The Maze Runner Trilogy

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (2009), 375 pgs.
Imagine waking up in a dark elevator, ascending to God-knows-where, with no memory of how you got there or--more importantly--who you are. That is what happened to Thomas when he entered the Maze. After arriving in "the Box," as the other boys called it, Thomas stepped out into a world entirely new to him, but somehow slightly familiar. The group of guys who greeted him explained that he was the newest member of the Gladers, a group of teenagers who lived in the center of a huge maze with no memory of why they are there. Thomas knew he must have a purpose, and when the newest arrival came up in the Box, that purpose became all the more clear: he must escape the Maze. 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (2010), 360 pgs.
After the dramatic conclusion to The Maze Runner, Thomas and his closest friends find themselves once again trapped in another large test, grasping for ways to survive. This time, the team of teenage boys--and some new friends--are given a mission: cross the desert and receive the cure for a deadly disease to which they have all been exposed. As the friends fight their way across the "Scorch," encountering other desperate, infected people, they begin to see more clearly the terrible state of the world outside of the Maze, and they start to uncover more about the mystery of why they were put there.

The Death Cure by James Dashner (2011), 325 pgs.
In this third and final installment of The Maze Runner series, Thomas faces all that has happened. He must finally confront the corporation which has been running experiments on him and his friends in the name of scientific discovery. He must determine what his role will be going forward, and how he will save his friends--those who are still alive--and the rest of society. It all comes down to Thomas, and after the trials he has been put through, he better be ready.

This series very much runs in the same vein as other YA dystopian novels-turned-movies from the early 2010s like Hunger Games and Divergent, but beyond similarities in terms of setting and overall themes, The Maze Runner books are nowhere near as good as those other genre legends. The first book is the strongest, with the most interesting and well put-together plot, but after that the series loses focus and wanders in different directions, seemingly without a point or destination in sight. The characters and their relationships are pretty shallowly written. The main character especially is also reallllyyy annoying in my opinion. Dylan O'Brien plays him much more likeable in the movies than he is written. I was not a big fan of this series on my re-reading, but the first one is still a fun pick if you're craving a nostalgia read from that era of YA dystopia (although you would be much better off just reading The Hunger Games).

Iron Widow

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (2021) 394 pages

This is the beginning of a relatively new series. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Rong Fu on Libby. Part Mighty Morphin Power Rangers kaiju adventure and part feminist revenge tale. The story is set in the future, but cultural values and some characters were pulled from Chinese history, according to the author. This leans more toward fantasy than science fiction with Chi energy powering soldiers' armor and the mecha Chrysalises like the vermilion bird pictured on the cover. Zetian is a powerful teen pilot who gains the nickname the Iron Widow. She is unstoppable in fighting the misogyny in her culture in addition to the alien insectoid "invaders" that the government sends the soldiers to eliminate.
 

The Q

 The Q by Amy Tintera, 352 pages

You're probably thinking--why in the world would I want to read a novel about a horrible pandemic right after a horrible pandemic? Well, I love dystopian science fiction, so that doesn't bother me. However, if you do not want to read about people getting sick and dying, skip this one for now!

This young adult novel takes place in what used to be Austin, TX. It is now known only as "The Q," the quarantine zone where a horrible virus first started spreading, and the United States reacted by walling everyone in the city inside. No one can leave, and no one can enter. The citizens inside who survived the virus have limited immunity, but most of them stay alive due to artificial organs. The main characters are Maisie Rojas, a daughter of the family who controls the South Q, and Lennon Pierce, the son of the Democratic nominee for president. He is kidnapped and dropped into the middle of the quarantine zone at the beginning of the book, and Maisie is tasked with helping him cross the North and escape through the only exit.

This novel was fast-paced, sometimes violent, and blessed with two likable main characters. I especially liked Maisie and her fiery personality. The world they inhabit is not black-and-white, but there is always a reason behind their actions. I'm also a big fan of banter in my young adult novels, and this one had some great moments. I actually would have liked for it to be longer, because I wanted to know more about this place and these characters, but the ending was satisfying. If you are a fan of young adult dystopia, then give this title a chance!

Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu

Legend (Legend #1)
by Marie Lu, 305 pages

I think this book is better suited for a different reader. It is a real-written book with a plot that is relevant to our current society. The book follows two characters: June, who was born into wealth and privilege, and Day, who was born in the slums and is now considered the most dangerous terrorist in the country. The Republic tests children at the age of 10, the results of which dictate their path in life. June, who had a perfect score, believes in the system. Day, however, truly knows what happens to the poor children and those who do not score well.

