The Maze Runner series spans five books published across seven years, from James Dashner’s debut entry in 2009 through to The Fever Code in 2016. The main trilogy ran from 2009 to 2011, with The Kill Order arriving as a prequel in 2012 and The Fever Code completing the expanded series in 2016. For readers working through all five books, or picking up the prequels after finishing the original trilogy, the question of how long it actually takes rarely comes with a clear answer.
The five books total 546,830 words. At an average reading speed of 200 words per minute, reading the complete series takes approximately 45 hours and 34 minutes. At a careful, deliberate reading pace of 100 words per minute, the same five books take approximately 91 hours and 8 minutes. Having either figure turns an open-ended project into a plan with a specific timeline.
The five books are notably close in length, which is one of the things that distinguishes this series from some longer series with wide variation between volumes. The shortest book, The Maze Runner (2009), runs to 101,182 words. The longest, The Death Cure (2011), runs to 116,456 words. The difference between the two is around 15,000 words, which at a standard reading speed translates to roughly one additional hour of reading for the longest book compared to the shortest. That consistency makes the series easier to plan across than one with more dramatic length variation.
This calculator handles the full five-book series. It uses verified word counts for every book, lets you set your own reading speed and study pace, compares reading to audio narration, breaks the total down book by book, and converts any daily or weekly time commitment into a specific completion date. It covers the main trilogy and both prequels in a single breakdown.
The series is a common reading project for younger adult readers, and for older readers returning to it after the film adaptations. The calculator works for a first read of all five books in publication order, a read of the main trilogy only, or a return to the prequels after the original three.
How the Calculator Works
Every time figure in the calculator is driven by verified word counts for each of the five books. The series totals 546,830 words, and those counts drive every reading, study, and audio estimate the calculator produces.
Set your reading speed using the slider or the preset buttons. Most adults read continuous prose fiction at somewhere between 150 and 300 words per minute, with 200 being a reliable general average. Pacing in fast-moving action fiction often pulls readers through at a slightly quicker rate than more descriptive or dialogue-heavy prose, so your natural pace for this kind of writing may differ from other genres. Timing yourself on a page of normal text for 60 seconds gives an accurate personal baseline.
A separate study speed setting models a slower, more deliberate engagement with the text. At 100 words per minute, a pace suited to careful rereading, note-taking, or moving through the text with more attention, the full five-book series runs to just over 91 hours. This setting is most useful for readers returning to the series rather than encountering it for the first time.
The audio toggle adds a third comparison figure based on narrated playback at your chosen speed. Standard audiobook narration runs at approximately 130 words per minute, and the toggle lets you compare reading time to listening time at any playback speed.
The book-by-book table updates as you adjust your speed settings, showing individual reading and study times for all five books, including both the main trilogy and the two prequels. The daily and weekly plan inputs return a realistic completion estimate in days, weeks, and months based on your chosen pace and available time.
Use the Maze Runner Series Reading Time Calculator
Set your reading speed, study pace, and available daily or weekly time below. The book-by-book breakdown and completion estimates update automatically.
The Maze Runner series contains approximately 546,830 words across 5 books. Adjust your reading speed, study pace and audio narration speed below, and the calculator works out exactly how long each book and the full series takes at your personal pace.
🌀 What do you want to read?
Choose the full series or a specific book.
📖 Reading speed
Most adults read fiction at 200 to 300 words per minute. Use the presets or fine-tune with the slider.
Used to calculate your personalised daily completion plan.
✏️ Study / close reading speed
Close reading or re-reading with annotation is slower. Set a pace that reflects your level of engagement with the text.
🎧 Audio narration speed
Standard audiobook narration runs at around 110 to 150 wpm. Adjust to match your preferred listening pace.
📅 Reading plan
Plan by daily or weekly minutes to see how long your reading schedule takes from start to finish.
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At your narration speed-
Reading time / your daily minutes-
at your reading speed-
📚 Time per book
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Reading vs Studying the Maze Runner Series
Reading and close reading produce different time commitments, and the distinction matters across five books even when the individual volumes are relatively close in length.
A straight read of all five books at 200 words per minute takes approximately 45 hours and 34 minutes. Spread across a daily habit, this is a compact project: 30 minutes a day completes the full series in around 91 days, roughly three months, and 15 minutes a day finishes it in around 182 days, approximately six months.
At a study pace of 100 words per minute, the same 546,830 words takes approximately 91 hours and 8 minutes. For readers returning to the series with more attention to detail, or comparing the prequels against the main trilogy, this is a more accurate planning pace than the standard reading speed.
Because the five books are close in length, ranging from 101,182 to 116,456 words, the difference in reading time between any two books at the same pace is relatively small. The widest gap in the series is between The Maze Runner and The Death Cure, which at 200 words per minute amounts to around 76 minutes of additional reading time for the longer book. A reading plan based on equal daily sessions will therefore stay broadly on track across all five books without needing adjustment for individual volumes, which is not always the case in series with wider length variation.
Time Per Book
The five books of the Maze Runner series are the most evenly matched in length of any major series in this calculator format. The average book is approximately 109,366 words, and the five titles fall within a 15,000-word range of each other.
The average book takes around 9 hours and 7 minutes to read at 200 words per minute.
The Maze Runner, published in 2009, is the shortest book in the series at 101,182 words. At 200 words per minute, a straight reading takes approximately 8 hours and 26 minutes. As the opening entry in the trilogy, it is also the book most commonly read in isolation by readers who do not continue the series, so the reading time for this volume alone is a useful standalone figure.
The Scorch Trials, published in 2010, runs to 108,192 words and takes approximately 9 hours and 1 minute to read. The Death Cure, published in 2011, is the longest book in the main trilogy at 116,456 words and takes approximately 9 hours and 42 minutes at a standard pace. It is also the longest book in the entire five-book series, though the margin over the prequels is modest.
