What do you think?
Rate this book
Maze
From every corner of time and space, sometimes people go missing without a trace. They never come back.
Get lost in the long stone halls of the maze with the ones that find each other, form tribes, scrape out a life from rocks and sand. Their stories interweave. Maia Station is a scientist ripped from stasis, but she has no tools to test the way things are. Instead, she raises her daughter as best she can and survives. Wang Xin once had his head dipped in water, and a djinni in the water entered his eye. He sees the future, exactly as it was supposed to be if he hadn’t seen the light, but it does him no good in the life he has. In a world much like our own, Joseph comes home from a ten year high school reunion and encounters a light in the darkness. The light speaks.
My name is Jenny. Put me in your lung. Breathe deep.
Get lost in the long stone halls of the maze with the ones that find each other, form tribes, scrape out a life from rocks and sand. Their stories interweave. Maia Station is a scientist ripped from stasis, but she has no tools to test the way things are. Instead, she raises her daughter as best she can and survives. Wang Xin once had his head dipped in water, and a djinni in the water entered his eye. He sees the future, exactly as it was supposed to be if he hadn’t seen the light, but it does him no good in the life he has. In a world much like our own, Joseph comes home from a ten year high school reunion and encounters a light in the darkness. The light speaks.
My name is Jenny. Put me in your lung. Breathe deep.
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 10, 2014
2 people are currently reading
477 people want to read
About the author
J.M. McDermott
37 books78 followersHis first novel was plucked from a slush pile and went on to be #6 on Amazon.com's Year's Best SF/F of 2008, shortlisted for a Crawford Prize, and on Locus Magazine's Recommended Reading List for Debuts. His short fiction has appeared in Weird Tales Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Apex Magazine, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, among other places. He has a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, and an MFA in Popular Fiction from the Stonecoast program of the University of Southern Maine.
By night, he wanders a maze of bookshelves and empty coffee cups, and by day he wanders the streets of San Antonio, where he lives and works.
He tries to write in between.
By night, he wanders a maze of bookshelves and empty coffee cups, and by day he wanders the streets of San Antonio, where he lives and works.
He tries to write in between.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 16, 2014
J.M. McDermott’s Maze is about a maze. Or possibly the maze: An unending series of stone halls and corridors which lurks in our primordial past, populated by monstrous creatures, loops and fragments of non-linear time, and a ragged band of humans who somehow got stranded there. The maze is never revealed to have any moral or mechanical logic; it just is, and the people who live there just do. Maze operates as a disjointed series of narratives about the people who have fallen into the maze. There are glimpses of their past worlds (a spaceship, medieval France, dystopian Texas), but the bulk of the novel is about the gritty, ugly process of surviving in an inhospitable place. It’s surreal, scattered, gruesome, and sometimes excellent.
Many books with ambitions towards literary surrealism leave me floating in ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Many books with ambitions towards literary surrealism leave me floating in ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
March 9, 2014
Ehhh, definitely not for me. Maze is really, really bizarre, not a little disgusting, it can be pretty violent, and it made no sense at all to me. I won it from LibraryThing's First Reads program, since I've been meaning to try this author for a while, but just... nope. It's creative, sure. Weird, if that's what you like to read. It's not even badly written -- maybe indifferently, from my point of view, but not badly.
It's not like I necessarily mind weird, disgusting, violence -- I read China Miéville with glee, after all. It's just... I had nothing to get a grip on here, not even the kind of verve that characterises Miéville's work.
I have another of this guy's books to read, I think retelling Greek myths? I hope I enjoy that more.
It's not like I necessarily mind weird, disgusting, violence -- I read China Miéville with glee, after all. It's just... I had nothing to get a grip on here, not even the kind of verve that characterises Miéville's work.
I have another of this guy's books to read, I think retelling Greek myths? I hope I enjoy that more.
July 8, 2016
I'm not having much luck with books in 2015... :/
I've read over 25% of this book and I have no idea what's going on. There's a maze, with monsters. Maybe. Or not. Maybe the maze is a 10-year high school reunion. Or something. Is this allegory? Is this just fantasy?
One thing I do know: This book is now in the DNF pile.
I've read over 25% of this book and I have no idea what's going on. There's a maze, with monsters. Maybe. Or not. Maybe the maze is a 10-year high school reunion. Or something. Is this allegory? Is this just fantasy?
One thing I do know: This book is now in the DNF pile.
February 11, 2014
I was glad to receive the Kindle edition of this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reader's program.
Part science fiction, part supernatural fantasy, Maze is a dark, desperate, dystopian novel. Composed of multiple narratives, Maze follows a group of persons condemned to a stark, threatening, ever-changing and, ultimately, unknowable labyrinth where time and space mean nothing. Pulled from all time periods and geographic locations, these refugees band together to try and survive in a world populated by monsters - trolls, minotaurs, shadow ghosts and tree-creatures. At the mercy of the unforgiving elements, these strangers each tell a tale of survival in an unlivable location.
The story, itself, is framed by the mother-daughter narratives of Maia and Julie Station. Maia has come to the maze from a space station, where she was in suspended animation dreaming liquid dreams. She becomes pregnant with Julie while in the maze, and, as such, part of Julie is the maze. Later, we meet Julie as an adult, who has ventured into a love affair with a half-breed caveman. We also meet Joseph, a man living in apocalyptic Texas, who births a piece of light into an African woman he names Jenny Ghost. My favorite narrator was the poor, misunderstood warrior, Wang Xin, who believes he has seen the future in the very same light and strives to maintain that true path to much trouble. Each narrator gives the reader a slice of who they were before coming to the maze and what they have become since arriving there. Each narrator has his or her own experience with the light known as Jenny (or DiJinni) who has asked for help and lured them to the maze.
It's strange. Whacked out weird. Dark, dismal, and disgusting. Things don't makes sense in the maze - which can be enjoyable and entertaining for the reader. BUT things really don't make sense outside of the maze either - which is definitely frustrating for a reader like me, someone who demands answers and resolution. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the read for the most part, but I'm still not really sure what I just read. And I know that I didn't understand it. I've got so many questions that don't even have a hint of a possible answer buried in the text. I can support ambiguity in art, but I need more than I was given here. I think that many readers may get discouraged or confused by this tale. As such, I'm not really sure how to recommend it.