June's entire worldview is thrown into chaos as soon as she meets Day. Each new question she asks uncovers a new layer of conspiracies. She is going to eventually have to choose a side - either the safety of the Republic, or the truth of the rebellion.

Anyone who loves dystopias, conspiracies, or the power of ordinary people to change society will like this book.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, 374 pages.

Wade lives in a trailer in the "stacks," sort of a homemade, multilevel, trailer park in Oklahoma City, with his aunt, her boyfriend, and two other families. It may sound crowded, but it's a double-wide trailer and Wade has a space in the laundry room. Actually, Wade spends as little time in the trailer as possible. He has his own hideout in a partially crushed van, and he spends most of his time online in the OASIS, a virtual world created by the late James Halliday. Halliday left a quest behind when he died, and every gamer in the world is looking for clues, and everybody in this decaying, dystopian future world is watching. Wade, as his avatar Parzival, uncovers the location of the copper key, and together with his friend Aetch, famed gunter (short for Egg-hunter) Art3mis, and two "brothers" from Japan, he races to find the rest of the clues, keys, and gates before the evil corporate "sixers." I read this several years ago, and then recently watched the movie. I listened to the downloadable audio this time partly because it was available and because the movie was pretty good. I liked the '80s details of the book better than those in the movie. A fun read. More of a YA read than I remembered.

Battle Royale

Battle Royale by Koushin Takami  617 pp.

Before there was The Hunger Games this Japanese author gave us Battle Royale. The premise of both stories is the same: in a dystopian society young people battle to the death until just one survives. In this case the teens from a junior high school are sent off on a "school trip" which turns out to be the government sponsored death match. The students are given one of a variety of weapons, a small amount of food and water, a "security" collar that can be detonated, and then released on an island to fight each other. Some form groups to provide themselves protection while others go it alone. The groups shift and change and sometimes end up destroying themselves. Some of the students evoke sympathy, others use this opportunity to ruthlessly demonstrate their anger and frustration against their classmates. It's not a bad book, just overlong.

Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, 391 pages

In this sequel to The Hunger Games, Katniss finds herself readjusting to life outside the arena — struggling to sort out her feelings for Gale and Peeta, struggling with survivor's guilt, struggling to protect her family and friends from the government (which saw her final moves in the arena as an act of rebellion). In short, she's struggling. And guess what? It's not going to get any easier. This book ends on a cliffhanger, leading directly into Mockingjay, so I'll shortly be (re)reading that one too. These books are so good and so gripping.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 374 pages

In this dystopian blockbuster of a novel, North America is now Panem, separated into 12 highly controlled districts and the Capital, which controls them. Each year, two teenagers are plucked from each district and forced to fight in the Hunger Games to the death until only one remains. This year, it's Katniss Everdeen, a girl with a rebellious streak, who finds herself in the arena, and the viewers of this year's Hunger Games will see things they've never seen before.

I've read this book several times before, and it seems the cynicism and social commentary get sharper each time. An excellent novel, though not particularly a cheery one.

Spill Zone

Spill Zone / Scott Westerfeld & Alex Puvilland, 211 pages

Years after the "event" marred the city and made it uninhabitable, Addison is left to care for her little sister Lexa who has not spoken since the incident.  To make money, Addison sells photos from the spill zone, a dangerous but lucrative activity.  When an insistent collector requests a special mission, Addison breaks her own rules of survival to go for the big payoff.  This first part of the series ends with things going a little out of what at home but with Lexa finding her voice.  Interesting art and an active plot line make this something you will read in one sitting.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 374 pages.

This teen dystopian novel is almost old enough (7 years now) to be called a classic. Katniss Everdeen has gone on to two other books and three movies since this first came out in 2008. My sons and I started listening to this on a drive to Chicago this summer. We didn't finish on that trip and I ended up listening to the book on the way back and forth to work. If you don't know the story, twelve regions of what used to be the United States must send one boy and one girl to the Capitol each year as a tribute. These twenty-four youngsters must compete in the games which give the book and the series (and the series of movies) their title. It's not a nice competition.
The book is worth a read, provided the reader is not squeamish. There is death and despair aplenty in these pages, so younger readers beware. But given that these were all huge bestsellers and enormous hits on the screen, you knew all this already.
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Starters, by Lissa Price

Starters, by Lissa Price 336 pgs.

