Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I know there are a lot of positive reviews for this book -- so maybe I'm the one up in the night -- but this book was, by and large, VERY poorly written. Reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner is actually a somewhat strange experience. What I mean by that is usually when an author can't write well, the book -- as a product of that writing -- is simply bad. Period. But in this case, Dashner's story is actually a bit intriguing (though it's the same story device -- "Who am I?" -- found in countless videos games), and his plotting is serviceable (though he uses some weasel techniques in the plotting, especially at first, like having characters deliberately withhold information from the protagonist for no story-driven reason). So in spite of how poorly this book is written, I stuck it out to the end (only to find it's the first book in a series <sigh> -- alas, I won't be able to force myself through a second book). One of the main problems (but by no means the only problem) is that Dashner is constantly "telling" instead of "showing," which is a violation of one of the first rules of good writing. Indeed, even when he "shows" something, he usually feels compelled to "tell" the reader too (often at the very same time). The characters are inconsistent. In fact they are almost schizophrenic at times (though it's not character development, just poor writing). They don't feel remotely like "real" people. Even in a fantasy -- perhaps ESPECIALLY in a fantasy -- the principle of verisimilitude is an absolute must. Unfortunately, there is a severe lack of the application of that principle in this book. Along those lines, the "voice" of the protagonist is downright awful. It's not so much stream-of-consciousness (which at least is a real technique, if an unpleasant one) but the fact that the character's thoughts are simply a jumble (though this is also mostly not character development). His emotions bounce around in odd ways. And he repeats himself, well, repeatedly. Perhaps the problems with this book can be summed by saying the writing itself constantly gets in the way of the storytelling, which is never a good thing. The "idea" of The Maze Runner is okay, but unlike -- say -- an Isaac Asimov, who was an "idea" writer, and whose characters are -- by and large -- cardboard, this whole mangled mess of writing makes the characters just feel like they are the product of someone who doesn't yet know how to write very well. Almost like a bright high school kid (though Dashner is not) who has yet to come up against a skilled teacher/editor (and thus get schooled in proper technique). Which brings up another point. In his acknowledgments Dashner mentions how one particular editor really helped him and should have co-credit on the cover of the book. Well, I don't know what exactly she did to help (or how bad the manuscript was to begin with), but I kept thinking the whole time I was reading (before I even read the acknowledgments) that what this book really needed was a strong editor to basically teach Dashner how to write competently. This is a book from a New York publisher (and Dashner is a best-selling author of the 13th Reality Series, which I have not read). Has the skill level of those working in the publishing business truly fallen so far? A strong editor could have done a lot with this book and with this writer. It's not that Dashner doesn't have potential. But in the end, reading The Maze Runner was a painful experience and a waste of time.