Part science fiction, part supernatural fantasy, Maze is a dark, desperate, dystopian novel. Composed of multiple narratives, Maze follows a group of persons condemned to a stark, threatening, ever-changing and, ultimately, unknowable labyrinth where time and space mean nothing. Pulled from all time periods and geographic locations, these refugees band together to try and survive in a world populated by monsters - trolls, minotaurs, shadow ghosts and tree-creatures. At the mercy of the unforgiving elements, these strangers each tell a tale of survival in an unlivable location.
The story, itself, is framed by the mother-daughter narratives of Maia and Julie Station. Maia has come to the maze from a space station, where she was in suspended animation dreaming liquid dreams. She becomes pregnant with Julie while in the maze, and, as such, part of Julie is the maze. Later, we meet Julie as an adult, who has ventured into a love affair with a half-breed caveman. We also meet Joseph, a man living in apocalyptic Texas, who births a piece of light into an African woman he names Jenny Ghost. My favorite narrator was the poor, misunderstood warrior, Wang Xin, who believes he has seen the future in the very same light and strives to maintain that true path to much trouble. Each narrator gives the reader a slice of who they were before coming to the maze and what they have become since arriving there. Each narrator has his or her own experience with the light known as Jenny (or DiJinni) who has asked for help and lured them to the maze.
It's strange. Whacked out weird. Dark, dismal, and disgusting. Things don't makes sense in the maze - which can be enjoyable and entertaining for the reader. BUT things really don't make sense outside of the maze either - which is definitely frustrating for a reader like me, someone who demands answers and resolution. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the read for the most part, but I'm still not really sure what I just read. And I know that I didn't understand it. I've got so many questions that don't even have a hint of a possible answer buried in the text. I can support ambiguity in art, but I need more than I was given here. I think that many readers may get discouraged or confused by this tale. As such, I'm not really sure how to recommend it.
January 20, 2014
I stand by my statement on the back cover of the book -- BRILLIANT!
January 22, 2014
This was a great read! You can see my full review here on A&A: http://bit.ly/1mFU4HO
June 2, 2014
Really 3.5 stars, and I think that's probably generous.
It's really sad because when I started this book, I thought it would be 5 stars for sure, it was so beautiful and strange and creative. And then it kind of went down-hill from there.
Maze is parted into 4 individual novella-esk stories, connected by location, sometimes the same side characters, and a very very vague over-all arch. This didn't really work for me, I must say. I thought it just tore the story apart and it ended up being very much concept/world-building over substance. Kind of like "I built this amazing world, look at what could all happen in it." But that does not really a story make, for me. Especially the middle two sections didn't add much to the book, and the only reason I gave it 4 stars or 3.5, is because the last one had a connection with the first and provided a nice arch. The middle two were also the ones I had huge issues with in terms of the way it treated women and non-white folks.
I mean you have everything in there, the woman in refrigerator (only extra gruesome), the hijacked womb, the generally patriarchical society, all that stuff. But it sort of makes sense, so I wouldn't have marked him down for that (I mean everything about the book has this weirdly poetic gratuitous gore, that's kind of awesome, so... okay), but there are two obviously non-white characters in it. One is a black woman, who turns out to be demon who ends up eating the pretty white girl. And the black women as demons trope really needs to burn in a fire somewhere. The next is Wang Xin, who is a brutal guy and a rapist and the picture of male entitlement who still feels like he did women some good by raping them and when they say otherwise he beats them. He's a horrendous character and he's contrasted to the nice Joseph, who yeah, is white.
I did have major issue with that, because when it came to humans in this story, those two were the worst.
Having said all that, the world-building is incredible. I LOVED that. It was so creative and gritty and dark and beautiful. That was really, really special, and I kind of understand how someone might get lost in that and then forget to really concentrate on character development and/or plot.
In the end, it was just okay for me, slightly disappointing after how much I loved the beginning.
It's really sad because when I started this book, I thought it would be 5 stars for sure, it was so beautiful and strange and creative. And then it kind of went down-hill from there.
Maze is parted into 4 individual novella-esk stories, connected by location, sometimes the same side characters, and a very very vague over-all arch. This didn't really work for me, I must say. I thought it just tore the story apart and it ended up being very much concept/world-building over substance. Kind of like "I built this amazing world, look at what could all happen in it." But that does not really a story make, for me. Especially the middle two sections didn't add much to the book, and the only reason I gave it 4 stars or 3.5, is because the last one had a connection with the first and provided a nice arch. The middle two were also the ones I had huge issues with in terms of the way it treated women and non-white folks.
I mean you have everything in there, the woman in refrigerator (only extra gruesome), the hijacked womb, the generally patriarchical society, all that stuff. But it sort of makes sense, so I wouldn't have marked him down for that (I mean everything about the book has this weirdly poetic gratuitous gore, that's kind of awesome, so... okay), but there are two obviously non-white characters in it. One is a black woman, who turns out to be demon who ends up eating the pretty white girl. And the black women as demons trope really needs to burn in a fire somewhere. The next is Wang Xin, who is a brutal guy and a rapist and the picture of male entitlement who still feels like he did women some good by raping them and when they say otherwise he beats them. He's a horrendous character and he's contrasted to the nice Joseph, who yeah, is white.
I did have major issue with that, because when it came to humans in this story, those two were the worst.
Having said all that, the world-building is incredible. I LOVED that. It was so creative and gritty and dark and beautiful. That was really, really special, and I kind of understand how someone might get lost in that and then forget to really concentrate on character development and/or plot.
In the end, it was just okay for me, slightly disappointing after how much I loved the beginning.
March 20, 2014
Review copy
Having just finished J. M. Mcdermott's epic novel Maze the only thought that comes to mind is the line from the Grateful Dead's classic Truckin' "What a long strange trip it's been." Some questions come mind that beg to be answered. "Did I enjoy it?" "Yes." "Did I understand it?" "No. Not at all."
Here's the italicized opening...
My name is Jenny.
I was in a city inside of a city inside of a city.
In the shadows there, I slept. I knew only my name--nothing else--and nothing, and nothing else for a very long time.
I slid from behind a shadow and a shadow. I saw you sleeping here.
Put me in your lung.
Breathe deep.
And from there it got weird.
Maze is a set of four separate, yet interconnected, stories set in a complex world the inhabitants refer to as the Maze. A place where some people stumble in and never find a way out, yet others are born and live their entire lives there never knowing any other existence.
The Maze is full of monsters. Gargoyles, minotaurs, trolls, harpies, dogmen, and that's just scratching the surface. It's a dangerous place with a focus on survival, while living a primitive, tribal existence.
