What The Maze Runner was: 
 - Fast-paced 
 - Action-packed 
 - Intriguing 
 What it was not: 
 - Character-driven 
 - Unique 
 - Believable 
 I had a good time reading this. I thought it was an interesting concept, it was written in such a way that I wanted to keep reading, and I was so curious about what was going on that I was genuinely engaged in the plot. 
 However, there are a few things I had a problem with. First of all, the foreshadowing in this book is so obvious I asked myself if it was really a YA novel or if it was written for the middle school crowd. Second of all, I felt no emotional tie to any of the characters. When you have a protagonist like Thomas, who is sharing every feeling and thought with the reader, you kind of feel connected to them by default. But I never did. 
 I always felt like an outsider looking in when it should have been the other way around. Even when it all went to hell (view spoiler)[and kids starting dying left and right (hide spoiler)], I still didn't feel what I should have felt: distraught, saddened, etc. And I feel that's what could have taken this book to the next level. When I think of The Hunger Games or even Unwind I think of how emotionally invested I was in those characters, how horrified I was at their predicament, and how I really wished they would kick some serious ass. 
 There's also a believability factor that really made this difficult for me to truly enjoy. We're supposed to believe that (view spoiler)[Thomas invented the game along with Teresa (hide spoiler)], that somehow solutions appear out of nowhere in his mind, even though his memory has been erased, and worst of all, that The Maze is (view spoiler)[brought down by pushing a BUTTON. What is this, Lost? (hide spoiler)] I felt the author threw a girl into the mix just to tie in a romantic interest, and instead of taking the opportunity to actually create a fascinating character, he chokes. I also couldn't get over one character's death: (view spoiler)[Chuck's (hide spoiler)]. I felt it was unnecessary and that Dashner was grasping at straws trying to make us finally care or be truly horrified. It didn't work. 
 That said, I will be reading the next one. The ending was a great lead up to the next book although anyone who was paying attention while reading could already guess what would happen next. But I felt like I was watching a great action movie while reading it, and that's always a nice change. I'm curious enough to see what happens next, and I can't say that for every book I read.