Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Kirkus Review of The Maze Runner

We're really excited to have such a positive review! WARNING: Major Spoiler Alert!!! If you don't want to read the synopsis part, scroll down and I'll post the last couple of lines only.

THE MAZE RUNNER

Dashner, James

Boys come to the Glade via an empty freight elevator with no memory of how they got there or of their prior lives. This disorientation is made more frightening when they realize that to survive they must lock themselves in every night to avoid the horrors of the Grievers, beings that are part machine, part animal—and altogether deadly. The boys in the Glade send out Runners each day to find a way out through the Maze that surrounds their one patch of safety, with no success. Life goes on until one day the elevator delivers a girl. She brings a message: She is the last child to be sent, and there will be no more deliveries of food or supplies. Now the Glade is cut off, and as the Grievers gather for an all-out attack, it’s clear that it’s now or never—the Maze must be solved. Dashner knows how to spin a tale and make the unbelievable realistic. Hard to put down, this is clearly just a first installment, and it will leave readers dying to find out what comes next. (Science fiction. 12 & up)


End of Spoiler Alert!!!

Here are the last couple of just-reviewish lines:

Dashner knows how to spin a tale and make the unbelievable realistic. Hard to put down, this is clearly just a first installment, and it will leave readers dying to find out what comes next. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

In other news, I received a copy of the hardback from Krista! (My box of author copies will come later - I'm guessing Krista stole this one out of the very first box to RH and got it right in the mail so I could see it. She's so awesome!)
Here are some pics. Notice the front flap says "A Junior Library Guild Selection." Did I ever tell you guys about that? I can't remember.











32 comments:

Angie said...

CONGRATS JAMES! You deserver all this success and more! I can't wait to pick up my "real" copy!

Don said...

Way cool awesomeness! I can't wait.

Laura said...

It's so fun to have the real copy in your hands! It looks good.

Jena said...

Congrats! Thanks for sharing pics, I love the look, can't wait to go buy it!

Clint Johnson said...

Very nice review, James. Now, any review from Kirkus would be nice. But yours is VERY nice. Hope all the stars fall into alignment and you sell a billion books. A billion, do you hear me?

J.N. Future Author said...

yay! I'm so excited!

....its too bad I wont be here to actually get a copy *sad*

Summersfam said...

Congratulations, James!!! It looks awesome, and what a great review!

James Dashner said...

Thanks, everybody! It's so nice to have people to share my idiot joy with.

JN, where are you gonna be again?

Juliana said...

Congrats!

Anonymous said...

Very cool! Congratulations!

Jewel Allen said...

Kewl, James! What a wonderful review. And such a great synopsis. Doesn't spoil anything for me, just makes me want to read it!!!

Carolyn V. said...

That is sooo cool! I love how many pictures you took of the book. =) awesome.

Heather Moore said...

Awesome. Are you going to read it? :-)

Unknown said...

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, James.

Q said...

Oof! I just remembered I need to post about that! May as well do it on release day now...

LouMac said...

That's a nice looking book James! You don't know it, but I envy you right now. Can't wait to read it...

Hey! You think you can turn up time so we don't have to wait any longer?

Dashnog: coatedic- Person who mends winter coats

Usage: I think that being a coatedic would be boring.

Diva Donna said...

LOUMAC with the Dashnog...keepin' it real. Awesome.

Wish I had a better dashnog word for today. Glybair is just not an exciting enough word for the awesome post about actually getting your hands on a real live copy of the actual version of Maze Runner that everyone else will be able to purchase in like a month!!! So it gets no definition.
Try to avoid sleeping with that glossy copy of your book under your pillow, Dashner.
(ALSO Don't panic. People are going to read it. It doesn't matter how much money RH spent on those awesome dust jackets or the cool embossing on the binding...deep breath. You wrote it, they published it and now the people will come to read it and buy it and love it...deep breath.)

KA said...

I skipped the spoiler which, I'll have you know, takes a lot of self-discipline. Congratulations on the review!

Brodi Ashton said...

Man, a good review from Kirkus? That is awesome. I might just have to celebrate, just me and a tub of ice cream.

Way cool!

Anonymous said...

I skipped the spoiler. Sorry.

But excellent things said of you and your book. I'm very excited to read it (especially since everyone and their chinchilla already has!)

numberonedashnerfan said...

Hey,Congrats on the hard cover book...

Marny said...

Excellent!

So when and where is the release party?

Dave said...

Dash,
AWESOME pics! Even though I have my ARC (nicely wrapped and tucked away), I will of course be buying my copy on release day! Gotta show the love.

I emailed you and hope you will post the link here to a review of 13th, which was given high praise by a site that gets an average of 60,000 to 100,000 hits per month! I saw that and was super psyched for you. As well, the author who's site it is currently is running a huge blog tour which should inflate those "hit" numbers (perfect timing!). That could be some HUGE publicity. Perhaps you should consider commenting on the post and mentioning "Maze" coming out soon. Just a thought as I know I and everyone here wants to see you sell a huge amount of copies.
Almost party time!
Dave

Joanna said...

I am so happy for you and I can't wait to read the book!

Danyelle Ferguson said...

WOO, James!!!! Jr. Library Guild selection? AWESOMENESS! (have you ever noticed how hard it is to type in all caps if you don't put the CAPS button?) So excited for you! Congrats!

LouMac said...

Thanks Diva!

I will probably ALWAYS do the Dashnog! (Atleast until I'm officially an adult. But even then, I still might do it then. I just never know.)

Danyelle, I know how it is to write a word with all caps without hitting the caps button. It's especially hard with a word like, "SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS"

You may not know it, but that took me a while to write that because I wrote it without using the "caps" button.

Anyways, congrats again James. Like my parents say, "Success go to those who..." Well, I can't remember how it goes, but I do know that with confidence, you've already won, so I guess you already had a good review when you first came up with the book, CONFIDENTLY!!!!

Haha! I'm sure that you will do fine with book sales and everything. My friends keep asking ME to turn up time! Can you believe it? ME? I just keep telling the big man is the only one that can do it. Who the "Big Man" is, nobody knows.

Is it you JD? Hahaha! Good luck! and Happy Writing!

Dashnog: sornurri-the emotion in which somebody says they are "Sorry" but they really aren't.

Usage- He said he meant it, but I knew that he wasn't really sorry. He was really just sornurri.

hidden reader said...

who really needs an arc when they can be so awsomely loyal to you James and buy the book? im mean psh, really.

Vanessa M. said...

finally i'll be able to tell my friends what this book is about and get them to read it. at least... they'll read it or they're dead.

Unknown said...

Hey Hidden Reader, I thing the reason an ARC is so good is because you don't have to wait so long to read the book, besides if you buy the book AND get an ARC you have two copies ;)

James how long are you waiting to finish your contest?

Jackson Porter said...

Hey James, I just have a question on your blog. I have a blog on me and my first novel ever is coming out in next April. So I was wondering, how do you get the advertisements for your book, on your blog.

Just wondering. Awesome review on Maze Runner, I'll be one of the first to buy it.

Jackson

Amy Lundebrek said...

Looking forward to picking up my copy!

hidden reader said...

aaron, it's called patients. whoever is patient enough shows their loyalty, see?