Sometimes you read a book and you think ‘that would make a pretty good film’, other times you read a book and think ‘that was designed as movie script’, this is the latter. In fact, The Maze Runner pretty much screams ‘Film me, FILM ME!’ from every page. In fact, the big screen adaptation of fist book in the series is due to hit cinemas in early 2014.
Now if my opening critique sounds a bit harsh can I ameliorate it by saying that the opening book of the Maze Runner trilogy is actually rather good? Trilogy? Oh yes, film makers love trilogies. The strapline for the book reads ‘A must for fans of The Hunger Games’ and Dashner has written a dystopian action novel that carries more than an echo of The Hunger Games trials.
Central character Tommy wakes up in an ascending lift, he has no memories of his former life or family, when the lift doors open he meets his new family, The Gladers, and sees his new home, a small sanctuary within a shifting maze populated by bio-mechanical monstrosities. With the initial set-up in place, Dashner drip feeds the readers with information, adding small revelations step by step as the story unfolds.
Tommy gradually learns the rules of his new home and its inmates where monotonous survival is the rule but the best and bravest test themselves each day in the unpredictable and fluctuating Maze. Who are the teenage boys? Why are they here? Who governs the Maze? Dashner keeps the big elements of his plot nicely hidden while allowing enough information out to keep the story rattling along, which it does at a fairly frenetic, action-filled pace.
The Maze Runner reads well, it is pretty much all action and non-stop excitement. Would it make a great film? Well you’ll have to wait for director Wes Ball’s version to hit the screens.
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: 4th August 2011
No Comments