There is a *lot* of filler--and the second book's even worse, because they keep running into these clusters of new characters and having to explain the plot of the first book. So you get these exchanges of, "Who are you! Where'd you come from!" And then, "Well there was this maze. . ." Over and over and over again. Seriously, it happened four times--and that's just in the first two-thirds of the book that I managed to finish.

I like the setting of the first book a lot though, and the action scenes were kind of cool, so I do like the movie. If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth it to give it a shot. And Thomas Brodie-Sangster is Newt--the best character by far!