This prequel to The Maze Runner really had my attention. In fact I found it a more enjoyable read than the original trilogy. It is set thirteen years prior to the cage landing in The Glade which introduced the reader to the original dystopian novel. I certainly feel closer to Mark and Alec than I did the majority of the characters in The Maze Runner with the exception of maybe Chuck because the main focus of the narration is for the major part on these two alone. Life in the solar flare-ridden pre-maze adventure beginning in the tunnels under New York really draws the reader in. Mark, Trina and soldiers Alec and Lana survive a dismal existence in the city after the Sun Flares, and the ensuing tsunami which leave them stranded in a sky scraper. After two weeks they endeavour to make their way to safer territory in the Appalacian Mountains of Northern Carolina. The novel is narrated on two levels, in that these first challenges and battles they face against the Sun Flares are interwoven as dreams relived by Mark within the present (one year on) where the main characters have to deal with the ravages of the virus the Flare which has been released on the surviving population by an elite group playing God. The remaining world's population turns on itself and Alec and Mark must make some serious decisions and question their own humanity in order to survive and rescue friends. I look forward to Dashner's proposed novel which will provide the final link between this plot line and The Maze Runner triolgy
