(Books 1 through 8)
James Patterson
Release Date: various
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Rating: Varies by book from 5/10 to 9/10; Overall: 7/10
Source: Library
Buy the Books: Barnes & Noble ~ Books-A-Million ~ IndieBound ~ Book Depository
Content Warning: Violence, blood and gore
This series has also been adapted as a manga.Series info from GoodReads.
The Maximum Ride novels for young adults feature 6 teenagers who are 98% human and 2% avian.
NOTE: James Patterson's author note in the beginning of each books says:
"To the reader:
The idea for Maximum Ride comes from earlier books of mine called When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, which also feature a character named Max who escapes from a quite despicable School. Most of the similarities end there. Max and the other kids in Maximum Ride are NOT the same Max and kids featured in those two books. Nor do Frannie and Kit play any part in Maximum Ride. I hope you enjoy the ride anyway."
What I Liked:
- Max, Fang and the rest of the flock. Love them all.
- The science. It's actually feasible. Mostly. With gene therapy and other such technologies coming into being now, I can actually see most of this stuff being possible in the near future. Scary as that is.
- Dr. Martinez, the veterinarian who helped fix Max's wing in book one. She makes many appearances, and is more than just a random veterinarian, but I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't read this series. It's awesome, though. The character is awesome.
- Ella, Dr. Martinez's daughter. See above. ^_^
- Maya. Love her, though not at first. I can't tell you who she is because that would be a pretty major spoiler. ^_^
- Character development over the series. Max and Fang, especially, change a good bit. Those two are my favorite characters.
What I Didn't Like:
- Jeb. Seriously, what the heck is his mental malfunction? I don't get his motivation for pretty much anything he does.
- Angel. The only member of the flock who has a tendency to piss me off. Why? Spoilers! So, not telling. Sometimes I love her, but other times, not so much. Or, you know, at all.
- The Doomsday Group/ 99 percenters. Why? Just... just, why?
- The preachy tone of a couple of the books. Book 4 (The Final Warning) and book 8 (Nevermore) have some really preachy parts. Those bits drive me nuts.
- Dylan. He's too perfect. He doesn't appear until book six or seven, though.
Knowing What I Know Now, Would I Read This Book Series?
Yes, I would. Despite the few annoyances, and some preachiness, I would still read this series.
Should You Read This Book Series?
Do you like young adult books or science fiction books? If so, then yes you should. You may not be annoyed by the things that annoyed me. You may be more annoyed. You may be annoyed by other things. I don't know. I do still recommend the series, despite my reservations.
The first three books were about the bird kids trying to escape from the various organizations wanting to enslave and experiment on them – great reading. Then in book 4 they travel to Antartica and suddenly become eco-freaks who, instead of being focused on thwarting the organizations trying to capture or kill them, become advocates for getting people to stop global warming.
ReplyDelete(Just a note: I proudly consider myself to be an eco-freak and do everything I can to minimize my negative impact on the planet, including averaging 20 mixed mpg in a vehicle only rated 18 highway.)
The sudden shift in focus was pretty jarring and I almost put the series down then and there... after finishing /Nevermore/ I wish I had. /Nevermore/'s ending was the most lackluster I'd ever read, and truly made me wish I hadn't bothered continuing after /The Final Warning/.
That said, I highly recommend the first three books – especially if you enjoy a good conspiracy and semi-feasible sci-fi.
(Another NOTE: I am TL's husband but that in no way affects the views I've expressed here.)