✗ OTHER MAZE RUNNER TRILOGY LIVEREADS
{All}

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Everything is going to change.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.

✗ OTHER MAZE RUNNER CHAPTERS
{All}{...}[5] [6]

CHAPTER 7

Thomas wondered what lay under the doors when the Box wasn’t there, but held his tongue. He felt such a mixture of emotions—curiosity, frustration, wonder—all laced with the lingering horror of seeing the Griever that morning.

Not feeling the emotions there though. Idk, maybe I couldn’t do better (I hope I can do better tbh) but this is still… idk. The narration feels awfully neutral to me so far and it just doesn’t fit with the above.

Alby kept talking, never bothering to look Thomas in the eye. “Glade’s cut into four sections.” He held up his fingers as he counted off the next four words. “Gardens, Blood House, Homestead, Deadheads. You got that?”

So the Gardens are artificially watered because it never rains (which is impossible so either there’s a problem with keeping track of rain –which considering no one there seems to be over eighteen, is probably due to some form of rotation- or there’s a roof somewhere over them. I’m still rooting for the Reality tv option a la The Truman Show tbh. Except darker.)

Bloodhouse → Slaughterhouse, which hasn’t been noted to make any sound so far (which my dad, who has been in actual slaughterhouses, confirms to be really fucking unlikely. Apparently slaughterhouses are crazy noisy.)

Homestead → The general home, makeshift, which nobody uses because… reasons? The kids spent enough time adding to that thing for it to double in size but they still decided not to use it, apparently.

Deadheads → Stereotypical “dead trees” forest with a graveyard in it. Add some mist to the mist and you have a pretty decent horror movie set tbh.

Alby pointed to the large barn in the back corner, its red paint long faded to a dull rust color. “Back there’s where the Slicers work. Nasty stuff, that. Nasty. If you like blood, you can be a Slicer.”
Thomas shook his head. Slicer didn’t sound good at all.

I am so fucking done with this whole trope of trying to make working in the meat industry sound bad like seriously >< Most people are perfectly happy to eat meat, where do you think it came from? Meat trees? Say it’s not a job for you,that’s enough, don’t present it like people who work in slaughterhouses are bloodthirsty assholes -_-

Judging by the amount of description, the Deadheads are going to be important later on.

What are those things? he wondered, irritated that Alby hadn’t answered him earlier. The secrecy was very annoying.

For us both Thomas, for us both.

The Tour ends with the plot-relevant spot: a door to the Maze. We get confirmation that there’s a rotation bc Alby’s been here two years and those who’d been there before him are dead (should I expect him to die during the series?). Indirectly, this also indicates that their very convenient amnesia left them with a pretty firm grasp of what a calendar is, although we don’t get any indication of how they measure time (are they just counting days or refering to the lunar cycle, if it’s even a thing? Or are they just assuming there’s a month-long gap between newbies?)

Another stab of pain sliced through Thomas’s head—there were too many things to compute at once. They’d been here two years? The walls moved out in the Maze? How many had died? He stepped forward, wanting to see the Maze for himself, as if the answers were printed on the walls out there.

Again, several question but no deduction or even, idk, a thought about going to visit the cemetary later? Dashner, you’re not doing this smart kid thing right. (Although like I said, the Graveyard is probably going to be relevant later, so I guess Thomas is going to visit it anyway.)

Now we also know Thomas’ amnesia is artificial (it could have just been artistic license up to that point) unless of course the line about a slice of pain was just metaphorical.

We learn that even though everyone is involved in a Maze Cult devoted to solving it, almost no one is allowed to actually go in it, mostly because otherwise Thomas would have to actually be smart in order not to be a random stubborn dude, I think.

He would be a Runner. Deep inside he knew he had to go out there, into the Maze. Despite everything he’d learned and witnessed firsthand, it called to him as much as hunger or thirst.

