Awards-

• Best Fiction for Young Adults
  Young Adult Library Services Association
• Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee - Best Book
  Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine

Excerpts-

• From the book

  Chapter 1
  
  
  He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.
  Metal ground against metal; a lurching shudder shook the floor beneath him. He fell down at the sudden movement and shuffled backward on his hands and feet, drops of sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air. His back struck a hard metal wall; he slid along it until he hit the corner of the room. Sinking to the floor, he pulled his legs up tight against his body, hoping his eyes would soon adjust to the darkness.
  
  With another jolt, the room jerked upward like an old lift in a mine shaft.
  
  Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls with a hollow, tinny whine. The lightless elevator swayed back and forth as it ascended, turning the boy's stomach sour with nausea; a smell like burnt oil invaded his senses, making him feel worse. He wanted to cry, but no tears came; he could only sit there, alone, waiting.
  
  My name is Thomas, he thought.
  
  That... that was the only thing he could remember about his life.
  
  He didn't understand how this could be possible. His mind functioned without flaw, trying to calculate his surroundings and predicament. Knowledge flooded his thoughts, facts and images, memories and details of the world and how it works. He pictured snow on trees, running down a leaf-strewn road, eating a hamburger, the moon casting a pale glow on a grassy meadow, swimming in a lake, a busy city square with hundreds of people bustling about their business.
  
  And yet he didn't know where he came from, or how he'd gotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents were. He didn't even know his last name. Images of people flashed across his mind, but there was no recognition, their faces replaced with haunted smears of color. He couldn't think of one person he knew, or recall a single conversation.
  
  The room continued its ascent, swaying; Thomas grew immune to the ceaseless rattling of the chains that pulled him upward. A long time passed. Minutes stretched into hours, although it was impossible to know for sure because every second seemed an eternity. No. He was smarter than that. Trusting his instincts, he knew he'd been moving for roughly half an hour.
  
  Strangely enough, he felt his fear whisked away like a swarm of gnats caught in the wind, replaced by an intense curiosity. He wanted to know where he was and what was happening.
  
  With a groan and then a clonk, the rising room halted; the sudden change jolted Thomas from his huddled position and threw him across the hard floor. As he scrambled to his feet, he felt the room sway less and less until it finally stilled. Everything fell silent.
  
  A minute passed. Two. He looked in every direction but saw only darkness; he felt along the walls again, searching for a way out. But there was nothing, only the cool metal. He groaned in frustration; his echo amplified through the air, like the haunted moan of death. It faded, and silence returned. He screamed, called for help, pounded on the walls with his fists.
  
  Nothing.
  
  Thomas backed into the corner once again, folded his arms and shivered, and the fear returned. He felt a worrying shudder in his chest, as if his heart wanted to escape, to flee his body.
  
  "Someone... help... me!" he screamed; each word ripped his throat raw.
  
  A loud clank rang out above him and he sucked in a startled breath as he looked up. A straight line of light appeared across the ceiling of the room, and Thomas watched as it expanded. A heavy grating sound revealed double sliding doors being forced open. After so long in...

About the Author-

• James Dashner is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, and The Kill Order, as well as The Eye of Minds and The Rule of Thoughts, the first two books in the Mortality Doctrine series. Dashner was born and raised in Georgia, but now lives and writes in the Rocky Mountains. To learn more about James and his books, visit JamesDashner.com, follow @jamesdashner on Twitter, and find dashnerjames on Instagram.

Reviews-

• The first of a projected sci-fi trilogy introduces listeners to a teenage boy who has been dropped into a mysterious "glade"--a walled-in field surrounded by a treacherous maze--with no memory of his life before his arrival. Actor Mark Deakins gives a compellingly subdued reading of this unsettling blend of LORD OF THE FLIES, ENDER'S GAME, and television's LOST. Deakins projects a real sense of uncertainty as he tells the story of Thomas, a boy who yearns to solve the mystery of the maze and find his way back to a home he can't remember. Deakins helps the listener navigate the maze of new terms, a slang invented by Dashner for the story. The result is an adventure that is thrilling and irresistible. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
• 

  September 21, 2009
  Dashner (the 13th Reality series) offers up a dark and gripping tale of survival set in a world where teenagers fight for their lives on a daily basis. It starts when Thomas, a teenage amnesiac, wakes up in the Glade, a fragile oasis in the middle of an enormous maze. Here, a group of teenage boys eke out a hazardous existence, exploring the Maze by day and retreating to the Glade at night. No one knows how they got there; no one has ever found a way out (“Old life's over, new life's begun. Learn the rules quick,” the group's leader tells Thomas). Bizarre technological monsters called Grievers patrol the Maze's corridors, almost certain death for any who encounter them. Thomas struggles to regain his memories, but the arrival of a young woman with an ominous message changes the rules of the game. With a fast-paced narrative steadily answering the myriad questions that arise and an ever-increasing air of tension, Dashner's suspenseful adventure will keep readers guessing until the very end, which paves the way for the inevitable continuation. Ages 12–up.

• Newsday A New York Times Bestseller
  A USA Today Bestseller
  A Book Sense Bestseller
  An Indie Next List Selection
  A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the Year
  An ALA-YASLA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
  An ALA-YALSA Quick Pick
  
  "[A] mysterious survival saga that passionate fans describe as a fusion of Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and Lost."--EW.com
  
  "Wonderful action-writing--fast-paced...but smart and well observed."
• Seventeen.com "[A] nail-biting must-read."
• Deseret News "Breathless, cinematic action."--Publishers Weekly
  
  "Heart pounding to the very last moment."--Kirkus Reviews
  
  "Exclamation-worthy."--Romantic Times
  
  * "James Dashner's illuminating prequel [The Kill Order] will thrill fans of this Maze Runner [series] and prove just as exciting for readers new to the series."--Shelf Awareness, Starred
  
  "Take a deep breath before you start any James Dashner book."

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