Thomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing but his own name. He emerges into a world of about 60 teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies from below. A new boy arrives every 30 days. The original group has been in "the glade" for two years, trying to find a way to escape through a maze that surrounds their living space. They have begun to give up hope. Then a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change.

This book was recommended to me by an employee at Borders who saw me purchasing The Hunger Games trilogy. It sounded interesting, so I bought it while I was there.

This book is definitely not as engaging as The Hunger Games, and the characters aren't as fleshed out as they could have been, which would have made most of them a hell of a lot more interesting. I had a hard time getting into the story at first, but it eventually picked up and I kept reading to see what happened. Not a bad book, but not a great book either, but knowing how this one ended really has me itching to read the sequel to see what's going to happen next.

Taking to meetup, in the hopes a fellow Bookcrosser will want to read this one.

9 stars: Super, couldn't put it down. The first book in a dystopian trilogy, it has a feel like The Hunger Games, with presumably the same target audience.

Thomas wakes up, stripped of all memories. He is in a glade, a large expanse surrounded by stone walls. No one else knows how or why they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning, for two years, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them opened. Every night, for just as long, they're closed tight. The maze itself shifts each day. The "Grievers", horrific mechanical creatures, roam at night.

The day after Thomas' arrival, the first ever girl arrives. She is in a coma, yet can communicate telepathically with Thomas. She triggers" The Ending".

Now the walls protecting them from the Grievers don't shut. The Runners (Thomas, Minho, and others) try to solve the maze, but feel (correctly) that there is no route out. Thomas willingly goes through "The Changing"-- whereas he will remember snippets of his past life, but if the others are any indication, he will be physically and mentally scarred. And how does he know Teresa? How can they communicate with each other? The maze itself is a code, telling them what to do next. What does WICKED want from the Gladers? They crack the code, and...... well, you need to wait for Book 2.

Some die. Good guys, not just bad guys.

I loved this book, devouring it very quickly. the 9 star rating is because the descriptor fits best---I really couldn't put this book down. Its not the best written book out there, but the plot is inventive and had me constantly guessing. I got the second book in the series, prior to even having finished the first, so I could go seamless into it.

Saving for Secretariat.

Picked up from Pokpok today at our meetup at the Hunger Games movie. Look forward to it.

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This was a book that definitely didn't live up to the recommendations I've been hearing for the last couple of years. The premise of the book is excellent -- execution not so much. First, it was the most predictable book think I've ever read. I knew well in advance absolutely everything that was going to happen. Also, I never cared whether Thomas, our protagonist, or Theresa, lived or died. That alone would have made me give up on the book at the half way point. I only continued because I was reading it for a book club and because so many others had recommended it. I won't bother with the next two in the series.

received from EllyMae58 at bc meetup today