The experience of reading this novel was at times surreal . In fact there were moments when I thought this must be what it's like to be on a hallucinogenic drug.
The people who live in the Maze were constantly looking for food and a fresh supply of water, but even that wasn't always available. "Then, before I could talk myself out of it, I drank the water from the sewer. It tasted like rotten eggs, dirt, and something else indescribably awful. I choked down the urge to puke. I expected that this water was going to make me horribly ill--possibly kill me. I did not drink enough to quench my thirst. I couldn't."
Bizarre doesn't even begin to describe Maze, but despite the overall strangeness and leaving me with more questions than answers, when I finished the book, I actually found myself wanting more.
Maze is available now in both trade paperback, and various ebook formats, through Apex books and Amazon.com.
If you count your self among the adventurous in your reading selections then I can definitely recommend J. M. McDermottt's Maze.
Having just finished J. M. Mcdermott's epic novel Maze the only thought that comes to mind is the line from the Grateful Dead's classic Truckin' "What a long strange trip it's been." Some questions come mind that beg to be answered. "Did I enjoy it?" "Yes." "Did I understand it?" "No. Not at all."
Here's the italicized opening...
My name is Jenny.
I was in a city inside of a city inside of a city.
In the shadows there, I slept. I knew only my name--nothing else--and nothing, and nothing else for a very long time.
I slid from behind a shadow and a shadow. I saw you sleeping here.
Put me in your lung.
Breathe deep.
And from there it got weird.
Maze is a set of four separate, yet interconnected, stories set in a complex world the inhabitants refer to as the Maze. A place where some people stumble in and never find a way out, yet others are born and live their entire lives there never knowing any other existence.
The Maze is full of monsters. Gargoyles, minotaurs, trolls, harpies, dogmen, and that's just scratching the surface. It's a dangerous place with a focus on survival, while living a primitive, tribal existence.
The experience of reading this novel was at times surreal . In fact there were moments when I thought this must be what it's like to be on a hallucinogenic drug.
The people who live in the Maze were constantly looking for food and a fresh supply of water, but even that wasn't always available. "Then, before I could talk myself out of it, I drank the water from the sewer. It tasted like rotten eggs, dirt, and something else indescribably awful. I choked down the urge to puke. I expected that this water was going to make me horribly ill--possibly kill me. I did not drink enough to quench my thirst. I couldn't."
Bizarre doesn't even begin to describe Maze, but despite the overall strangeness and leaving me with more questions than answers, when I finished the book, I actually found myself wanting more.
Maze is available now in both trade paperback, and various ebook formats, through Apex books and Amazon.com.
If you count your self among the adventurous in your reading selections then I can definitely recommend J. M. McDermottt's Maze.
September 3, 2022
Normally, I would be cautious . . . hesitant, even . . . about any book described as a weird/dark fantasy novel. It just sounds either artistic or pretentious, conjuring memories of high school texts that were very literate indeed, but about as entertaining as a line at the license bureau. About the only reason I decided to give Maze a shot was that it came from Apex, and I've come to expect solid entertainment from them.
J.M. McDermott is to be commended for delivering on his rather ambitious concept. This is, first and foremost, the story of a maze . . . but it's also a tale of interwoven lives inside that maze. There is that of Maia, who remembers life aboard a space station, even if her daughter knows nothing but blood. There's Joseph, who returned home from his high school reunion to find something in the darkness. There is Wang, who sees a future that could have been. There's Julie, who knows nothing but a life inside the maze, and Lucius, the Neanderthal who loves her.
And then there's Jenny, the ghost, who just may be much more than that.
There is some very weird, very visceral horror surrounding these stories - the bug-like, plant-like, and beast-like monsters just scratch the surface. More than that, though, there's a palatable sense of hopelessness and dread to the maze and those who exist within it. It is neither a safe nor a happy place to be. For that matter, it's not a healthy place to be either, with the hopeless denizens surviving on blood, maggots, and even cannibalism. One character describes it as a sort of Bermuda Triangle that people stumble into it, but which is indifferent to them. What is it really? Why is there? What is its purpose? Well, we never really find out any of that, but that's not really the point.
To get back to that idea of being literate, this is a very well-written, carefully-crafted tale. It's structured just so, with a mother and daughter bookending not just the pages, but the ideas and lives within. The language is short and abrupt, taking unexpected turns on a regular basis, and often doubles back on itself to repeat words, phrases, and more. It reads like a maze, but that's not to say it's futile or frustrating. Reading is itself an experience, with the stories a part of that experience.
To be honest, I'm not sure if there's a great purpose or deeper message to the work, or whether this is just a story of survival against all odds. What I do know is that Maze makes for a fascinating read that may try a bit too hard, at times, to be literate, but which never forgets that it's higher purpose is to entertain.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
J.M. McDermott is to be commended for delivering on his rather ambitious concept. This is, first and foremost, the story of a maze . . . but it's also a tale of interwoven lives inside that maze. There is that of Maia, who remembers life aboard a space station, even if her daughter knows nothing but blood. There's Joseph, who returned home from his high school reunion to find something in the darkness. There is Wang, who sees a future that could have been. There's Julie, who knows nothing but a life inside the maze, and Lucius, the Neanderthal who loves her.
And then there's Jenny, the ghost, who just may be much more than that.
There is some very weird, very visceral horror surrounding these stories - the bug-like, plant-like, and beast-like monsters just scratch the surface. More than that, though, there's a palatable sense of hopelessness and dread to the maze and those who exist within it. It is neither a safe nor a happy place to be. For that matter, it's not a healthy place to be either, with the hopeless denizens surviving on blood, maggots, and even cannibalism. One character describes it as a sort of Bermuda Triangle that people stumble into it, but which is indifferent to them. What is it really? Why is there? What is its purpose? Well, we never really find out any of that, but that's not really the point.
To get back to that idea of being literate, this is a very well-written, carefully-crafted tale. It's structured just so, with a mother and daughter bookending not just the pages, but the ideas and lives within. The language is short and abrupt, taking unexpected turns on a regular basis, and often doubles back on itself to repeat words, phrases, and more. It reads like a maze, but that's not to say it's futile or frustrating. Reading is itself an experience, with the stories a part of that experience.
To be honest, I'm not sure if there's a great purpose or deeper message to the work, or whether this is just a story of survival against all odds. What I do know is that Maze makes for a fascinating read that may try a bit too hard, at times, to be literate, but which never forgets that it's higher purpose is to entertain.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
September 24, 2017
Life in the maze is not pleasant or easy. In one part of the story, the boy saves the girl from the shadow people, but it was actually his poor judgement that got her trapped in the maze in the first place. After the rescue, do they live ‘happily-ever-after’? No, she says to him, “I’ll never forgive you for this” and he can only answer, “I wish that saving you meant a happier life.”
