Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
Little, Brown, 2005, 413 pages
This week’s review is going to take flight . . . or at least the characters are going to. I’m reviewing book one in James Patterson’s best selling Maximum Ride series (even though it would make more sense to wait until August and review it then when the final book comes out, or next year when the movie supposedly comes out).
The inspiration for this hit series actually comes from two of Patterson’s earlier books (When the Wind Blows and The Lake House). These books also have a character called Max who escaped a school, though that’s about all they have in common (in other words, those books aren’t prequels to this series). This is the first of a few popular book series’ Patterson has written in recent years (The Daniel X, Witch and Wizard and Middle School books being the others). That said, Maximum Ride is (and I daresay always will be) the most popular. This is the only book series that has a chance of knocking Harry Potter off its throne of “Most Awesome Book Series of All Time . . . In My Opinion” (we’ll see how book eight goes).
Let’s get into the plot. Maximum Ride is a 14 year old girl who lives in the mountains with a group of friends she calls The Flock. Why’s this? Well, they have this little problem. They’re mutant hybrids being hidden from psychotic scientists who think nothing of performing horrific experiments on children. I can already tell I’ve got you hooked. Max and her Flock (which consists of 14 year old Fang and Iggy, 11 year old Nudge, 8 year old Gazzy and 6 year old Angel) are only 98% human. The other 2% is avian (bird) DNA (I’d have made the lead up better, but then I remembered I ruined it in the first sentence of this review).
One day, while The Flock were out for a fly, they are attacked by Erasers (human-wolf hybrids), sent by The School (the place where The Flock was created, and what a perfect name for a place that traumatises children) to kidnap Angel. While the group devises their rescue plan, Angel is put through numerous horrible psychological tests, the most challenging of which is the sudden reappearance of Jeb (the man who kidnapped them from The School four years ago and disappeared two years ago, leaving The Flock to assume he was dead). This thrilling rescue operation is only the first half of the first book.
Action, adventure, mystery, mutant fight scenes. This book is full of them. No wonder Patterson had to write another seven books after this. Once your kid has finished Harry Potter, get them on these books (while you older readers secretly read them yourself and enjoy them). One criticism: NEVERMORE ISN’T OUT YET!
My rating: 9/10
Any requests, post them below
A couple thoughts: When you started describing the plot, you had me instantly. Seriously, this sounds awesome and insane and I love it.
ReplyDeleteNow for the request: If you can find it, please take a look at a book called The Texas-Israeli War: 1999. Although, I'm not entirely sure this can be called a book. I'm sure there are words in it, and there's a decent chance of you finding it somewhere people normally keep books, but the contents may be closer to something written by a man who eats thermometers like jumbo shrimp.
Byz, you have a talent for picking books that I need to buy or go long distances to find. I'll see what I can do though (for this and the other request).
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