During the Spore Wars, genocide spores killed every person between twenty and sixty years of age, thus reducing the population to Starters and Enders, those who were once most vulnerable. Teen Callie, the main character, and her younger brother Tyler have no living grandparents or any other family older than sixty to claim them.  Callie and the Starters like her live as fugitives, squatting in a ruined building, hiding out from the marshals. In order to make some money to care for her sickly brother, Callie makes a difficult decision to sell herself to company called Prime Destinations that rents the bodies of young people to the elderly/Enders who then can take full control of the teen’s body to enjoy doing things that a young, healthy person would be able to do.

The middle of the book fell a little flat and became predictable.  Happily some unexpected plot twists resurrected the suspense of the story and brought it to an interesting ending.

YA Gateway Award Nominee 2014-2015

Coda by Emma Trevayne 309 pages 9780762447282

In this dystopian novel, music is used to control the masses. Original music is strictly forbidden.Anthem starts an underground band even though he knows that punishment will be severe if they are captured.Since he is the de facto head of his family (his father has serious medical and mental problems; mother was executed years ago), it is up to him to care for his younger siblings. He has a new girlfriend, but is afraid to trust her when he finds out her true identity. Her parents are ruling this new world order. Unusual plot. Approved music is like a lethal drug that can fry your brain and personality. After his band is exposed he knows that there is a traitor in the ranks, but who is it? A bit unpolished, just like Anthem's personality.

Rot and Ruin

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry, 458 pgs.

2013 Gateway Readers Award Winner
From Booklist:   It’s been 14 years since First Night, when the dead came back to life. Six billion people have died (and reanimated) since then, and America has collapsed into isolated communities living within the great “Rot and Ruin.” Benny is 15, which means it’s time to get a job or face cut rations, but his general laziness leaves him with only one employment option: join his stuffy, sword-swinging, Japanese half-brother, Tom, as an apprentice bounty hunter. This means heading beyond the gates to slice and dice “zoms,” but Benny quickly begins to see the undead in a new light—as well as realizing that Tom is much more than he ever let on. The plot is driven by an evil bounty-hunter rival and the cruel games he plays.

Ship Breaker

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, 326 pages


Nailer is a poor metal scavenger on what used to be the Gulf Coast, when a “city killer” storm hits the coast, bringing with it a crashed luxury ship with a swanky heiress aboard. Nailer must decide between cashing in on his “lucky strike” by selling the heiress out or by protecting her.

Though I know several people who have completely fallen in love with Ship Breaker, I didn't really like this book. I liked the view of what might happen ecologically if we continue consuming as we do now, but that's about it. The plot was a little violent for my taste, there were some very "ick" moments, and the romance element (because how could it be dystopian YA without it???) seemed really forced, as if an editor made Bacigalupi add it in at the last moment. (I can picture the conversation going something like, "Well, you've got a boy and a girl who are friends, and that's just not going to work for me. How about you add a paragraph in here where they kiss?" "But won't the readers notice that there's no build-up to this kiss, that Nailer and Nita function really well as friends, and that there's no need for this?" "Nah! They're just kids! They won't notice a thing!" Boo.) For a "take it or leave it" book, I really wish I'd left this one.

Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth, 544 pages

This is Roth's follow-up to Divergent, a dystopian futuristic YA novel (really, are there any other kind?) in which the residents of what was once Chicago are split into five factions named according to the characteristics prided by each: Erudite, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Abnegation. The story centers on Tris, an Abnegation-born girl who chooses, at age 16, to join Dauntless, though she's actually Divergent, meaning she has the qualities of two or more of the factions. Insurgent picks up after Erudite has decimated Abnegation, using mind-controlled members of Dauntless to do the dirty work. The City Formerly Known As Chicago is on the cusp of an all-faction war (well, other than the hippie-ish Amity), with Tris and her boyfriend Four right in the middle of things.

I loved Divergent, and I'm happy to say that Insurgent doesn't disappoint. It's a bit jarring at the beginning, as Roth simply picks up where Divergent left off, with no exposition for you to find your bearings. But Insurgent grabs you and doesn't let go, just like its predecessor. I can't wait to see what Roth has up her sleeve for the next installment in Tris's story.