Words that can describe this book are: brilliant, weird, creative, confusing, disgusting, complicated and dangerous. My speed of reading tends to vary with my interest and I read this book slowly so that I could both enjoy the book and try to understand it. Amazingly, the author made these tasks as difficult as he could for me. I’m not sure I enjoyed all of it and I’m not sure I understood it, especially the ending. All these things, however, are not reasons to pass on this book. It is definitely a must read. Why? So that you can decide for yourself. You may find the book to be one of the best things you have ever read, or one of the worst. Either way, I think the author has accomplished his goal – to evoke emotion.
Now days, modern art is not concerned with rendering real life, but instead it is concerned with evoking emotion. That is exactly what McDermott does. As an artist, he is capable of evoking emotion in very simple ways. Just remember, disgust and confusion are emotions too.
Phillip M. Johns
Words that can describe this book are: brilliant, weird, creative, confusing, disgusting, complicated and dangerous. My speed of reading tends to vary with my interest and I read this book slowly so that I could both enjoy the book and try to understand it. Amazingly, the author made these tasks as difficult as he could for me. I’m not sure I enjoyed all of it and I’m not sure I understood it, especially the ending. All these things, however, are not reasons to pass on this book. It is definitely a must read. Why? So that you can decide for yourself. You may find the book to be one of the best things you have ever read, or one of the worst. Either way, I think the author has accomplished his goal – to evoke emotion.
Now days, modern art is not concerned with rendering real life, but instead it is concerned with evoking emotion. That is exactly what McDermott does. As an artist, he is capable of evoking emotion in very simple ways. Just remember, disgust and confusion are emotions too.
Phillip M. Johns
January 10, 2021
Rating: B
February 25, 2014
Maze's description goes like this:
"From every corner of time and space, sometimes people go missing without a trace. They never come back.
Get lost in the long stone halls of the maze with the ones that find each other, form tribes, scrape out a life from rocks and sand. Their stories interweave. Maia Station is a scientist ripped from stasis, but she has no tools to test the way things are. Instead, she raises her daughter as best she can and survives. Wang Xin once had his head dipped in water, and a djinni in the water entered his eye. He sees the future, exactly as it was supposed to be if he hadn’t seen the light, but it does him no good in the life he has. In a world much like our own, Joseph comes home from a ten year high school reunion and encounters a light in the darkness. The light speaks.
My name is Jenny. Put me in your lung. Breathe deep."
It was interesting and made me think a little bit of Madeline L'Engle, an author I loved as a child. So, I put in a bid and won MAZE.
I did not like it. In the least.
Why? Because there are some serious issues with how this manuscript treats women. Reproductive terrorism and blatant sexism are ALL OVER the place. There were two rapes (one female victim, one male victim - I will give this book that much), a near-deadly assault, a mystical pregnancy or two, adultery, and spousal abuse! A man narrates a part that should have been a woman's story to tell. It seems we're supposed to sympathize with one of the rapists (the male rapist), but demonize the other (the female rapist). There is so much internalized sexism in the female characters. I THINK the author genuinely meant for the first and last sections to be good, independent women, but instead all I read was women at the whims of the men in their life. The scientist who suffered through a mystical pregnancy and ACCEPTED it as fact when she had the ability to change the course of her life from the future. The woman who worked her entire life to be self-sufficient and was then thrown out with her lover into barren wilderness for the crime of adultery, only to revert to entirely depending on her lover. Oh, and she did not marry her lover, but his BROTHER, because she got in a snit fit. And so much male gaze.
I honestly only finished the book because I needed the complete the darn thing so I didn't have to wonder how it finished and have this book stay in my head. There is so much wrong here.
Now, with that out of the way:
The narrations are written in what I call internal monologue, a type of more structured stream of consciousness. I appreciate that choice. Stream of consciousness combined with the maze of interconnected plots would have been too much.
The interconnectivity is well-resolved. Not everything is resolved, but most of it is. I appreciate that this book is not a neat package.
The writing itself is not bad. The content is what gets me. This book needs trigger warnings. If you are at all sensitive to issues like I have listed, please don't read it.
D (acceptable writing, interwoven plots well handled; unacceptable attitudes, terrifying treatment of women, triggers, sexism)
"From every corner of time and space, sometimes people go missing without a trace. They never come back.
Get lost in the long stone halls of the maze with the ones that find each other, form tribes, scrape out a life from rocks and sand. Their stories interweave. Maia Station is a scientist ripped from stasis, but she has no tools to test the way things are. Instead, she raises her daughter as best she can and survives. Wang Xin once had his head dipped in water, and a djinni in the water entered his eye. He sees the future, exactly as it was supposed to be if he hadn’t seen the light, but it does him no good in the life he has. In a world much like our own, Joseph comes home from a ten year high school reunion and encounters a light in the darkness. The light speaks.
My name is Jenny. Put me in your lung. Breathe deep."
It was interesting and made me think a little bit of Madeline L'Engle, an author I loved as a child. So, I put in a bid and won MAZE.
I did not like it. In the least.
Why? Because there are some serious issues with how this manuscript treats women. Reproductive terrorism and blatant sexism are ALL OVER the place. There were two rapes (one female victim, one male victim - I will give this book that much), a near-deadly assault, a mystical pregnancy or two, adultery, and spousal abuse! A man narrates a part that should have been a woman's story to tell. It seems we're supposed to sympathize with one of the rapists (the male rapist), but demonize the other (the female rapist). There is so much internalized sexism in the female characters. I THINK the author genuinely meant for the first and last sections to be good, independent women, but instead all I read was women at the whims of the men in their life. The scientist who suffered through a mystical pregnancy and ACCEPTED it as fact when she had the ability to change the course of her life from the future. The woman who worked her entire life to be self-sufficient and was then thrown out with her lover into barren wilderness for the crime of adultery, only to revert to entirely depending on her lover. Oh, and she did not marry her lover, but his BROTHER, because she got in a snit fit. And so much male gaze.
I honestly only finished the book because I needed the complete the darn thing so I didn't have to wonder how it finished and have this book stay in my head. There is so much wrong here.
Now, with that out of the way:
The narrations are written in what I call internal monologue, a type of more structured stream of consciousness. I appreciate that choice. Stream of consciousness combined with the maze of interconnected plots would have been too much.
