The setting of this book is a dystopian world, but for the main character specifically, it is a maze. There is only one truly safe area, in the middle, where everyone lives. The book begins with Thomas being lifted into the center of this maze, called the Glade. Once he is introduced to the Gladers, he begins to tour jobs, until a girl arrives. The only girl to ever be seen within the Glade.
This book was excellent, one of those books where while you read it it makes sense, but when you finish it, and it’s in perspective it just makes so much more sense. The reveals always end up being something you didn’t even know you were missing, which is an achievement. The worldbuilding is also excellent, and the imagery is vivid. On the other hand, most of the characters lacked depth. They were nice to watch interact, but there wasn’t anything below surface level, all the intentions were clear as day. Additionally, some of the physics of certain things were bothering me, especially in what were supposed to be climactic scenes. It’s not merely 3 stars I would say, but it isn’t exactly 4 stars either. I say 3.7, but I did round down because sometimes the main character was just a conduit through which we viewed the world, and missed blatantly obvious clues as to what was actually happening around him. This is just a pet peeve of mine, and it didn’t really affect the book but…
Overall, this is a good book to read, and I do recommend it!