WHEW! I survived Monday. How about you? Make it through un-harmed? Mondays are my longest days at school, but it’s nice that the worst day is over early! But don’t worry, I had this great new picture of Molly (my brother and sister-in-law’s puppy) to get me through the day:
She says hello.
So, remember how I confessed this weekend that I’m addicted to froyo? Well… There’s another thing I’ve become re-addicted to:
READING!!!!
For the first three semesters of law school I rarely read a book just for fun! I always had so much reading to do for class that I just did not have the time! Weirdly, this semester I ended up taking 5 classes which require very little reading! Out of the 5, 2 classes require ZERO reading, 1 class requires some writing but no reading, 1 class meets only once a week, and then my last class requires normal reading. To translate to English: I have about 1/4th the amount of reading that I did the past three semesters, which ROCKS and means I have more time to devote to reading for fun!
A lot of people say they don’t have time read, but honestly, if you love it then you’ll make time! I read mostly on the weekends, on the bus to and from school, or for about 20-30 minutes before I go to bed. Plus, spring break helped me bust through several books. That’s what happens when you fly so much!
Recently, I’ve been getting into a serious dystopia trend. Honestly, I had no idea what a dystopia novel was until I read a post by Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point about her favorite dystopia novels. Since then, I’ve read Brave New World, The Hunger Games Series, The Maze Runner Series, and Divergent by Veronica Roth. Although I didn’t enjoy Brave New World, I LOVED the Hunger Games series (as most people do) and all the other novels I’ve read so far. Today I thought I’d review the Maze Runner series!
(source)
I started reading Maze Runner because it seems to be recommended quite often if you’re a fan of the Hunger Games. I figured I might as well give it a shot! The series, by James Dashner, follows one boy, Thomas, through his very confusing journey. The story begins when he arrives in a “maze” as the new kid (they get a new kid each month) with absolutely no memory of his past. In the center of the maze live dozens of boys who’ve been there for 2 years and creating their own working society. Each morning the doors out to the surrounding maze open and some of the boys race through the maze trying to find an exit or a pattern to the madness. Every night the doors close because inside the maze are dangerous creatures, so you don’t want to get caught inside.
The day after Thomas arrives their whole system is shaken up by the arrival of a girl and many other events. The first book follows Thomas and the boys as they try desperately to find a way out of the maze. I really enjoyed the book because it was quite a mystery to solve. I never anticipated what was going to happen next, it was always a surprise! One difference from the Hunger Games, however, is that there is not the same emotional attachment to the characters. Dashner seems to focus more on the mystery and making it all come together, rather than the characters themselves.
The next two books follow the boys on their adventures and many other trials that they are put through, which turn out to be for an important societal purpose. The books are really gripping, I finished all three as quickly as I could get my hands on them and really enjoyed reading them. Although, as with the Hunger Games, the first was definitely my favorite!
If you’re a Hunger Games fan, or a distopia fan, I definitely recommend giving this series a try!
AND, while researching this blog post, I came across a NEW book in the series, which is the prequel to Maze Runner:
Unfortunately, it’s not available until August 14th! WHAT A TEASE! Oh well. I do love series books though, because the story never ends!
Are you a fan of distopias?
Do you love series?
I always have: Boxcar Children, Babysitter’s Club, Redwall, Harry Potter, Shopaholic, several other girly beach-read series…