The interconnectivity is well-resolved. Not everything is resolved, but most of it is. I appreciate that this book is not a neat package.
The writing itself is not bad. The content is what gets me. This book needs trigger warnings. If you are at all sensitive to issues like I have listed, please don't read it.
D (acceptable writing, interwoven plots well handled; unacceptable attitudes, terrifying treatment of women, triggers, sexism)
May 6, 2014
I found J.M. McDermott’s Maze to be an interesting read. It’s the latest LibraryThing Early Reviewer book on my TBR list and is quite different from a lot of what I’ve read recently.
Maze is divided into sections: the mazes of four different characters, Maia Station, Joseph, Wang Xin, and Julie Station. They all find themselves trapped in the same place, it would seem. A lot of repeating characters, and places. But they each have their own issues to deal with. Having thought about it since I finished the book, I feel like there are four separate mazes (at least) that all lie on top of one another. They interact and yet are somewhat separate. That probably doesn’t make any sense, unless you’ve read the book.
And even then…
I found McDermott’s prose to be solid and, occasionally quite lovely. The stories themselves are dark, violent, and in some cases, downright gross. The book is a mix of genres. Science fiction when we’re in Maia’s maze; she comes from a space station and looks at the maze from a scientific point of view. She’s the only one who does. Julie, Maia’s daughter, is born into the maze and doesn’t really understand the science her mother tries to teach her.
The two men’s stories are told more from a fantasy/horror point of view. They both came to the maze from a more prosaic planet Earth, stumbling into it. Well, Wang Xin trips over his bicycle, literally stumbling; Joseph is dragged into the sewer system by a ghost he brings to life.
I found Wang Xin to be the most interesting character of the bunch. Jenny Ghost, who has her own interlude in the book, drags Joseph into the plumbing, but gets to Wang Zin through his eye, and he (as a young boy) believes he can see the future because of this. A lot of things happen that convince him he’s right, and even when things don’t match up to his vision, he’s still convinced.
Wang Xin’s section of the book, his maze, is also the most disturbing. Part of his vision includes two women he is sure are in love with him. They aren’t and he ends up treating them badly–raping one, in fact. Xin pays for his bad behavior, and the author’s tearing down of his visions bit by bit is part of the payment.
Unlike most fiction I read, Maze has no resolution. Our protagonists never find their way out of their mazes, unless death is the way out. As Joseph says at the end of his story:
We made the best life we could in this terrible place.
This may be frustrating for readers who like a definitive ending to their stories. I didn’t mind it so much. My main problems concerned certain sections that weren’t as well written as others. Joseph’s section, in particular, felt stiffer and more confusing than the rest. And the scene with Parks on the bed reminded me of the first Evil Dead movie, and not in a good way. And the grotesqueness of what was done to her felt gratuitous. What was the point?
In general, though, I would recommend Maze. If you’re up for dark and troubling read with no easy answers, give it a try.
Maze is divided into sections: the mazes of four different characters, Maia Station, Joseph, Wang Xin, and Julie Station. They all find themselves trapped in the same place, it would seem. A lot of repeating characters, and places. But they each have their own issues to deal with. Having thought about it since I finished the book, I feel like there are four separate mazes (at least) that all lie on top of one another. They interact and yet are somewhat separate. That probably doesn’t make any sense, unless you’ve read the book.
And even then…
I found McDermott’s prose to be solid and, occasionally quite lovely. The stories themselves are dark, violent, and in some cases, downright gross. The book is a mix of genres. Science fiction when we’re in Maia’s maze; she comes from a space station and looks at the maze from a scientific point of view. She’s the only one who does. Julie, Maia’s daughter, is born into the maze and doesn’t really understand the science her mother tries to teach her.
The two men’s stories are told more from a fantasy/horror point of view. They both came to the maze from a more prosaic planet Earth, stumbling into it. Well, Wang Xin trips over his bicycle, literally stumbling; Joseph is dragged into the sewer system by a ghost he brings to life.
I found Wang Xin to be the most interesting character of the bunch. Jenny Ghost, who has her own interlude in the book, drags Joseph into the plumbing, but gets to Wang Zin through his eye, and he (as a young boy) believes he can see the future because of this. A lot of things happen that convince him he’s right, and even when things don’t match up to his vision, he’s still convinced.
Wang Xin’s section of the book, his maze, is also the most disturbing. Part of his vision includes two women he is sure are in love with him. They aren’t and he ends up treating them badly–raping one, in fact. Xin pays for his bad behavior, and the author’s tearing down of his visions bit by bit is part of the payment.
Unlike most fiction I read, Maze has no resolution. Our protagonists never find their way out of their mazes, unless death is the way out. As Joseph says at the end of his story:
We made the best life we could in this terrible place.
This may be frustrating for readers who like a definitive ending to their stories. I didn’t mind it so much. My main problems concerned certain sections that weren’t as well written as others. Joseph’s section, in particular, felt stiffer and more confusing than the rest. And the scene with Parks on the bed reminded me of the first Evil Dead movie, and not in a good way. And the grotesqueness of what was done to her felt gratuitous. What was the point?
In general, though, I would recommend Maze. If you’re up for dark and troubling read with no easy answers, give it a try.
May 5, 2014
I like bizarre, complicated stories. The kind that warp and wrap themselves into intricate designs of opaque obscurity and leave you scratching your head and rereading the same paragraph thirteen times to be sure what you think happened really did just happen and not the other thing that you suspect may have occurred and holy fuck what is the deal with that guy who just did the thing he shouldn’t be able to do? When I’m in the right mood, I get a kick out of those and I was certainly in the mood when I picked up Maze.
I’ve complained before about the dearth of imagination put into much science fiction and fantasy, but there is no problem with that here. McDermott takes both tropes and myths we think we are familiar with and spins them into new yarn. This world and the creatures that inhabit it feel wholly new and vibrant, in their own brutal way. J.M. then uses our expectations of these myths and tropes as misdirection to get us looking up when he pulls the cloth from beneath our feet. It’s a nice trick and it’s used to marvelous effect in bending minds.
At the same time, everything seems very organic. The society we experience exists and operates the way it does as a direct result of the way the world is constructed. They are people adapting to their surroundings and it fits seamlessly. The world building is outstanding here.