… you do realize most people have enough sense not to eat something poisonous even when they’re really pretty fucking hungry right? It’s called self-preservation, which Thomas obviously doesn’t have if being told “you can’t go in this motarl place” makes him go “well that’s why I wanna go”

So there’s an alarm, which is odd but not terrifying to the Gladers, and then Thomas gets shamed for not knowing instantly it means the Box (the big elevator he woke up in) is coming in. Since there’s no food or newbie delivery scheduled, everyone is kind of confused. I can only assume this is where the girl who knows Thomas’ name comes in.

“The Box, shuck-face, the Box!” was all Alby said before he set off for the middle of the Glade at a brisk pace that almost looked to Thomas like panic.
“What about it?” Thomas demanded, hurrying to catch up. Talk to me! he wanted to scream at him.

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT THOMAS YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE SMART OKAY THIS IS YOUR NUMBER ONE INFORMED ATTRIBUTE. You’ve just been told the Box came up once a week for food and once a month for a new arrival can’t you use your brain to figure out today is not delivery day and that’s why people are kinda freaking out? You’re supposed to be a smart guy.

Thankfully Newt spells it out for Thomas (who manages to mix up calm, disbelief and excitement. Either Newt has an odd way of expressing himself, or Thmas has trouble telling emotions appart) and then runs of to the Homestead, and the chapter ends.

Chapter 8

Thomas is apparently very good with measuring time because he can tell the alarm has been blaring for two minutes which, if it really does ring loud enough to make the ground shake, is frankly too long, but whatever, I guess things need to be over the top.

My bad, I talked before I finished the paragraph. Apparently Thomas didn’t realize he’d only gotten there the day before. Whic is probably not completely unbelievable as everything has been done to keep him confused so I guess things are starting to blurr… still a stretch though. A pretty big one.

Chuck joins Thomas, who immediately asks why everyone is freaking out, even though Newt told him there had never been two newcomers in the same month (much less two days in a row) literally two lines earlier.

So intelligent. Much smart. Wow.

Chuck shrugged. “I don’t know—guess it’s always been real regular-like. One a month, every month, same day. Maybe whoever’s in charge realized you were nothing but a big mistake, sent someone to replace you.” He giggled as he elbowed Thomas in the ribs, a high-pitched snicker that inexplicably made Thomas like him more.

… because he has a “girly” laugh? This is a real question.

Thomas asks Chuck whether anyone tried experimenting with the box, which Chuck systematically anticipates showing that a) he’s smarter than Thomas so far, b) he’s kind of a smartass (annoyingly so) and c) he seems to be enjoying pushing Thomas’ buttons.

Also he winks at Thomas who pulls a no homo and asks/orders him never to do that again.

You know what, I’m starting to think the girl in this story is just there so we don’t have to go through a no homo moment every time the guys aren’t acting like assholes to one another.

Also the kids tried to go down the hole with ropes (which Thomas just assumed they’d never tried because apparently what counts as smart here is “has common sense”. Which, granted, a lot of people don’t have, but still, that’s pushing it.) but the one who did got cut in half, and now they keep the bones as a reminder.

(How they even got the bones back idek, apparently the poor boy clung to the rope even as he was dying from insane pain and bloodloss. Nice dedication there, nameless dead teenager.)

Apparently, Chuck is convinced Thomas is smarter than Gally, which I have yet to see any proof of. In fact, for now I have more proof of the contrary, but whatever.

The fact that people are tripping over themselves to try and make it difficult for Thomas to use his brain doesn’t help either.

With a sudden jerk, Newt pushed himself back into an upright position, his face scrunched up in confusion. “Holy …,” he breathed, looking around at nothing in particular.
By this time, Alby had gotten a good look as well, with a similar reaction. “No way,” he murmured, almost in a trance.
A chorus of questions filled the air as everyone began pushing forward to get a look into the small opening. What do they see down there? Thomas wondered. What do they see! He felt a sliver of muted fear, similar to what he’d experienced that morning when he stepped toward the window to see the Griever.
“Hold on!” Alby yelled, silencing everyone. “Just hold on!”
“Well, what’s wrong?” someone yelled back.
Alby stood up. “Two Newbies in two days,” he said, almost in a whisper. “Now this. Two years, nothing different, now this.” Then, for some reason, he looked straight at Thomas. “What’s goin’ on here, Greenie?”
Thomas stared back, confused, his face turning bright red, his gut clenching. “How am I supposed to know?”
“Why don’t you just tell us what the shuck is down there, Alby?” Gally called out. There were more murmurs and another surge forward.
“You shanks shut up!” Alby yelled. “Tell ’em, Newt.”
Newt looked down in the Box one more time, then faced the crowd, gravely.
“It’s a girl,” he said.
Everyone started talking at once; Thomas only caught pieces here and there.
“A girl?”
“I got dibs!”
“What’s she look like?”
“How old is she?”

