The Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson

Maximum Ride Book 1: The Angel Experiment
Maximum Ride Book 2: School's Out - Forever
Maximum Ride Book 3: Saving the World
Maximum Ride Book 4: The Final Warning

All by James Patterson

Let me start by saying that that book one of this series is actually a sort of sequel itself. The book When the Wind Blows introduces Max, and the story is continued in the book The Lake House. I haven't had the chance to read either one of these books, but my understanding is the Max is not the main character in either book.

I'm starting with books one through three, as they form a distinct trilogy and storyline.

If you haven't heard about this series, then it needs a bit of explanation. Max and the "flock" have been genetically altered to have wings and to be able to fly. At the beginning of book one, they have escaped from the laboratory with the help of a scientist named Jeb, and have been living in a secluded place for a couple of years.

Soon after book one begins, they are attacked by "Erasers", also genetically altered humans, but these have been bred to fight. One of the flock, Angel, is abducted, and the flock is off to save her.

While each of the first three books has a specific plot, there is an overall story arc for the three books: Max and the flock against the scientists who created them and who are sending the Erasers out to find and return them. While not everything is tied up at the end of book three (how can you tie up the loose ends of having bird kids flying around the U.S.?), certainly the ending of the third book ties up what must be tied up.

I really enjoyed these books. They are fast moving, exciting, and, very often, funny. Max is a joy to listen to, and each of the members of the flock has his or her own voice and style. We watch as they try to find their parents, and both the joys and sadnesses of failing -- or succeeding. Told in the first person (most of the time) by Max, we get to see how leadership wears on her, how difficult it is for her to literally have the life or death of the flock in her hands. How she handles this responsibility, and sometimes how she doesn't handle it, is an important part of the story.

I tend to go to Amazon.com and look at how other people have reviewed the books I'm reviewing. I do this for several reasons. Often I'm in love with a book, and reading the less complementory reviews might help me see some of the faults that I'm missing. In reading the reviews this time I couldn't find any clear pattern for the first three books, except for one -- the ratings tended to go down for each new book.

While I guess I'd have to agree, I also can't bring myself to rate just a single book of the first three. These books are so intertwined, that I don't believe it does them justice to read any one of them -- all three really ought to be read, and they really need to be judged together.

That said, I'm rating Maximum Ride, Books 1-3 as one story.

Rating: 8.5/10

Okay, now on to book four.

The flock is asked to go to Antarctica to help with studies on global warming.

Huh?

Well, it makes a little more sense when you read it in the book, but not, I guess, a lot. We get all sorts of good reasons as to why they can help and nothing else will work, but let's be honest, there aren't really very many good reasons why there aren't other solutions to the problems presented that only the flock can solve.

There's also another bad corporation that wants to kill off the flock, and that's how things get complicated later in the book.

Okay, it's not very original. Okay, there's a lot about global warming. Okay it doesn't all make a lot of sense. But it's still fun. We still get Max and Fang and the awkwardness between them, and the flock continues to evole in unusual ways (I mean, who would ever have guesed about Gazzy?). It's still a fun read, and it begins what I'm guessing will be another trilogy of books.
It seems most reviewers disliked this book because of the amount of information (some called it propaganda) about global warming. I'm not going to get into a discussion about global warming here, it isn't appropriate. Since that's the major theme of the book, if you aren't interested, then this is one you might want to skip. On the other hand, if you're into reading the next chapter in Max and the flock's tale, don't skip it. It certainly isn't the best book in the series, and may even be the worst, but just because it's about Max, it's worth a read, at least for me.

Rating: 7.5/10