Similarly, the arcs and conflicts of the characters were quite engaging. A woman struggling to survive, alone, in an alien world. A man trying desperately to hunt down and save someone he doomed to this existence by his own sad attempts to end his isolation. Another man pushing to reconcile the world he exists within and the one expects. A young woman struggling between the expectations of society and her own needs. None of these are simple problems, none result in simple solutions and no one get the happily ever after treatment.
However, there were some problems with readability. The writing style is very clunky and uncomfortable, especially when it comes to dialogue. Take this bit of dialogue as an example: “Joseph, I have to tell you this, Joseph, and I want you to not forget this. You have your children and had your great love. I have had none. I am in love with this woman.” It is technically grammatically correct, but hits the tongue all wrong. I get the strong feeling that this was a stylistic choice, and I respect that, but it pulled me out of the narrative and kept me from being able to settle into the story. That could very well be an experience killer for many people. It certainly made the whole less enjoyable for me.
By and large, I was left with a story full of interesting ideas, an intriguing central philosophy and complicated characters facing complicated situations that was nearly destroyed by the way it was told. If you can power through the style choice, there is plenty to love here, but it asks quite a bit in return.
I’ve complained before about the dearth of imagination put into much science fiction and fantasy, but there is no problem with that here. McDermott takes both tropes and myths we think we are familiar with and spins them into new yarn. This world and the creatures that inhabit it feel wholly new and vibrant, in their own brutal way. J.M. then uses our expectations of these myths and tropes as misdirection to get us looking up when he pulls the cloth from beneath our feet. It’s a nice trick and it’s used to marvelous effect in bending minds.
At the same time, everything seems very organic. The society we experience exists and operates the way it does as a direct result of the way the world is constructed. They are people adapting to their surroundings and it fits seamlessly. The world building is outstanding here.
Similarly, the arcs and conflicts of the characters were quite engaging. A woman struggling to survive, alone, in an alien world. A man trying desperately to hunt down and save someone he doomed to this existence by his own sad attempts to end his isolation. Another man pushing to reconcile the world he exists within and the one expects. A young woman struggling between the expectations of society and her own needs. None of these are simple problems, none result in simple solutions and no one get the happily ever after treatment.
However, there were some problems with readability. The writing style is very clunky and uncomfortable, especially when it comes to dialogue. Take this bit of dialogue as an example: “Joseph, I have to tell you this, Joseph, and I want you to not forget this. You have your children and had your great love. I have had none. I am in love with this woman.” It is technically grammatically correct, but hits the tongue all wrong. I get the strong feeling that this was a stylistic choice, and I respect that, but it pulled me out of the narrative and kept me from being able to settle into the story. That could very well be an experience killer for many people. It certainly made the whole less enjoyable for me.
By and large, I was left with a story full of interesting ideas, an intriguing central philosophy and complicated characters facing complicated situations that was nearly destroyed by the way it was told. If you can power through the style choice, there is plenty to love here, but it asks quite a bit in return.
March 12, 2014
Maia Station says it best when describing J.M. McDermott’s Maze at the very beginning of the book. She talks of everything being, “…disjointed, wrapped in silver gauze…” and also “…sand ground away at her mind…” Maze is truly a piece of human art and each layer is peeled back like skin to show the bloody tissue and bone beneath the surface.
The stories of those living inside the maze are formed by what at first appears to be a jumbled mass of hodgepodge characters. Maia Station is a scientist from the future somehow sucked into this bleak and unforgiving world. Joseph lives in a similar time stream to us, just in a more apocalyptic world before birthing a Djinni from his flesh and then is dragged through pipes into the Maze. Wang Xin is a young boy turned fearless warrior, who sees all his paths laid out before him by the water Djinni splashed into his eye. Then finally, there is Julie Station, born inside the Maze by Maia and her closing chapter. This diverse group of characters and different periods of time, are all interconnected as we weave through the maze, one life at a time.
Life in the Maze is cruel, harsh, and only those with a strong desire to survive can flesh out a meager existence for themselves. Feast on maggots, berries, vultures, or even minotaurs and harpies to quench the ache of hunger in your stomach. McDermott knows the very depths humans can go to in order to survive. Joseph’s story is particularly graceful in his downward spiral for survival. Just an average guy who finds love at a high school reunion, except for the ball of light he sucked into his lungs and births from his chest. A creature known as Jenny, who rips his life and that of his loves apart when it spits them out into the hostile world of the maze.
Each page you turn grabs hold of your hands and yanks you deeper into its clutches until you’re so far entrenched in the Maze you can’t find your way back out. Each of our characters hopes to carve out a better life for themselves and possibly gain some understanding of the maze along the way, all the while each of them are somehow linked together by a bond of blood.
I won’t claim to fully understand the circular closure in the novel, but I do appreciate McDermott’s story-telling prowess. Not often am I left in a dark tunnel with a glimmering light dangling in front of me and I totter after it on uneasy steps. Maze did that to me. If you want to lose yourself into a hostile world with only a small chance of survival and comprehension, then I dare you to step into the Maze.
The stories of those living inside the maze are formed by what at first appears to be a jumbled mass of hodgepodge characters. Maia Station is a scientist from the future somehow sucked into this bleak and unforgiving world. Joseph lives in a similar time stream to us, just in a more apocalyptic world before birthing a Djinni from his flesh and then is dragged through pipes into the Maze. Wang Xin is a young boy turned fearless warrior, who sees all his paths laid out before him by the water Djinni splashed into his eye. Then finally, there is Julie Station, born inside the Maze by Maia and her closing chapter. This diverse group of characters and different periods of time, are all interconnected as we weave through the maze, one life at a time.
Life in the Maze is cruel, harsh, and only those with a strong desire to survive can flesh out a meager existence for themselves. Feast on maggots, berries, vultures, or even minotaurs and harpies to quench the ache of hunger in your stomach. McDermott knows the very depths humans can go to in order to survive. Joseph’s story is particularly graceful in his downward spiral for survival. Just an average guy who finds love at a high school reunion, except for the ball of light he sucked into his lungs and births from his chest. A creature known as Jenny, who rips his life and that of his loves apart when it spits them out into the hostile world of the maze.
Each page you turn grabs hold of your hands and yanks you deeper into its clutches until you’re so far entrenched in the Maze you can’t find your way back out. Each of our characters hopes to carve out a better life for themselves and possibly gain some understanding of the maze along the way, all the while each of them are somehow linked together by a bond of blood.
