January 1, 2015 Maze
The Maze Runner is wicked. Wicked stands for World in Catastrophe: Kill Zone Experiment Department. The book is by James Dasher, which is ironic since the runners are the champions of the book. Anyway, the 2009 novel follows Thomas, who is dropped off in the middle of a maze with no memory. It is an interesting premise, but all too familiar.
Watching the 2014 movie last night, I couldn’t help but think of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry had to solve the maze that was magically created for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It was his 3rd and last task to win the Goblet of Fire. The maze moved on its own, which made it particularly difficult. In the book they also had to deal with Blast Ended Skrewts, which bare a resemblance to the Grievers in The Maze Runner. It is like Dasher plucked out his favorite part of Goblet of Fire and plunked it down in the middle of The Hunger Games. And since there is only one girl in the lot, it takes on a Lord of the Flies quality as well.
The book and the movie were both pretty popular. I’ve not read the book yet, but the movie was entertaining enough. If Dasher can take the ideas and make them his own, it will be a worthy series. If he continues to recycle old material, then I will quickly lose interest.
