Confused and exhausted, Thomas, who is a 16-year-old boy, wakes up in an elevator with no memories. Within moments of his arrival in the elevator, Thomas  finds himself in the Glade, a self-sustaining community surrounded by a constantly changing, deadly maze. A week after Thomas arrives, the first girl to ever enter the Glade arrives and prophesizes a shocking event. James Dashner’s novel follows the odyssey of Thomas and his comrades’ desperate attempt to escape from the Glade.

With so many dystopian novels on the rise, at a glance, “The Maze Runner” may seem like just another one of these popular stories. However, this novel stands out from other books of its genre due to its focus on group loyalty.

Where “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent” highlight obvious divisions within their respective dystopias, “The Maze Runner” emphasizes the idea that everyone in the Glade sticks together. Because of Dashner’s choice to focus on the community aspect of his dystopia, the characters in “The Maze Runner” are well-developed. Dashner’s characters range from hot-headed to awkward. Some readers may find that the characters they fell in love with are not as lovable as they had once thought.

Although I had trouble understanding the plot at the beginning of the book, I realized that my confusion paralleled Thomas’s feelings about being thrown into an unknown world. Because of this, I was able to empathize with Thomas. The story quickly picks up the pace and readers will find themselves engaged in the twists and turns of the Glade.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed “The Maze Runner” because of its realistic characters and suspenseful storyline. The book is the first of a trilogy and is being made into a movie by 20th Century Fox. It is scheduled to be released Sept. 19, 2014. Until then, I suggest getting lost in this intense maze of a novel.