I love you. I love you. I love you. I’ll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You’ll never see, but you will know. I’ll be all the poets, I’ll kill them all and take each one’s place in turn, and every time love’s written in all the strands it will be to you.

This is one of those stories that will weigh on your mind for a while.

I can't say much about the content itself for the sake of spoilers, but at its heart, this is a story of love undefined by space, time, and every other human limit. It's written almost exclusively in poetic and lyrical language, dominated mostly by letters shared between the characters. I typically have a love/hate relationship with purple prose, but I didn't mind it too much here because...wow, I'm a bit jealous, to be honest.
I won't officially rate or review this in my usual manner because I don't think I can come up with numbers or words to describe this story, but if you're a fan of unique story formats, romance and time travel, or lyrical prose, I would highly recommend you read This is How You Lose the Time War.

There's a reason this is considered one of the Big Three books in the YA dystopian genre.

I picked up The Maze Runner sometime around 2018, and I've been rereading it every few years ever since. Of the "Big Three" I mentioned above (Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and Divergent) this series probably ranks somewhere in the middle. It's not my favorite, but I still find the concept and the story itself enjoyable.
The story starts with a simple premise: Thomas wakes up in the middle of the maze with no memories. It almost has a Lord of the Flies sort of vibe, as all of the other teens Thomas meets are boys...until a girl arrives unexpectedly. There's some mystery involved, but this is mostly a story about survival. I can't really say much about plot twists because I've read this at least three times now, but if you haven't read it yet, you're missing out.
I don't have much to say about the characters, which is the reason I rank this lower than The Hunger Games. Thomas is fine as a protagonist, although there are some elements to him that feel a bit "Chosen One-y" and I just don't love them. Minho and Newt are my favorites simply because they have the most personality of anyone in the Glade (besides Gally, and he's just a jerk). I don't mind Chuck too much. I'm not sure how I feel about Teresa because I know some people consider her controversial, but I don't hate her that much...
The Maze Runner is the first installation of one of the most popular YA dystopian series of all time, and I highly recommend it to any fans of the genre.

4.25/5

I've only seen the movie adaptations of these books once, but rereading them makes me want to watch them again.

The Scorch Trials is the second Maze Runner book, and while I don't know if I can pick a favorite from the two, the vibes are incredibly different. Thomas and the Gladers finally get to learn a bit more about the world outside the maze and yet they still know nothing overall about what has happened to get society to this point.
The focus of the story is, once again, survival. I did appreciate that some of Thomas's plot armor has dissolved, meaning there's a bit more tension. No longer are the Gladers confined to the Maze, but they now have an entire world to explore...if not for their assigned "quest." I think this book has more action than mystery, but there's still a fine mix of both. The ending plot twists still trick me every time because I try to trust everyone. I like the introduction to the Cranks in this book, too.
The cast of characters feels like it has shrunk dramatically. Thomas is fine as a main character, but I don't particularly love him. Minho and Newt are my favorites just because they show more personality, although Newt feels a bit less important in this one. I don't mind Jorge, but Brenda gets on my nerves for obvious reasons. Aris annoys me as well, and Teresa is just...I still don't know how to feel.
The Scorch Trials is the action-packed sequel to The Maze Runner perfect for fans of the YA dystopian genre.
4.25/5

Look, I reread this series because, apparently, the author said in 2020 that he intended for Newt to be canonically gay, and I didn't really get those vibes the first few times I read it.

The Death Cure is the third book in the Maze Runner series, and it's the final part of the main series. I think of the three main books this is probably my least favorite, though I don't really have a specific reason why. I think it's a combination of the barely resolved ending and just the overall vibes that lead me to rank it just a bit lower than the other books.
Thomas is back with WICKED now, and they desperately need his help. There's still a fair amount of action woven throughout the story, but hanging overhead is a bigger question: is the world worth saving? There were a handful of plot twists, although none of them were too crazy or unpredictable. My biggest issue was that the ending felt a bit rushed and left a lot unresolved. It ends in a relatively satisfying way, but I still think it could offer a bit more resolution. It also just feels like not much actually happens over the course of the book, unlike the previous installations.
Personally, I only like a handful of the characters in this series. Brenda somehow grew on me a LOT over the course of this book, but I'm still not a huge fan of her and Thomas romantically. Minho is a steady-side character, but he's not my favorite. As I've said before, I don't mind Thomas, but he's not my favorite narrator ever. And, similarly, I still don't know how to feel about Teresa. Newt is probably my favorite in this one just because of the tropes surrounding him.
The Death Cure is the final book in the Maze Runner main trilogy, and while it's not my favorite, I did enjoy it and recommend it to everyone who started the series.

4/5

First of all, I just want to say to everyone complaining about how we finally got two paragraphs mentioning gay people...y'all, it's not the end of the world. You've already had 10 books of straight relationships, and I don't see how mentioning that queer people exist is somehow more "adult" content than the literal torture, kidnappings, drugs, murder, and warfare that the rest of the books contain.
(Also, if you all ruin the chances of the one couple I'm actually rooting for because of your complaining...I'm not going to be happy.)

I'm sticking to my previous review rules for this series by not actually rating this, as I don't feel it fair to rate a childhood favorite series of mine the same way I rate other books. Did I appreciate the extra time with a certain character? Yes. Do I think that any of the "super special secret bonus information that's required for book 10" is actually required? Probably not. Look, I'm going to read everything in this series even if it annoys me (like Keefe's initial 50 pages of angsty internal monologue).
When I inevitably reread this, I'll do my notes on it as I did with the other books in the series, but for now, I'll leave you with this:
MILD SPOILERS
- I 110% believe that Alvar has discovered smutty romance books, and he reads them to "improve his English"

So what I'm learning is to always trust the secret Black Swan organizations and that cats make everything better.

The Faithless Hawk is the exhilarating sequel to The Merciful Crow, and I'm so glad I finally got a chance to read it. Because the first book kind of wrapped up neatly, I wasn't sure what exactly to expect from the sequel besides hopefully overthrowing Rhusana.
Fie has kept her Pa's oath to Jasimir, but the danger has yet to pass as evil queen Rhusana intends to snatch the throne and unite the castes against the Crows. With everything set up at the beginning of the book, I expected a lot more tension than what I felt was delivered. The middle dragged at some points, though I did appreciate the deeper worldbuilding and the importance of lore regarding reincarnation. I have a few mixed feelings about the ending and some of the plot twists, but overall, I really enjoyed the story and read it in less than a day.
I think my favorite part of this book was watching the characters interact with each other. Tavin isn't present for a large chunk of the book, and he kinda started to annoy me until a specific chapter near the end of the book, which made me like him again. Fie is probably one of my favorite main characters of all time (she reminds me a lot of Rin from The Poppy War), and I loved watching her discover her identity. I also really liked Khoda from his very first appearance. He's just so intriguing to me, and I would love to see more of him, but I know there are no more books. Jas was my favorite, though. Give me an angsty-ish prince who doesn't want to crown and loves cats - I just love him so much.
The Faithless Hawk expands on the world and lore from The Merciful Crow while bringing the plot to a satisfying close and weaving platonic and romantic relationships together to create amusing character dynamics.

4/5