The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Imagine it’s your first waking moment, total blackness, strange sounds, almost no memory, hoping you’re in a nightmare, but unable to wake up. The Maze Runner is the story of Thomas who wakes up in a metal box being lowered into a strange community of teenage boys. This community is called “The Glade.” What is it? Well the boys don’t really know, all they know is they’ve been there for a long time, they don’t remember anything about their previous lives except their first names and snatches that they can’t make sense of, and they are in the middle of a maze that seems unsolvable. Each boy has his own job in The Glade, supplies are sent weekly through the metal box. The maze is full of gruesome beasts called reavers that are half animal, half machine and more terrifying than any nightmare any of the boys could conjure.

The Maze Runner is a gruesome book, filled with fighting, and trying to survive. It’s a great boy book and is the first in a planned trilogy. It took me a little while to get into it but it did finally grab my attention. I think my problem was that I couldn’t imagine anyone being so cruel and doing this on purpose to the boys. This one has lots of death, blood and gore, and a cliffhanger end. It will leave fans chomping at the bit for the next in the series. I give this one a 3.5.

Kind words

It's great when people say thank you for the little things you do. It's even better when people realize how important your job is and publicize it. One of my favorite authors did this recently in her blog. Her name is Libba Bray and she's an award winning young adult author. You can read her article here: Libraries are the Torch of the World I think I like her even more now. So thank you for the praise to libraries and librarians Libba.

Restoring Harmony by Joëlle Anthony

I loved Restoring Harmony! Restoring Harmony had great characters, all strong and with their own quirks. Even the bad guys had good qualities that made you like some of them, though you didn't want to admit it. The story was very believable, and a good study of what could be. Molly, the main character goes from Canada to the United States in an attempt to bring her Grandfather home.

The year is 2041, and there is almost no oil. Molly is strong but naive, which is to be expected from a farm girl going to a big city alone. Some of the plot was predictable but there were several twists I didn't see coming, especially at the end. All the characters grew a substantial amount in the story and it was a lot of fun reading about that growth. Molly's music was especially unique to the story. I don't remember another dystopian type book with music, or at least not any with the main character so musically inclined. It really enhanced the story, and made it more real. Ms. Anthony created a historical feel for a futuristic novel, including the music and the market for whiskey, the farming, cobbling, and open markets. This one is a 4 star book!