Birthmarked

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien, 362 pages

Continuing in my tour of dystopian YA fiction, Birthmarked tells the tale of Gaia, a 16-year-old girl who has been trained by her mother to be a midwife. Gaia and her mother deliver all the babies in their section of Wharftown, the slums surrounding the walled, prestigious Enclave, where the streets are paved with gold (not really) and nobody goes without anything they could want or need (yes, really). But the Enclave needs Wharftown for an odd purpose: to provide a monthly quota of babies to diversify the Enclave's genetic pool. As in most YA dystopias, Gaia begins revealing the cracks in the structured, seemingly perfect Enclave after her parents are arrested and Gaia herself goes on the lam.

I enjoyed this book for the way that it brings up reproductive rights in a new light; I honestly didn't expect that from a YA book. This is the first of a trilogy (it's a YA book; of course its a trilogy!), and I'm curious to see what happens to Gaia in her attempts to undermine the Enclave in the next two.

The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry, 180 pages

Somehow I managed to make it through the past 19 years without having read this book in school. But I figured it was high time I picked it up. And wow, am I glad I did. I loved Lowry's simple, sparse writing style, which so well fit the dystopian setting. I'm amazed at how well she can evoke emotion from, really, some pretty thinly described (but incredibly human) characters. And I'll admit that this book made me cry. Simply put, I was floored. If you haven't read this book, do it.

Divergent--Veronica Roth

Divergent; Veronica Roth, YA sci-fi, 487 pages

Coming off the high of the Hunger Games movie I've taken another foray into Teens Doing Dangerous Things In A Horrible Post-Apocalyptic Dystopia!
Only this time it's in a recognizable wasteland that was once Chicago, and that kind of makes the atmosphere much more grim and foreboding, the idea that this story takes place not TOO far in the future. Anyway!

I like this protagonist! I'm usually very hard on protagonists, I think because my short-lived attempt at rading Twilight really made me wary of a story involving a teenage girl and there's romance. But! I think this book actually struck a really good balance, with Tris being confused by her feelings (having previously never been able to really get involved in romance due to her social caste) and being a wee bit preoccupied with staying alive and getting to the bottom of the things that are Not Quite Right with her society.
Also!! Divergent earns MAJOR bonus points with me for having our lead teens having an honest conversation about their anxieties about sex (WHAT) and it's NOT veiled in a heavyhanded vampirism metaphor about like ownership and worth of bodies? That is kind of staggering. Good job, Veronica Roth.

I also liked how Tris and her family were religious but it wasn't a big huge issue that like, divided them from society in any way. It was a nice personal touch that really humanized Tris (as opposed to the hyper-focused internalized thoughtstream jumble that is the almost-robotic Katniss), and okay, I don't know what Roth's personal beliefs are and I don't know if she intended this to be allegorical, but it didn't seem like that was the case. Interesting angle without being overpowering.

Overall I really liked this! Exciting action, psychological horror, characters who feel real in their emotional responses to situations--good stuff. Thanks for the recommendation, Kara!

Crossed by Ally Condie 367 pages

The sequel to Matched doesn't quite match the breathless tension achieved in the first novel. Cassia has reached the Outer Provinces searching for Ky. The format is similar, told in narratives switching back between Ky and Cassia. Although they love each other, they have different goals.Cassia is hurrying towards the promise of The Rising; Ky is cynical and fears another double cross from above.  Ky has a major secret concerning Xander (his competitor for Cassia's affections). They make alliances with new friends, all of whom are rebelling against Society. Survival is difficulty in a frigid and unforgiving land and they are never sure if they will be captured because of the sensors hidden in their garments. Condie wanted to save meat for the conclusion to the trilogy due in November which hopefully will wrap up all lose ends (like what happened to Xander!!!!)

Crossed

Crossed by Ally Condie, 367 pages

Crossed is the second book in Condie's Matched trilogy. Matched kicked off the dystopian series with the story of a mistake made in Cassia's match to Xander... or Ky, an aberration who is not allowed to marry. The first book was a good setup for this universe and showed some promise for the rest of the series. Condie dropped the ball with Crossed, however. This second novel is written from the points of view of both Cassia and Ky, who narrate alternate chapters. This could work — it's certainly worked for other authors in other books — but Condie makes no difference in the voices, making it REALLY hard to figure out who's speaking. It's a shame, because I could otherwise have been persuaded to read more of this series; it's not likely now though.