This is the reaction of a bunch of teenage boys to the arrival of a girl, ladies and gentlemen. Not “Why” not “how come”, no! They all spontaneously go “It’s impossible/I thought they were a legend”, “she’s mine” and “is she legal?”

If you still thought there was a chance for the Glade to be a not-too-sexist environment, you thought wrong.

Thomas was drowning in a sea of confusion. A girl? He hadn’t even thought about why the Glade only had boys, no girls. Hadn’t even had the chance to notice, really.

It’s funny you didn’t notice Thomas, because I did. I noticed extremely fast that the setting was conveniently girl-free, and that’s also why I’m not expecting miracles out of this girl’s characterization (especially in light of how the boys have been written up until now.)

They get the maybe-dead-but-really-not girl out of the box and Thomas notices Gally seems to have a “dark fascination” with her. They’re all acting like they’ve been sent a unicorn but somehow the cardboard bully is the only one in whom it seems to be a bad thing. I’m neither surprised, nor impressed at the attempt to send creepy and vaguely rapey vibes, book.

I really hope you don’t act on it but somehow I’m not sure these hopes will be met.

A few grunts later and the girl’s lifeless body was dragged out

She’s not dead, don’t use lifeless. Use apparently lifeless if you want –Thomas isn’t sure she’s alive after all- or use limp, but don’t tell us she’s dead if she’s not damnit.

Also, we barely know what Thhomas looks like but it’s very important to note the girl is conventionally pretty and very, very white.

Newt calls Thomas, who immediately tries not to look guilty, which is a nice moment of actual and natural reaction (idk about you but ‘don’t look guilty’ is one of my first reactions when put on the spot, so I can get behind that tbh.)

There’s a second description of the “more than pretty” girl, in case you thought she wasn’t going to be the love interest, and it’s equally as vague and telling as the first one:

Beautiful. Silky hair, flawless skin, perfect lips, long legs.

Thomas spares a sentence to feeling weird about the way he thinks about a dead girl, but then his next thought is “too bad dead people have to rot” rather than “poor her for dying” so I can’t say I’m feeling very sympathetic over here.

I’m sorry, was the readership supposed to be 100% sexist boys too or did I miss a step?

So Alby and Newt ask Thomas if he knows the girl based on the fact that she came in the day after him, which I would scoff at if not for the fact that this is a clear and impoortant break from the pattern they’re accustomed to. It’s a shot-in-the-dark assumption and not supported by any evidence, but it’s not completely out of the blue either, so I’ll give it a pass.

What I don’t give a pass to is the fact that she suddenly sits up and takes a huge breath and everybody thought she was dead. These kids have an infirmary that treats life and death cases, which Newt runs and he couldn’t be arsed to take her pulse or something? This is bullshit, honestly.

Aaaand her opening sentence is a cryptic warning™

I am now officially glad I didn’t get to see the movie in the theater before reaching that part because this would have been a real damper. Now I know I should download it and spare my wallet.

Wait wait wait, it gets even better!

Thomas stares at her thinking about how pretty she is (this is going to be a thing, isn’t it?) and then she faints but her arm stays up like, did her body magically forget her arm needed to faint or something? This is on par with the half-boy clinging to his rope through death Dashner what were you thinking??? ~~(Probably about pretty sixteen years old girls, if Thomas’ thought process is any indication. Creepy.)~~

Of course, her fists holds something very important: a sheet of paper saying “She’s the last one. Ever.”

Oh Eru. This is bad.

(And of course, chapter break.)