Maximum Ride Series #5 - Max

Maximum Ride Series #5 - Max by James Patterson

Max, The fifth book in the flying teenager series.  Let me begin by saying I will continue to read these books, but my attention span is officially on other things.  I wonder if it's just me or it others feel that these plots are feeling more and more thrown together.  Well, luckily i only have 3 books to go, as James Patterson announced that the eighth book will be the last one of this series.

This book started out with "The Flock"  giving an aerial display in support of the CSM (Coalition to Stop the Madness) the group Max's mother started to help save the environment.  During the performance, an assassin tries to take out Max, surprise, and the whole gang mobilizes to kick butt.  That is, before the gunman blows himself to pieces.  There is a pretty funny segment at a modeling agency where we definitely see the teenage romance budding rapidly between Max and Fang. 

I won't mince words, I'm completely bored with this series so I apologize for not being more flattering.  The plot swiftly moves on to Max's mother being kidnapped; the flock befriends the military to help find her, and there's something fishy (pun intended) going on in the Pacific.  After a series of misadventures on a submarine, they discover that Max's mom is being held under water.  Trying to rescue her, they also encounter some weird mutant fish that help them, through Angel's ability to talk to fish.  We discover that Max can also breathe under water which really comes in handy rescuing her mom . . .  and . . .  everybody wins.

I wonder though, what happened to the mutant, slim cover mega fish they discovered?  The story just kinda left them at the bottom of the ocean.  Well, we did discover that Max isn't afraid of kissing Fang in front of anybody any more, and we may have another enemy for the next book.  It ends, typically, with the whole gang flying off into the sunset on search of yet another adventure.

I give it a 2 out of 5, I'm just tired of the worn out plot line I think.  Maybe the next one, Fang, will be better.

Maximum Ride #4 - The Final Warning

The Final Warning: Maximum Ride Series #4 - James Patterson

Let me first start by saying that, no, I did not read all of these books in one day.  I have, however, read about four or so since my post on the 2nd book in this series.  Like I've said in previous posts, the Maximum Ride Series is written for the teenage audience and is a fairly easy read.

This book starts out with Max and "The Flock" attending Ari's funeral, Max's half brother.  Also in attendance are Jeb, her "father", and Dr. Valencia Martinez her "mother".    The story takes us to Washington where a bunch of government types try to persuade The Flock into letting them study the strange kids with wings.  It didn't go well.

As they are trying to figure out where to go and what to do next, they discover that they are still spontaneously mutating and acquiring new powers.  Nudge is magnetic and Angel can now talk to fish.  Max's mom hooks them up with a research vessel that takes them down to Antarctica to help with the Global Warming epidemic  But, even on an island of ice and snow, they are still tracked down and kidnapped to be auctioned off by someone named the Uber Director.

Now the next sections I have several problems with; during the auction a massive hurricane just happens to swoop down on the office building they are being held in in Florida. They escape, yet again, and take off for parts unknown to save the world some more.

This was where I really started losing interest in the series.  I enjoy the adventure and all, but the constant, getting captured and then escaping only to run into another trap is wearing a little thin.  I am still going to try and get through the next book - Max, but I'm not all that optimistic.  3 out of 5 on this one.  It just seemed thrown together somehow, and I like a little more depth in my reading.

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports - Maximum Ride #3

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports: Maximum Ride Series 3 - James Patterson

Okay, here we go, the third book in the series of "The Flock".  I have to say I liked this book, but the series is beginning to wear on me.  What kept my attention through this book was that the action never stopped.  I'm serious, there is SO much going on in this one, that I could barely keep up.  From the very beginning we are introduced to a message on a laptop, which they stole at the end of the last book, that warns of a traitor in their midst.  Fang's blog plays heavily in this story as we find out towards the end.  I enjoy the trickery involved in the middle and without giving too much away, I have to say I completely bought it and was slightly disappointed by the writing of how the betrayal was not actually true.  I think it could have been done better. 