I won’t claim to fully understand the circular closure in the novel, but I do appreciate McDermott’s story-telling prowess. Not often am I left in a dark tunnel with a glimmering light dangling in front of me and I totter after it on uneasy steps. Maze did that to me. If you want to lose yourself into a hostile world with only a small chance of survival and comprehension, then I dare you to step into the Maze.
July 30, 2016
Disclaimer: I was given an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
The maze is scary a place, a place of decay, scarce food and lurking monsters. And I sure hope it isn't real, because I won't survive it.
A dark, disturbing, but very imaginative and creative novel. It follows the stories of 5 people, who have somehow found themselves or were born in the Maze. People that are remotely or closely connected. And if you want to read a book about heroes overcoming obstacles, this book is not for you. Because all 5 stories follow the lives of ordinary people, struggling with the same issues - life threatening monsters and food privation. And they do not have any bigger understanding of the maze then we do, so they turn back to their own religion, their rituals, and do what they can do to contribute to the community. In fact it feels like the maze is the main protagonist (almost alive) and the "monsters" are just creatures, stranded in this harsh place, victims of some space shifting anomaly that uprooted them from their home.
Somehow a lot of elements in the novel make me think of Eve's garden. I have no explanation about that as I am not religious, but I do think some people will be able to extract a religious theme from the "Maze".
The reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because I actually missed to see the bigger picture and the end confused me even more. Just like life, the novel asks big questions such as "why am I here" and "what is the meaning", but doesn't give us the answers. We must decide for ourselves.
A question about Saitan for those who have read it:
Edit: 2016. This is one of the books that gave me a big hangover. I can only compare it to hull zero three.
The maze is scary a place, a place of decay, scarce food and lurking monsters. And I sure hope it isn't real, because I won't survive it.
A dark, disturbing, but very imaginative and creative novel. It follows the stories of 5 people, who have somehow found themselves or were born in the Maze. People that are remotely or closely connected. And if you want to read a book about heroes overcoming obstacles, this book is not for you. Because all 5 stories follow the lives of ordinary people, struggling with the same issues - life threatening monsters and food privation. And they do not have any bigger understanding of the maze then we do, so they turn back to their own religion, their rituals, and do what they can do to contribute to the community. In fact it feels like the maze is the main protagonist (almost alive) and the "monsters" are just creatures, stranded in this harsh place, victims of some space shifting anomaly that uprooted them from their home.
Somehow a lot of elements in the novel make me think of Eve's garden. I have no explanation about that as I am not religious, but I do think some people will be able to extract a religious theme from the "Maze".
The reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because I actually missed to see the bigger picture and the end confused me even more. Just like life, the novel asks big questions such as "why am I here" and "what is the meaning", but doesn't give us the answers. We must decide for ourselves.
A question about Saitan for those who have read it:
Edit: 2016. This is one of the books that gave me a big hangover. I can only compare it to hull zero three.
April 18, 2014
The Maze is a strange place. It is weird and awesomely scary. It makes no sense to the reader, or to the characters within its grasp. The maze is populated by a diverse mix of characters who have arrived there from places as far afield as a space station in the future and from the earth in prehistory. The maze not only plays with concepts of place and space, but also with time.
The Maze begins with Maia’s story. She was in hibernation on a space station, but suddenly she is within the maze. She tries to approach her survival by using her science background, but nothing makes sense in this weird and crazy world.
A group of refugees form a village where they each attempt to survive as well as they can. The village is made up of such diverse characters as a young boy who fell off his bike one day and woke up in the maze, a Neanderthal man, a young man from a post-apocalyptic US city who is dragged into the maze by a Djinni (in a truly disturbing scene), Julie, Maia’s daughter, born in the maze, and Wang Xin, a warrior who sees the future.
The Maze is also populated with hideous creatures. Everything is a potential threat. Not only do plants, birds, animals and insects threaten at every turn, but there are minotaurs and monsters and gargoyles as well. Every day, every moment, it’s kill or be killed.
There is not enough food and water is hard to find. Traps must be set for edible creatures, but even the very act of eating some of these things can result in death. When a villager dies, their bodies are placed on one of the maze’s walls in order to attract scavengers which can then be eaten in turn.
This is a dark and desperate tale, told in short, sharp prose. McDermott has imagined a world so odd, so eerie, and so bizarre that I was never comfortable reading this book. It has left me with little understanding of what The Maze is or does. I am still unsure of what I have just read. But, I never for a moment considered giving up on it, feeling compelled to see just what was going to happen next.
The Maze begins with Maia’s story. She was in hibernation on a space station, but suddenly she is within the maze. She tries to approach her survival by using her science background, but nothing makes sense in this weird and crazy world.
A group of refugees form a village where they each attempt to survive as well as they can. The village is made up of such diverse characters as a young boy who fell off his bike one day and woke up in the maze, a Neanderthal man, a young man from a post-apocalyptic US city who is dragged into the maze by a Djinni (in a truly disturbing scene), Julie, Maia’s daughter, born in the maze, and Wang Xin, a warrior who sees the future.
The Maze is also populated with hideous creatures. Everything is a potential threat. Not only do plants, birds, animals and insects threaten at every turn, but there are minotaurs and monsters and gargoyles as well. Every day, every moment, it’s kill or be killed.
There is not enough food and water is hard to find. Traps must be set for edible creatures, but even the very act of eating some of these things can result in death. When a villager dies, their bodies are placed on one of the maze’s walls in order to attract scavengers which can then be eaten in turn.
This is a dark and desperate tale, told in short, sharp prose. McDermott has imagined a world so odd, so eerie, and so bizarre that I was never comfortable reading this book. It has left me with little understanding of what The Maze is or does. I am still unsure of what I have just read. But, I never for a moment considered giving up on it, feeling compelled to see just what was going to happen next.
February 13, 2014
When I put in to get an early review copy of this book I had two thoughts, one was that this was going to be a very creative work and the other was that if it was going to be that creative it had better be written brilliantly. There were no problems hitting the first mark. I enjoyed the creative thought behind the book, I enjoyed reading about the differences in the maze and in the reality we all knew. I almost wanted to see these things worked out in video game form, something where I could wander through and interact with other players. Sadly, it lacked on the second thought. There were times when the repetition was more annoying than creative, even when you knew what the author was trying to do. There were times you just couldn't make out why something was happening, and worse, there were times when you wondered why certain things were going on at all because they seemed totally irrelevant to the story.
