Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

by James Patterson

[paperbackjedi]

This book sports an impressive cast of characters with a lot of potential. Max is the leader of a misfit group of reject experiments that all have wings and can fly. Acting as the guardian of her flock, she’s been living on the run with them since the day they escaped School, the place where they were bred and poked at by awful freaking scientists. However, the school catches up with them and manages to abduct Angel, the youngest of the flock and suddenly, Max and her crew find themselves on a rescue mission that just might give them the information they want most… where they came from.

Alright, so the good thing about this book is that it never stops moving. It’s one escape into another into another with bits and pieces of the story coming together as you move along. The characters are pretty great too. They each have individual personalities and abilities so it’s not at all boring. The problem, I had, though is that not all the characters are fleshed out. Of course this is the first in the series and I think they’ll be expanded on in the subsequent books. Max’s narration and her inner though process lacked a spark with me. I didn't really connect with her and I think it’s because she never stopped thinking about her next move. I never really got a feel for who she was– only what she needed to do. And yeah, that’s a character trait in and of itself, but I’d like to know more about how she felt about everything, the situation, her charges, and herself even.

The plot is pretty intriguing. It’s got genetic mutation and all kinds of cool science fiction aspects. It felt a little like X-Men honestly, at some points. And there’s a lot of things you don’t know by the end of the first book. Who started the experiments? Where did they find the kids? Why are they experimenting in the first place? And how is this going to save the world? So the plot definitely keeps you engaged and wanting more. There’s a big conspiracy to be unraveled and Patterson does it at a pace that is both frustrating and exhilarating. I just wish he spent a little more time on the characters and the emotional resonance they have with the reader. I’m not in a hurry to read more, but I’ll probably check out the rest of the books later.