The Maze Runner Book To Movie

I recently went to see The Maze Runner at the cinema and fell in love with the series.
Naturally being the impatient person I am, I decided I had to start reading the books so I could find out what happened next.

I was slightly surprised with the differences in the book and the film, I realised book to movie adaptations often have their differences but I was shocked at how much the two differed. So lets talk about the MAIN differences.

SPOILERS ahead....Obviously.

1) Telepathy, I haven't yet read The Death Cure so I don't know exactly where the story is going...yet. But I feel leaving out the fact that Teresa and Thomas can speak to each other in their heads is kind of a big deal. I feel leaving this out of the film has missed developing Teresa and Thomas's relationship and as a result those who have only seen the film will not be as invested in the duo. It also explains quite a bit and is used a fair amount in the Scorch Trials so I am interested to see how they will play it out in the upcoming movie.


2) Solving the maze, This is one of the biggest differences, in the movie Thomas kills a griever and finds a mechanical key so to speak, this has a number on it which corresponds to a section of the maze and ultimately opens a door to freedom (at least what they think will be freedom). However in the book they realise that the maze is a code which can be cracked if you compare maps of the maze from each day, when placing maps on top of each other they reveal a letter and eventually they end up with a series of words that acts as a password to open the door to supposed freedom. Also the book results in them jumping of the edge of a cliff into a hidden door before entering the code whereas the film shows some amazing CGI moving walls making the escape that extra bit difficult.

3) The Grievers, in the book they are described more as slug like creatures with added mechanical spikes and other sharp metal protrusions. In the film they look more like a mechanical spider crossbreed, I love how they look in the film as they do look truly terrifying.  


4) Gally, so im just gonna go ahead and say it, in the book Gally is an utter SHANK. I don't think you are supposed to like him for one minute whereas I am a huge fan of him in the movie, I think this is largely due to him being played by Will Poulter who is utterly amazing and i definitely have a crush on him after seeing this film. Im telling you now he WILL redeem himself! I believe he will also be in the scorch Trials movie despite his absence in the book so im excited to see how that will play out. Again his story differs in the book as he just sort of appears at the end of the film as a pose to jumping on a griever and being carried away in the book.

5)A few other differences:

• The Gladers had only been in the maze for 2 years in the book and started with a small group not just Alby who had supposedly been in the glade for around 3/4 years in the film. 
• More gladers escape in the book
• Newt has long hair in the book
• Gladers already have a cure for griever stings before Teresa arrives (Gally has been through the changing and recognises Thomas)

Overall I am glad I saw the film before reading the book as I probably would have been slightly disappointed with some things that were changed and left out. That being said I did see the film first and absolutely LOVED it! The actors, the acting, the special effects are all outstanding and I literally cannot wait until The Scorch Trials movie is released, I think this series will just keep getting better and better and I definitely recommend this series as both a movie and book.