I've read two books series by James Dashner. I read The Maze Runner Trilogy and The Kill Order (the prequel) and The 13th Reality series. The more I read in both, the more I grew frustrated. I became disappointed by both book series. The worlds and characters he created have a lot of potential to be more developed.
*Warning: Spoiler Alert for both book series Below.*
(You can read my initial thoughts about The Maze Runner trilogy here.)
Dashner has some cool ideas. The worlds he created have a lot of potential; however, I do not like his writing style. Dashner creates a lot of tension and confusion through his pacing and characterization. The action has hardly any rests, and the few present aren't long enough. As a reader, the continuous action drained me. I had a hard time finishing both book series. I wanted to know what happened, but I also just wanted it to be over because I wasn't happy with how he wrote the stories. Concerning his characterization, I often found them inconsistent and unbelievable due to decisions they made and the way they treated other characters.
Maze Runner Trilogy and Prequel
First of all, I do not agree with Dashner's vision of a post-apocalyptic world (The Maze Runner series). Everyone is angry all the time. Even little kindnesses are portrayed in a rough way. The people are rude to each other, even the best of friends. Throughout the series, the characters were all angry and negative (though admittedly some were angrier and more negative than others). I think some people would be so negative, but not everyone.
The characters irrationality is also found in the flawed science that sprouted WICKED and the trials the kids endure. The trials that the kids undergo are meant to measure the way the kids' brains react to different stressors and what makes the immune kids immune to the disease. The trials are reflective of the way the society responded to the disease that overtook this post-apocalyptic world. It's another example of how I don't believe people would react in such a dire situation. Not everyone would react so irrationally. I thus think the science had more potential to be developed, so that the trials, when their purpose is revealed, made more sense.
Though I found the characters unbelievably angry and negative, I still enjoyed that the teens came up with their own jargon. I also liked that Thomas challenged his fellow Gladers to do more, to get outside their comfort zones. I felt like some character development happened with Thomas challenging his fellow Gladers to do more, but I didn't find all the character development throughout the books believable.
My next point of frustration with the Maze Runner Series is what I feel is a lack of consistent characterization. The premise of the characters' drive and decision-making is to find answers, but then Thomas (the main character in the trilogy) along with some of the other characters reject getting their memories back. Also, a scene at the end of The Death Cure illustrates that an obvious lie is being told by the girl Thomas has chosen to trust, and Thomas just accepts it. Apparently he's too tired to fight anymore and accepts to live with a lie. He doesn't challenge it and demand answers which he spent most of the story doing. The girl's lie is one that he doesn't even need to ask for an explanation. It's rather obvious from Thomas' question that if he chose to dwell on the thought for even a second more, he'd know the answer and that she's lying. I found Thomas's character to be the most developed until he started making decisions that weren't in keeping with his character.
To finish my thoughts on Dashner's characterization in the Maze Runner Triology, the characters sacrificed their search for truth to find peace. I agree that life can wear people down, but not to the point that they give up such a fundamental part of themselves- especially kids. Kids love answers. They want to know how and why. I don't think that people don't have to accept a lie to find peace in life. People may let go of personal frustrations and choose to forgive other people to find peace, but they don't choose to live with a lie. Especially not these kids who went through so much abuse and frustration. I think Thomas would've pulled away when he realized she was lying and ended the relationship.
Yeah, I have no angry feelings over this book series at all.
Some final thoughts about The Maze Runner Series:
The feelings of epic-ness I felt when I read The Maze Runner faded during The Scorch Trials. I was left with annoyance. I still wanted to know what happened. I still wanted answers, so I read The Death Cure and The Kill Order. I grew more disappointed as I read. I left each book wanting more, but I found the answers given unsatisfactory. I think The Maze Runner was more developed than the other books. I was relieved to finish The Kill Order and to be done with the whole series. When reading The Kill Order, I remember finding parts of it more believable than other parts of the Maze Runner series.
The 13th Reality
With the 13th Reality series, I think he took too long to develop the story in the first book, The Journal of Curious Letters. Dashner also filled this story with lots of confusion. Crazy, bizarre things are continually happening to Reality (there are 13 known realities and the Realitants spend their time protecting the people of each reality and making sure things are working as they should). To me, Dashner did not follow a logical process to set up the world of the Realitants. Dashner spent a lot of time in book one setting up the story, but the other books are hurried, things happen too quickly to feel like they are part of a cohesive whole. Descriptions were sacrificed to move the story along more quickly. Dashner needed to better balance the speed of the story.
The majority of book one is spent trying to figure out the series of letters that are given to Atticus. The letters are to test possible recruits commitment to becoming a Realitant; however, no one comes and invites these kids to join. The children just receive weird letters. The letters took too long. I became bored waiting for the story to move past the letters and onto something more exciting.
Once Atticus and his friends prove their commitment and solve the riddles, they are winked away to join the Realitants. Once with the Realitants, they are immediately sent into a dangerous situation. No responsible adults would really send children immediately into such a dangerous situation. Plausible adult characters would train their recruits and give them smaller assignments first. Since Dashner set up his story in this manner, the adults are not trustworthy (Master George, the leader of the Realitants, especially).
At the end of the last book, the organization does learn from some of their mistakes. They go public and start to work with governments and other organizations to better protect the Realities.
Also, I was surprised that the kids weren't introduced to more Realitants. The few Realitants that are introduced after the first book are weird and seem a little crazy. I didn't feel very confident that they were responsible for helping protect the Realities.
Also, the action has no natural rests. It's go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go , go, and go some more. Did I get enough "go" in that sentence?
Sato was the character I found most believable. He changes from an angry boy who wants revenge to a young man who is capable of leading an army. Why is he believable? Because his character growth occurs slowly and naturally. He makes conscious decisions that are well explained because his thoughts make sense and are well written. He begins to trust other people and to think about things beside his revenge.
I did enjoy how Dashner played with language. He abbreviated Quantum Physics as QP which, when heard, was "Koopy." That was quite fun and reminiscent of how J.K. Rowling plays with language in the Harry Potter book series.
Ending Thoughts
I've overall been disappointed by everything I've read by James Dashner. As I said before, he has great ideas. His stories are rather original with buckets full of potential. I think he needs to better balance the speed of his story-telling and reconsider his view of people and how people would really react in situations (meaning he should reconsider his characterization).
I recognize that maybe I need to re-read Dashner's work to really understand it. I've had that happen before. When I first read Life of Pi, I knew I missed something; however, I don't feel I missed something fundamental with The Maze Runner series or the 13th Reality series.
Though I have been overall disappointed by his books, I may still read The Eye of Minds because as I said before, Dashner has some pretty cool premises for his stories, but I may just end of disappointed again.
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