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The Maze Runner

by James Dashner

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner has 10 known books (10 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Maze Runner (2009). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is The Maze Cutter.

Books
10 known books (8 novels + 1 novella + 1 companion)
Published
10
First published
2009
Status
completed
Shelved under
Science Fiction
Last checked

Start here: The Maze Runner (2009) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner (2009)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. The Maze Runner

    Novel

    James Dashner launched The Maze Runner in October 2009 with a 375-page opening novel that set the numbered series in motion, followed a year later by The Scorch Trials.

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  2. The Scorch Trials

    Novel

    The Scorch Trials, the second novel, was published in September 2010 at 384 pages, arriving almost exactly a year after The Maze Runner and a year ahead of The Death Cure.

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  3. The Death Cure

    Novel

    By October 2011, James Dashner had reached book three, The Death Cure, a 358-page novel that closed out the original trilogy following The Scorch Trials.

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  4. The Kill Order

    Novel

    The Kill Order, published in August 2012 at 384 pages, is numbered as the series' fourth entry despite its story reaching back before the trilogy that preceded it in publication order.

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  5. The Maze Runner Files

    Companion

    The Maze Runner Files is a 53-page companion volume released in 2013, sitting outside the main numbered sequence between The Kill Order and The Fever Code.

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  6. The Fever Code

    Novel

    The Fever Code arrived in September 2016 as the series' fifth numbered novel, matching The Scorch Trials' 384-page length after a gap of several years since The Kill Order.

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  7. Crank Palace

    Novella

    Crank Palace is a 166-page novella published in August 2020, falling outside the main numbered Maze Runner sequence between The Fever Code and The Maze Cutter.

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  8. The Maze Cutter

    Novel

    The Maze Cutter, published in November 2022 at 253 pages, marked James Dashner's return to the series after Crank Palace, followed the next year by The Godhead Complex.

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  9. The Godhead Complex

    Novel

    The Godhead Complex followed The Maze Cutter in 2023 at 272 pages, continuing James Dashner's decades-later spin-off trilogy -- set 73 years after the original trilogy's ending -- with an entirely new group of kids navigating the post-Flare world.

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  10. The Infinite Glade

    Novel

    The Infinite Glade, released in 2025 at 264 pages, closes out the spin-off trilogy that began with The Maze Cutter, following The Godhead Complex as the most recent entry in the wider Maze Runner series.

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The order the story's events happen in, novellas slotted where they belong.

  1. The Kill Order

    Novel

    The Kill Order, published in August 2012 at 384 pages, is numbered as the series' fourth entry despite its story reaching back before the trilogy that preceded it in publication order.

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  2. The Fever Code

    Novel

    The Fever Code arrived in September 2016 as the series' fifth numbered novel, matching The Scorch Trials' 384-page length after a gap of several years since The Kill Order.

    View book

  3. The Maze Runner

    Novel

    James Dashner launched The Maze Runner in October 2009 with a 375-page opening novel that set the numbered series in motion, followed a year later by The Scorch Trials.

    View book

  4. The Scorch Trials

    Novel

    The Scorch Trials, the second novel, was published in September 2010 at 384 pages, arriving almost exactly a year after The Maze Runner and a year ahead of The Death Cure.

    View book

  5. Crank Palace

    Novella

    Crank Palace is a 166-page novella published in August 2020, falling outside the main numbered Maze Runner sequence between The Fever Code and The Maze Cutter.

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  6. The Death Cure

    Novel

    By October 2011, James Dashner had reached book three, The Death Cure, a 358-page novel that closed out the original trilogy following The Scorch Trials.

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  7. The Maze Cutter

    Novel

    The Maze Cutter, published in November 2022 at 253 pages, marked James Dashner's return to the series after Crank Palace, followed the next year by The Godhead Complex.

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  8. The Godhead Complex

    Novel

    The Godhead Complex followed The Maze Cutter in 2023 at 272 pages, continuing James Dashner's decades-later spin-off trilogy -- set 73 years after the original trilogy's ending -- with an entirely new group of kids navigating the post-Flare world.

    View book

  9. The Infinite Glade

    Novel

    The Infinite Glade, released in 2025 at 264 pages, closes out the spin-off trilogy that began with The Maze Cutter, following The Godhead Complex as the most recent entry in the wider Maze Runner series.

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About The Maze Runner

Thomas wakes up in a rising metal box with no memory except his own name, surrounded by dozens of other boys who've been living inside the Glade — a walled-off refuge at the center of a vast, shifting, monster-patrolled Maze. Every boy arrived the same way, one per month, with no way out except solving a labyrinth that rearranges itself nightly and kills anyone it catches. Thomas's arrival breaks the group's fragile routine: the next day a girl shows up, the first ever, carrying a note that says everything is about to change. What follows is a sprint through a series of increasingly brutal trials — the Maze, then the sun-scorched Scorch, then the Capitol-style manipulations of WICKED, the shadowy organization running the whole experiment — as Thomas and his friends try to figure out whether they're lab rats, weapons, or humanity's last hope for a cure.

James Dashner built the original trilogy around relentless plotting and a slowly unspooling mystery (what is WICKED actually testing for, and why?) rather than romance or worldbuilding for its own sake, which made it a fast, grim companion to the era's other YA dystopias. Two prequels fill in how the Glade came to exist and who Thomas was before the amnesia, and in the 2020s Dashner returned to the same post-Flare world for a new trilogy, set 73 years after the original trilogy's ending, following an entirely new group of kids.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in the Maze Runner series?

The core series is five books: the trilogy (The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure) plus two prequels (The Kill Order, The Fever Code). James Dashner later added a new spin-off trilogy — The Maze Cutter, The Godhead Complex, The Infinite Glade — set in the same world decades later, plus the short companion pieces The Maze Runner Files and the novella Crank Palace.

What order should I read the Maze Runner books in?

Publication order: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, then the prequels The Kill Order and The Fever Code. Start with the trilogy — the prequels are written for readers who already know how it ends.

Should I read The Kill Order or The Fever Code before The Maze Runner?

No. Both prequels are built around reveals that only work if you've already read the original trilogy. Reading them first spoils Thomas's amnesia-driven discovery of his own past.

Is The Maze Cutter connected to Thomas's story?

It's set in the same post-Flare universe 73 years after The Death Cure, with new characters, and works as a standalone spin-off trilogy rather than a direct sequel to Thomas and the Gladers.

Is the Maze Runner series finished?

The original five-book series (trilogy plus two prequels) has been complete since 2016. The newer Maze Cutter spin-off trilogy concluded with The Infinite Glade in 2025, with no further books currently announced.

Reading order last verified .