Max soars above the world . . . but in James Patterson's thrilling adventure, fantasy can come crashing down to reveal the nightmares of the Angel Experiment.
Maximum Ride and her "flock" -- Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel -- are just like ordinary kids, only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time.
Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of whack jobs. Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, CA, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare: fighting off the half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City. Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives.
Along the way, Max discovers that her purpose is save the world. But can she?
To me this was sort of disappointing. I have seen James Patterson's name everywhere, not to mention the amount of rave reviews I've seen for his books. I was expecting writing that lives up to the amount of fans he has, but I didn't find that here. Don't get me wrong the plot is pretty interesting and original, but the writing was...elementary. If you've ever had to read a paper written by a kid in 5th or 6th grade then you've read the style I'm talking about. It's not terrible but it's certainly not worth raving about. It's simply too easy to read if that makes sense. The chapters are super short, about 3 pages max, so while I found it unnecessary it did make me read more then I probably would have normally in each sitting. All of this makes me uncertain as to weither or not I really want to continue with this series.
The characters are...okay. They are interesting and kind of layered with some depth, but they are kind of annoying. There is character development throughout the story so that's a plus, and a little surprising given the style of writing. The interactions and conversations between the characters were off at times, but it's not consistently that way. The way the book ended makes me want to read the next one but I'm still skeptical.
I think I'd recommend this for younger teens and preteens, since it's easy to read and on that reading level. Older readers I'm not sure would enjoy it quite as much.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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9 August, 2010:
Finished reading
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9 August, 2010:
Reviewed