For me, the measure of a great fiction read is found in the corresponding decline in my sleep.
With The Maze Runner series, written by James Dashner, I spent 3 days, 1 day, and 2 days respectively on each of the three books. As I am kept thoroughly occupied during the day (and usually, part of the evening), this reading mostly took place in the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning. And even as I suffer through a long work day after only a few hours of sleep, I can say unequivocally that it was worth it. This was the best series I have read since The Hunger Games.
The first novel begins with a boy, Thomas, waking up in maze without any memory of who he is or where he came from. Along with sixty some other boys in the maze, Thomas is thrust into a situation of imminent peril, carefully and ominously monitored by an organization known as WICKED. Only a fraction of the boys survive the maze, only to find themselves (in the second book) thrust into another controlled survival scenario, this time in the real world (or what's left of it). In the final book, the handful of remaining friends rebel against those who control these experiments, as well as fight against an infected and increasingly-depraved humanity.
Throughout the incredible physical and mental ordeals throughout the series, there is a vibrant and thought-provoking ethical ordeal: Does the end justify the means? Should a person kill his/her friend if that person is descending into murderous madness? Should a governmental agency peform sickening experiments and slaughter innocent children if could aid the survival of the human race? And who has the authority to make these moral decisions affecting the lives of others?
These questions, especially the central one, are both timely and important in a society increasingly swayed by utilitarian ethics, where individuals are often swallowed by the ambiguous concept of the "greater good," which seeks to maximize pleasure and minimize pain for the masses.
For society:
1) Can an unborn life be experimented upon to enhance medical research and perhaps save other lives? (Though most studies show that umbilical cords are just as useful for such research.)
2) Should destructive economic programs be implemented if it will reduce global warming and arrest the rise of the oceans? (Though the polar ice caps grew 60% last year and the global temperature went down during the last 15 years, which is why it's now called "climate change" not "warming.")
3) Should individual control and moral decisions over health care be minimized in order to provide more substantial health care to the whole of the populace? (Though such health care, where demand always exceeds supply, will inevitably involve rationing and moral decisions, just by bureaucrats.)
4) Who is to decide when such greater moral goods should subsume individual moral goods?
For the church:
1) Should difficult doctrines of Scripture be toned down if it results in more conversions or greater church attendance? (Though diluting the truths necessary for salvation and governing the Christ seems to undermine true conversion or growth.)
2) Should discipline not be exercised in a church so as to prevent offense? (Though allowing a heretic teacher of egregious, unrepentant sinner to persist inflicts great harm on the flock.)
3) Should churches shift their focus from the Gospel to cultural transformation in order to affect greater societal change? (Though with decreasing legitimacy, relevancy and loss of fidelity.)
Does the end justify the means? This great ethical question is worthy of a generation of discussion and will determine the course for generations to come. As the great sociologist Robert Nisbet once wrote, "Ideas have consequences." The Maze Runner provokes such discussions and shows the embattled consciences of adolescents at work in real life crises--crises that demand answers to these questions, not mere theoretical abstractions. This ethical dimension alone makes the books a worthwhile read, especially for those young adults working to develop a sophisticated conscience.\
But these books are more than bland ethical narratives. They are action-packed, with love, sacrifice, compassion, heroism, betrayal, and tragedy. Part of what makes these books more engaging and enduring is the pervasiveness of death. For me, great fiction requires the death of great figures. This is one of the few flaws with the Harry Potter series--few substantial figures die, and none of them in the great, final battle of good against evil. In reality, our lives are part tragedy, as all whom we know and love will die. Books, including fiction, should be true to life.
Great fiction, especially that involving life and death battles, should not only leave the reader with a sense of delight in a final victory, but a sense of irretrievable loss at the lives lost along the way. This is what cements the Maze Runner books as enduring works for me--Dashner does not spare many of his most beloved characters from the most cruel of fates. This is true to the real world. This is especially true of war. And it painfully exposes our most desperate need for a Savior from sin and death, who can and will enshroud tragedy in victory and eternal peace for those who believe in Him.