The flock actually splits up in this book, which surprised me but was believable because of the addition of Ari, Max's supposed half brother who has tried to kill all of them on numerous occasions.  Fang doesn't take kindly to Ari joining their family so he decides to go his own way, learning how difficult being a leader actually is.  Ari seems to have had a change of heart and is now a kinder, gentler Ari.  Having an expiration date tends to do that.  Before the split, Fang and Max's relationship is progressing, but Max keeps running away. 

Max's little group, which consists of Ari, Nudge, Angel and Total (the talking dog) try to take out the entire corporation that was the reason for their existence and most likely the cause of the constant death threats.  During the process, they manage to get themselves captured, again; Max learns who her mother is (or does she) as well as her father, and a whole bunch of kids from around the world help them take down an evil dictator.

I have no idea what surprises The Final Warning Maximum Ride Series #4 will have and I must say I'm not too sure I'm looking forward to finding out.  This book left me spent from all of the excitement so I don't know how much more I can take. This book gets a 4 out of 5 from me.

Maximum Ride 2 - School's Out Forever

School's Out - Forever - Maximum Ride Series 2 - James Patterson

Well, I have dove back into the Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson.  With a series like this, I usually get bored around the 3rd or 4th book so I'm trying to force myself to stay focused. 

So far, so good.  The series is written for a teenage audience and is an easy read and right now is keeping my interest with the action and our six winged kids staying on the move.  In this book the flock finds themselves whisked away by a government agent who tries to get them to live like normal kids.  Predictably, she turns out to be one of "them" and the flock is once again on the run.  But before that happens, Max has her first date, which makes Fang jealous.  Fang has a little admirer which makes Max jealous, and we see the introduction of Fang's blog which plays a major part in the plot in later books. 

The teen romance between Fang and Max is blossoming nicely and we have many mysteries introduced, such as, who are their real parents and will Iggy's parents come back in later books to try and exploit him again.  Angel develops more and more talents like being able to breathe under water (I think all these special skills with come handy in the future).  We also discover that Ari (Max's supposed brother) is still alive even though she snapped his neck in the last book.  And Ari has some secrets of his own, like a voice in his head as well.  Who is the voice, or I should say voices, that keep telling Max and Ari what they should do next? 

I can't wait to start reading the next book - Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports .  I give it a 4 out of 5 overall for keeping my attention, but not doing a great job of surprising me.

Maximum Ride - The Angel Experiment

Maximum Ride - The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

I haven't really kept the promise I made to myself.  I wanted to write a little review about each book that I read, directly after I finish reading it, but I have read 3 books since completing this one.  I hope to do better in the future.

Alright, to get right in to it, this book REALLY freaked me out.  My husband Doug came home one day describing to me this book series from James Patterson about a bunch of kids that had wings among other powers.  The reason this freaked me out so much is, when I was 19 I had an extremely vivid dream about a group of kids that were destined to save the world.  In my dream, which extended over an 8 year period, the kids were given special powers along with instructions from unknown persons on how to defeat their evil enemies and save the world from becoming hell on earth, literally. 

I thought there was no way that James Patterson could have written about something I dreamt about 15 years ago.  That was impossible, right!?!?  Well, I started the book and discovered that they were completely different, or so I thought.  The lead character, Maximum Ride, or just Max for short, was a fourteen year old boy who was the oldest of a group of six kids who all have wings.  Well, a few chapters in I realized I was wrong, Max was a GIRL!  The same as in my dream, although I can't remember what my lead heroine's name was after all these years. Still, the similarities just kept getting weirder and weirder.

In The Angel Experiment, Max gets instructions from a voice in her head that leads her to certain discoveries about the groups past.  They are constantly being hounded (ha ha) by the Erasers, which are genetically enhances kids who can change into werewolves.  Max and her group of flyer's have adventure after adventure, trying to escape capture and imprisonment at a laboratory nicknamed "The School" while striving to discover who they are and if they have parents out there somewhere.

After the initial shock wore off, I started to wonder how James Patterson came up with the concept for the series.  I would love to contact him and ask, but I don't want to come off as a crazed fan, or worse yet, a person that thinks he stole my idea.  That would have been a nifty trick since I never told anyone but my husband.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the books just to see if I can freak myself out some more.  I would give this book a 5 out of 5 overall.