Book Review: Maximum Ride

Today, I am conducting a review one of my favourite non-girly girl book series', Maximum Ride. This 8-series sci-fi book series was written by James Patterson (or one of his minions) and it is rumoured that even more books will be added to already lengthy  the series.  

Synopsis: The story is set two years after Max (14) and her 'flock' escape the laboratory of a group of evil scientists who kidnap and conduct genetic experiments on little children. (Max names the laboratory 'The School'.) However, Max and her flock members, Fang (also 14), Iggy (14), Nudge (11), Gazzy (8), and sweet little Angel (6) do not escape unadulterated.  The School grafted the DNA of different birds into each member of the flock's DNA when they were infants making Max and her flock 98% human and 2% bird. They all have wings and hollow bones and can therefore fly. They also have nuclei in their red blood cells and are naturally slender and tall. They are stronger and more resilient than regular humans and expend so much energy that they must eat above 3000 calories worth of food each day. At the beginning of the story some of the flock possess additional abilities; Angel, for example, is psychic.

Max and her flock are not the only experiments The School created and when Max and her flock escape, The School sends the malicious Erasers- short lived half-human, half-wolf killers- after them. Join Max  and her flock as they battle Erasers and struggle to survive in an attempt to evade The School and save the world from its nefarious grip. The flock cannot trust anyone-not even themselves.

Sample: The Angel Experiment

The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective. Take right now, for instance. 

Run! Come on, run! You know you can do it. 

I gulped deep lungfuls of air. My brain was on hyper-drive; I was racing for my life. My one goal was 

to escape. 

Nothing else mattered. 

My arms being scratched to ribbons by a briar I'd run through? No biggie. 

My bare feet hitting every sharp rock, rough root, pointed stick? Not a problem. 

My lungs aching for air? I could deal. 

As long as I could put as much distance as possible between me and the Erasers. 

Yeah, Erasers. Mutants: half-men, half-wolves, usually armed, always bloodthirsty. Right now they were after me. 

See? That snaps everything into perspective. 

Run. You're faster than they are. You can outrun anyone. 

I'd never been this far from the School before. I was totally lost. Still, my arms pumped by my sides, my feet crashed through the underbrush, my eyes scanned ahead anxiously through the half-light. I could 

outrun them. I could find a clearing with enough space for me to— 

Oh, no. Oh, no. The unearthly baying of bloodhounds on the scent wailed through the trees, and I felt sick. I could outrun men—all of us could, even Angel, and she's only six. But none of us could outrun a big dog. 

Dogs, dogs, go away, let me live another day. 

They were getting closer. Dim light filtered in through the woods in front of me—a clearing? Please, please . . . a clearing could save me. 

I burst through the trees, chest heaving, a thin sheen of cold sweat on my skin. 

Yes! 

No—oh, no! 

I skidded to a halt, my arms waving, my feet backpedaling in the rocky dirt. 

It wasn't a clearing. In front of me was a cliff, a sheer face of rock that dropped to an unseeable floor hundreds of feet below. 

In back of me were woods filled with drooling bloodhounds and psycho Erasers with guns. 

Both options stank. 

The dogs were yelping excitedly—they'd found their prey: moi. 

I looked over the deadly drop. 

There was no choice, really. If you were me, you'd have done the same thing. 

I closed my eyes, held out my arms . . . and let myself fall over the edge of the cliff. 

The Erasers screamed angrily, the dogs barked hysterically, and then all I could hear was the sound of air rushing past me. 

It was so dang peaceful, for a second. I smiled. 

Then, taking a deep breath, I unfurled my wings as hard and fast as I could. 

Thirteen feet across, pale tan with white streaks and some freckly looking brown spots, they caught the air, and I was suddenly yanked upward, hard, as if a parachute had just opened. Yow! 

Note to self: No sudden unfurling. Wincing, I pushed downward with all my strength, then pulled my wings up, then pushed downward again. Oh, my god, I was flying—just like I'd always dreamed. The cliff floor, draped in shadow, receded beneath me. I laughed and surged upward, feeling the pull of my muscles, the air whistling through my secondary feathers, the breeze drying the sweat on my face. I soared up past the cliff edge, past the startled hounds and the furious Erasers. One of them, hairy-faced, fangs dripping, raised his gun. A red dot of light appeared on my torn nightgown. Not today, you jerk, I thought, veering sharply west so the sun would be in his hate-crazed eyes. 

I'm not going to die today.

Books In The Series;

1. The Angel Experiment

2. School's Out Forever

3. Saving The World And Other Extreme Sports

4. The Final Warning

5. Max: A Maximum Ride Novel

6. Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel

7. Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel

8. Nevermore

9. Maximum Ride Forever ( Soon to be published)

My Review: When I started to read the first book Max started to sound like Rachel and since I totally did not want to read another Animorph series ( I had read all the main 54 books and the other supplementary books) I was going to put it away but I decided against it and I must say I loved the series! Maximum Ride is not Animorphs. Max is a totally badass non-girly-girl with totally awesome butt-kicking techniques. I also that she is soooooo sarcastic! I simply adore Fang's silent and dark way and Angel's duplicity! The only problem I have with the series as a whole is that it is inconsistent. After the third book, the series deviates from the main story line and never seems to head back. So if you are a fan of coherent stories then I suggest you read up until the third book but if you do not mind inconsistencies and you have the ability to read each book individually (without the rest of the series in mind) I suggest you read it just for the fun of it. Max is really funny and sarcastic- she made me laugh so hard that I do not regret reading all 8 books and I will definitely read the 9th. I just want to hear Max speak!

Warning: She gets really funny after the first book

Other Reviews: 

       It's really good!!

                                - Hanson 

        I love it!! She' s funnier than Percy Jackson!

                               - Jaden Zuriel
   
         I loved it! The plot was perfectly written and there was a lot of suspense in the series.
                                - ShokuAli30 (deviantart)
         I like it! My mom read it to me when I was little and I still like it
                               - ItalysCurl11 (deviantart)
     
I liked it but it gets boring at some point
                               - Jeffrey

Now this is a terrible book.
Written with all the wit and grace of a one-legged puppy, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment reveals its intentions within the first chapter alone.
                                - Joe(goodreads)


 Take a bit of the child-like innocence vs. evil of Harry Potter , some of the artificially-created destiny from Ender's Game , throw in the flying fantasies from Eragon and mix them in with Patterson's trademark flippant characterization, and you've got Maximum Ride.    
                                   - Allison (goodreads)

This book was okay, but I just felt like it didn't have a lot of substance. 
                                   - Angelc (goodreads)

Max is a sarcastic and tough teen with amazing
wings.
                                   - Denae (goodreads)
         

        

Rates: Goodreads-4.1/5
            Amazon -4.2/5
             Me- 4.0/5
PS- You can also have a look at the Maximum Ride manga and the Maximum Ride movie trailer