The Kill Order, published in 2012, is a prequel to the main trilogy and runs to 111,000 words, taking around 9 hours and 15 minutes to read. The Fever Code, published in 2016, is also a prequel and runs to 110,000 words, taking approximately 9 hours and 10 minutes. Both prequels sit comfortably within the length range of the main trilogy, which means readers adding them to a reading plan do not need to budget noticeably more time for either.
Daily and Weekly Reading Plans
The most practical output of this calculator is entering a realistic daily or weekly time commitment and seeing the completion timeline it produces.
At 10 minutes a day, the full five-book series takes approximately 273 days at 200 words per minute, around nine months. At 15 minutes a day, that comes down to around 182 days, approximately six months. At 30 minutes a day, the complete series is finished in approximately 91 days, roughly three months.
For weekly planning, 60 minutes per week produces a completion time of approximately 46 weeks, just over ten and a half months. At 120 minutes per week, the same reading takes around 23 weeks, about five and a half months.
These timelines are for straight reading at 200 words per minute. At a study pace of 100 words per minute, all figures roughly double: 30 minutes a day of deliberate reading completes the series in around 182 days rather than 91.
Because the five books are close in length, a reading plan for this series benefits from treating the books as roughly interchangeable units for scheduling purposes. Planning to finish one book every three to four weeks at a 30-minutes-a-day pace, or one book per six to seven weeks at 15 minutes a day, maps closely to the actual reading time for each volume. The calculator’s book-by-book breakdown confirms the exact figure for each title at your chosen speed.
The same core principle applies here as in any reading plan: a modest daily target held consistently outperforms an ambitious one held intermittently. Ten minutes a day, every day, finishes the complete series in under nine months. The modest target that actually happens is more useful than the ideal one that does not.
Reading vs Listening
The Maze Runner series has a well-established audiobook following and is a popular choice for listening during commutes and travel.
Standard audiobook narration runs at approximately 130 words per minute. At that pace, the complete five-book series takes approximately 70 hours and 6 minutes in audio, compared to around 45 hours and 34 minutes for a reader at 200 words per minute. For most adults reading at a normal pace, silent reading is faster.
For someone reading at 130 words per minute or slower, the difference between reading and listening narrows and becomes a matter of personal preference rather than time efficiency. At faster playback speeds, typically 1.25x or 1.5x, audio becomes competitive with or quicker than reading for many listeners.
The practical case for listening is flexibility rather than speed. Audio can accompany a commute, a walk, or household tasks in a way that reading from a page or screen cannot. The five-book series at a natural listening pace takes around 70 hours in audio. At 1.5x playback speed, the same content takes approximately 47 hours, which is close to the reading time for most adults. The audio toggle in the calculator lets you enter your preferred playback speed and see the adjusted listening time directly alongside your reading time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to read the complete Maze Runner series?
At an average reading speed of 200 words per minute, reading all five books takes approximately 45 hours and 34 minutes. At a careful study pace of 100 words per minute, the same series takes approximately 91 hours and 8 minutes. The exact figure depends on your personal reading speed, which is why the calculator lets you set your own.
How many words are in each Maze Runner book?
The verified word counts for all five books are as follows. The Maze Runner (2009): 101,182 words. The Scorch Trials (2010): 108,192 words. The Death Cure (2011): 116,456 words. The Kill Order (2012): 111,000 words. The Fever Code (2016): 110,000 words. The full series totals 546,830 words.
How long does each book take to read?
At 200 words per minute: The Maze Runner takes approximately 8 hours and 26 minutes. The Scorch Trials takes around 9 hours and 1 minute. The Death Cure takes approximately 9 hours and 42 minutes. The Kill Order takes around 9 hours and 15 minutes. The Fever Code takes approximately 9 hours and 10 minutes. The book-by-book table in the calculator above shows all five figures at any reading speed you choose to set.
Is audiobook narration faster than reading?
For most readers at a natural pace, no. Standard narration runs at approximately 130 words per minute, which is slower than typical adult silent reading speed of 150 to 300 words per minute. At 130 words per minute, the full series takes around 70 hours and 6 minutes in audio, compared to approximately 45 hours and 34 minutes for a reader at 200 words per minute. At faster playback speeds the gap narrows or closes for most listeners. The audio toggle in the calculator lets you compare both at your preferred speed.
Can this calculator help me plan a reading schedule for just the main trilogy?
Yes. The book-by-book breakdown shows individual reading times for each of the five books, so you can use the figures for The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure in isolation if you are only planning the main trilogy. The total for the three main books is 325,830 words, which at 200 words per minute takes approximately 27 hours and 11 minutes.
Who built this calculator?
The Savzz Maze Runner Series Reading Time Calculator was built by the team at Savzz.co.uk, a UK discount code and money-saving site. We build free practical tools designed to give honest answers to time and cost questions. This calculator uses verified word counts for all five books and is free to use with no sign-up required.
Final Thoughts
At 546,830 words across five books, the Maze Runner series is a mid-length reading project in total scope. Thirty minutes a day finishes the complete series in around three months. Fifteen minutes a day gets it done in six months. The even spread of word counts across the five books makes this one of the easier series to plan across, since no single volume requires a major adjustment to a session schedule.
Readers planning the main trilogy only can use the individual book figures from the calculator: 325,830 words for the three books, taking approximately 27 hours and 11 minutes at 200 words per minute. Adding the prequels extends that to the full 546,830 words and around 45 hours of reading.
Set a daily or weekly target based on your actual schedule, use the book-by-book breakdown to track progress by volume, and the series completes on a predictable timeline rather than an open-ended one.