In the end, everything relates to itself and most things are resolved in your mind, if you are willing to give the book the time and push your way through its strangeness. It is hard writing in a location that has no time constraints and you have to be very good at what you do in order to make it interesting and mind gripping for the reader. This book just doesn't cut it in a lot of ways. I could give it a million points for creativity, but that doesn't make it feel any less rushed through and jumbled about. If you're going to have a really creative idea like this, your readers deserve more meat to keep them going than the strange tasting flesh of odd creatures.
Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review.
In the end, everything relates to itself and most things are resolved in your mind, if you are willing to give the book the time and push your way through its strangeness. It is hard writing in a location that has no time constraints and you have to be very good at what you do in order to make it interesting and mind gripping for the reader. This book just doesn't cut it in a lot of ways. I could give it a million points for creativity, but that doesn't make it feel any less rushed through and jumbled about. If you're going to have a really creative idea like this, your readers deserve more meat to keep them going than the strange tasting flesh of odd creatures.
Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review.
September 8, 2014
I am, I'll fully admit, a sucker for a story about a maze. There's something about the general plot of humans being trapped in a spatially confusing human structure that I find compelling enough to ignore an otherwise subpar story. Maze's story isn't great, but I wouldn't say it's subpar, either. In fact, it's not even a single story, but four, each about a different member of a community of people that form in the maze. The conceit of the book is that the Maze is some sort of gigantic area where people from all different times--and very probably all different realities--find themselves transported to, alongside a variety of very dangerous creatures. There's never any question of escape, and barely even any exploration; everyone's too preoccupied with staying alive. The first story features a woman from a space station wonder how she can raise a daughter among people who have never heard of science. The second story concerns a man from a near future of ours where society is on its way to collapse and we all carefully ignore it; he's spirited to the Maze alongside an innocent woman who made the mistake of getting close to him at the wrong time, and he attempts to rally himself to save her. The third story is of a "be careful what you wish for" vein, as a hunter as a small child sees the future and become obsessed with making it happen, whatever the price. And the final story is a love story of sorts, narrated by a woman who doesn't realize what she really wants until it's too late. McDermott sells the nature of the maze and its monstrous, bizarre inhabitants well. But the stories and characters don't come across quite as favorably; in the fourth story, for example, the reader is presented with the outcome fairly immediately, and there isn't a lot of question to how it came about. It's clearly a choice on McDermott's part to tell the story this way, but it fell a little flat for me, as did most of the characters. Still, maze. Maze is cool.
November 20, 2015
Strange, dark, meditative, dreamlike. The narrative itself evokes the maze; at times sad, at times hopeful, mostly a bit of both. It feels somehow incomplete, as if it's more of a series of vignettes than a story, or as if the character who seems like the protagonist is actually just a side character, a Rosencrantz (or Guildenstern), seeing only bits and pieces of the main narrative. That sense of incompleteness is, of course, what it's like to live in the maze. It's all a metaphor, of course. I don't know why it's only getting three stars: maybe because it made me feel sad and I'm not sure I'll read it again. Maybe because of the women raped and cats killed and other things I wish hadn't happened, even though I know that is how I am supposed to feel about them.
It's definitely #LossLit, and given that I picked it up via M. John Harrison, I am not at all surprised.
It's definitely #LossLit, and given that I picked it up via M. John Harrison, I am not at all surprised.
June 17, 2015
I really enjoyed this book, on multiple levels.
This book is about The Maze, a place where a huge maze stretches to every horizon. People live there, die there, are born there. Others find their way there.
Many things are strange in the maze. Creatures that should not, perhaps could not exist in our world. Time and space that don't always act as expected.
Because of this, the narrative is not in order. And because of this, it doesn't always flow smoothly from place to place or event to event. You can't "get a handle" on this story, you have to experience it and just accept it as it comes. In retrospect, some things are clearer, and others cause more questions. (Sort of like the Maze itself.)
This book is about The Maze, a place where a huge maze stretches to every horizon. People live there, die there, are born there. Others find their way there.
Many things are strange in the maze. Creatures that should not, perhaps could not exist in our world. Time and space that don't always act as expected.
Because of this, the narrative is not in order. And because of this, it doesn't always flow smoothly from place to place or event to event. You can't "get a handle" on this story, you have to experience it and just accept it as it comes. In retrospect, some things are clearer, and others cause more questions. (Sort of like the Maze itself.)
March 26, 2014
I received this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers programme.
This is a fantasy/supernatural kind of book about a group of people who end up leaving their own time and place and ending up trapped in a mysterious maze full of weird time anomalies and monsters. The book is divided into sections told from the points of view of different people living in the maze at slightly different times, so you hear about a few events from different perspectives and see how things change for the people living in the maze over several generations.
It was interesting but a bit gory in places for me. Worth a read, though.
This is a fantasy/supernatural kind of book about a group of people who end up leaving their own time and place and ending up trapped in a mysterious maze full of weird time anomalies and monsters. The book is divided into sections told from the points of view of different people living in the maze at slightly different times, so you hear about a few events from different perspectives and see how things change for the people living in the maze over several generations.
It was interesting but a bit gory in places for me. Worth a read, though.
May 14, 2017
I received this book in a GoodReads First Reads giveaway.
This book was quite a bit different than the impression I got when reading the book description for this novel. The book was much darker than I expected with quite a bit of mythical and horror themes that I don't normally read. It was well written but I can say that this was not my favorite novel that I have read. If you enjoy these themes, this novel is probably a good fit for you and if not, their might be better choices.
3 stars for being well written
This book was quite a bit different than the impression I got when reading the book description for this novel. The book was much darker than I expected with quite a bit of mythical and horror themes that I don't normally read. It was well written but I can say that this was not my favorite novel that I have read. If you enjoy these themes, this novel is probably a good fit for you and if not, their might be better choices.
3 stars for being well written
October 22, 2014
This marks the first time I'd read a book of this fashion. I spent most of the time confused and wtf-ing but ultimately it made sense. Not sure if I'd read anything like this again, the style of writing is just a little too stilted for me, but I'm glad I ventured out of my comfort zone to see what is available in sci-fi these days.
February 12, 2016
Men and women from various times and places disappear and find themselves trapped in a strange maze. Weird small press science fiction book that sort of makes sense if you squint at it or look at it side ways, just don’t ask me to explain it. It reads a bit like an early 20th century fantasy novel (think William Morris or David Lindsay) on 21st century drugs. I liked it.
March 4, 2014
Huh? This sums up Maze. Not quite sure what was going on. Why did the tribe settle in the maze? Why not just find your way out? If people were arriving from current times or from the future, why continue to live like savages? The idea behind the book was good, just poorly executed.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews