The Maze Runner is a 2009 dystopian novel by American author James Dashner. It takes place in a world suffering from a coronal mass ejection and whose surviving civilians fight to avoid an apocalyptic illness called the Flare. It is written from the perspective of Thomas, a 16-year-old boy who wakes up with no memories inside an artificially produced maze but who is also the key to his friends’ salvation. An organization called WICKED controls the world politically and seeks a cure to the Flare and uses the youngest generation of civilians who have been found to be immune as test subjects.
The book received critical acclaim from major reviewers and authors. It won the All Library Association Young Adult Library Services Association Best Fiction for Young Adults Book award in 2011,[3] is a #1 NYT Bestselling series and was on the #1 NYT Bestseller list for 148 weeks,[4] and a Kirkus Reviews Teen Book of the Year. Moreover, The Maze Runner is a popular pick of educators teaching middle-age readers in schools.
The novel was published in 2009 by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House with cover art by Philip Straub. The Maze Runner is the first novel in The Maze Runner series, followed by The Scorch Trials (2010), and The Death Cure (2011). A film adaptation, directed by Wes Ball, was released in 2014 by 20th Century Fox and stars Dylan O’Brien as Thomas.
