character to be really engaging, even though I'm never that drawn to male leads, I think this is due a lot to the referencing he does and also down to the sheer determination that you feel from him. I like how he grows as a character, as at first he is a little selfish by simply wanting to win to just better his own life (which is also a little understandable due to his circumstances) but when compared to that of Art3mis who say's if she wins she wants to use the money to try to better the world. I really liked Art3mis as a character as I think she helped the changes that we see in Wade.

Overall this is an extermely engaging read and a book that I would definatly go back to in the future!

Rating

Book Review | Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Caitlin Moran
Release Date: September 13th 2012
Publisher: Ebury Press
Genre: Humor, Non Fiction
Pages: 354
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Summary
"In How To Be a Woman, I was limited to a single topic: women. Their hair, their shoes and their crushes on Aslan from The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (which I KNOW to be universal).

‘However! In my new book Moranthology – as the title suggests – I am set free to tackle THE REST OF THE WORLD: Ghostbusters, Twitter, caffeine, panic attacks, Michael Jackson’s memorial service, being a middle-class marijuana addict, Doctor Who, binge-drinking, Downton Abbey, pandas, my own tragically early death, and my repeated failure to get anyone to adopt the nickname I have chosen for myself: ‘Puffin’."

My Thoughts

I knew instantly I'd love this book after reading Caitlin's marvel that was 'How to be a Woman'  last year. This woman is nothing short of HILARIOUS. Honestly I was laughing the whole way through this book! For those not familiar with Caitlin Moran she is a journalist and columnist for the Times newspaper in the UK, and this book which is so aptly named, is an anthology of her best columns from the past few years. (I believe the earliest is from 2009 but don't quote me on that!)

There have been a few negative reviews on this book based on the fact that this is not technically 'new' work (although there are paragraphs added before every article giving a bit of insight into what is to come) but a collection. This for people who are avid followers of her column would understandably come as a bit of a disappointment  however for those who aren't as familiar (myself included) of all of her past work this book is an absolute dream!

There isn't really much I can say on this book except for you must read it! Reading Caitlin's inspires you to want to write, it makes you notice so much more of the world around you and just how crazy it really is. Although I loved 'How to be a Woman' more this book is not far behind as a sheer work of brilliance! 

Rating

Book Review | Looking for Alaska by John Green

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Release Date: March 3rd 2005
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 221
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Summary
"Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.
After. Nothing is ever the same."

My Thoughts

I read this March last year and it was my first experience reading John Green and I'm so glad this is the first one I chose to read! This book is now one of my favourite stand alone books of all time it’s just that good. Firstly John Green's writing style is just incredible, and it’s one of the first times I've enjoyed reading from a male narrator's perspective as I normally sway towards female characters.

Miles, a.k.a. ‘Pudge’, is a highly relatable character I think for both males and females; this is due to his initial 'new comer' status at the start of the novel. The other two ‘main’ characters in the story are the namesake Alaska and also Chip who is nicknamed ‘The Colonel’. Alaska is probably my favourite character of the novel, I love how carefree she is initially but as her character is developed her vulnerability really comes through. Her relationship with Pudge is for once I find in a contemporary book extremely realistic, it’s not just ‘insta-love’ but an actual development of feelings and the struggles of getting together.  The Colonel is a character that I didn’t think I would like at first as he seemed quite obnoxious and was a little bit mean but I really started to warm to him likewise as he seemed to start to warm to Pudge. The other characters in the book weren’t all as prominent as the main three but fit well into the flow of the book and also provided a lot of the comic relief.

As the titles of each chapter are named as a decreasing number of days ‘before’ and then near the end of the book, increasing number of days ‘after’, it’s quite clear initially that it is a countdown to an event, and by reading of the synopsis its quite a life changing moment. I really liked this aspect as I thought it was a unique twist on chapter titles, and also when reading it gives you an anxious feeling the lower the chapter numbers become as you know the big event is coming.

The plot was well paced and you continually wanted to read on, I think this is due to the skipping of time periods that highlighted the important parts of the characters life rather than a ‘day-to-day’ style.

I won’t delve much into the ‘after’ portion of the novel as I don’t want to include spoilers but the ending was probably my favourite part of the book. The last lines had my eyes watering with that kind of happy-sadness, as if I was myself going through the emotions of Pudge. 

Rating

This book will make you laugh, cry and inspire you. It is nothing if not memorable, a book you cannot forget