Having seen the film first, I can honestly say I was surprised to see how different it was to the book. Having said that, both were extremely good in their own regards. In the first pages alone, the comparisons to the Lord of the Flies was immensely obvious (not a problem to me, that's one of my favorite books) and as the story progressed, I found it difficult to put down. There were parts I felt a bit annoyed with (like Thomas constantly repeating the unusual nature of his amnesia and the peculiar language used by the Gladers. I mean, come on, these are teenagers. They're going to swear!) but I was able to easily overlook those when the rest of the story so easily drew me in. It felt raw and real and I could feel the fear of those kids as I read it. The maze itself was so extraordinary to read about, I'm almost sad it's no longer part of the story! Loved Newt and Minho's characters and I'm looking forward to finding out more about WICKED as well as what's happened to their world. Overall a really engaging read and I have to say, for being a young adult book, I was glad that it contained violence and death. That might sound a bit grim but it made the story more real and believable to me and almost made me forget that we're dealing with teenage characters. Looking forward to reading the sequel!
 - James Dashner)