Movie to book differences of The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner movie to book Comparison

I
n this review I will be comparing the movie the Maze Runner to the book by James Dashner.

Brief Summery

When Thomas wakes up in a moving metal box with no memory of who he is he's immediately scared and tries to find a way out of the box. When reaching the destination the box opens and Thomas finds himself surrounded by groups of boys aged 13-20 who have no memories of who they were before arriving. The boys call themselves the gladers and that where they are is called the Glade and that there is a maze and only the runners can go in. The glade is a circular area with 3 ways of leaving; the first way is dying the second way is choosing to go off the cliff or lastly going into the ever-changing maze and possibly finding a way out as long as you don't get killed first by the grievers. Grievers are bug like creatures that sting people who cross their path, if stung the victim begins to go crazy but also recover some memories of their past life before arriving in the Glade.  As Thomas spends more time with the boys his curiosity spikes more and more and finds himself asking more and more questions each day and only getting a few answers in return. A day after Thomas's arrival a girl arrives with a note that reads, " This is the last one ever". The gladers immediately blame Thomas because since his arrival things have changed, the grievers are coming out during the day and other Gladers are becoming more curious by the day. Will Thomas and his fellow gladers find a way out of the maze? Or will they stay in the glade?

Normally when a book to movie adaption is made into a movie I always try and read the book before the movie comes to theaters because in most cases the movie will leave out or change parts in movie that were in the book originally. In this case I saw the movie before I read the book. Currently I am reading the book and since starting the book I have noticed that when the movie was created and finalized they made a few changes in the following points, these are some of the many changes I have noticed since starting the book.

•  Gally was never said to be stung in the movie, but in the book he had been. 

•    Teresa was only able to communicate with Thomas by telepathy, in the movie Teresa communicates orally. 

• Theresa brought two vials with her to the Gladers in the movie but not the book, in the book the Gladers already had the serum

• In the book the Gladers had modern day technology like microwaves and stoves. In the movie they did not have those things instead the box delivered things the boys needed

•  In the book there was the main house but not in the movie

• Gally never got mad at Minho in the movie but in the book he flipped putt at him. 
In the movie Gally flipped out at Thomas.


• Frypan was a supporting character in the book but in the movie he was not seen.


• Gally doesn't surrender to a

 Griver in the movie but does in the book
•  In the movie there is no cliff also the exit from the maze is a small rectangle but in the movie is a huge circular hole that is in one the mazes walls.

• In the movie Alby is taken by a Griver when they first attacked but not willingly but in the book he sacrifices his life for his friends the third or fourth time the Grievers attacked

Conclusion. 



 Since getting to the halfway mark in the book the movie has pretty much stayed true to the book with only a few changes, some large and some small, in the end I wish I had read the book before seeing the movie, but in-fact the movie did say true to book but only mostly for the first half of the book, I really liked Dashner’s idea for the book as well as his characters and the dialogue he used. It was refreshing to read a author who uses contractions as well as words you often don't hear like the word shank used to describe a person instead of a limb. I would recommend this book to anyone who has read the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, Divergent by Veronica Roth, I Am Number Four Series by Pitticus Lore as well as Percy Jackson and the Olympian’s series. People whoike the books by James Dashner refer to themselves as Gladers, runners or shanks. Those words are used in the fandom to describe people who like the books , and fans of the books will understand references e.g calling someone else a shank or asking if you are Glader, as well as asking if you have been stung by a Griver (acting crazy).