Saving the World: And Other Extreme Sports (Maximum Ride, Book #3) - James Patterson

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Synopsis

The exhilarating third novel in James Patterson’s exciting adventure series for 9-15 year olds. You’re about to join the adventures of Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel, six extraordinary kids who have powers like no other: they can fly, and they’re being chased - no, hunted - across America and around the world.

This is the end, my friends. But I promise that you’ll fly higher than ever before in this wild adventure, witness battles worthy of multiplex movie screens, and laugh until your sides hurt. Believe it or not, there’s even a little romance. But all good things - and even terrible, unspeakable ones - must come to an end.

This is that moment in time, I’m afraid. Either we save the world, or we crash and burn. And I mean all of us - even you, faithful reader, because you play a very big part in this story. Max The Flock needs your help. Yes, you.

Like the first two books in the series, this is pure escapist reading from James Patterson. Our heroine (the epynonomus, Max Ride) is back with her flock, to find their families, escape the Erasers, find out what the mad scientists are up to, and oh yes. save the world.

Again like the first two books, Max is a feisty, witty and likable guide through their adventures, and yes there is some conclusion at the end, although, Patterson, rather sensibly given the success of the series has left some of the story to be told in a whole new adventure (book 4 is out next month). But there is much to let this book down, there are some odd point of view shifts, to jar you out of the story, there are too many issues with his timeline, some things - plot twists, character revelations etc, just happen far too quickly with little or no explanation. The whole story relying on far, far too many conveniences. Unacceptable when there are completely unnecessary scenes like the ‘it was all a dream’ sequence and mention of the clones for the rest of the flock, these things are not used in the plot in anyway and only serve to annoy.

The only thing that saves this book is the characters of the flock, their enjoyable banter, lights up the pages and you do genuinely care about them.

Just a shame about the faults, that really should have been picked up in the editing process.

Buy, Saving the World: And Other Extreme Sports, by James Patterson, at Amazon. [UK] [US]

School’s Out. Forever. (Maximum Ride, Book #2) - James Patterson

Rating:

Synopsis

It’s 24 hours since Max Ride and her fellow bird-kids escaped the New York Institute, and they’re still on the run. But the six companions — 98% human, 2% bird — came away with some vital information. If they can decode the garbled words and numbers, perhaps they’ll find out where their parents are. There’s a lot of trouble ahead for Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel — not to mention Total, the talking dog.

Their enemies, the fearsome Erasers, have acquired a new skill — they too can now fly. After an air-battle, the badly hurt Fang ends up in hospital. There the FBI track down the flock, who have even ended up going to school! But that doesn’t quite fit in with searching for parents, or with what the insistent Voice in Max’s head keeps reminding her - that her mission is ‘to save the world’.

Part two, of Patterson’s young adult series, Maximum Ride, is just that, ‘part two’.� Just like the first book, it is part of a much longer story arc, (book 3 is already out and book 4 is out in the next few weeks) Max and the flock, start the story still on the run from ‘The School’ and the Erasers.

During a battle with the Erasers (who have acquired a new skill, the ability to fly!) Fang is badly hurt and the flock are forced to reveal themselves and their existence, to get him some lifesaving treatment.

Much of the story, it set in the weeks following this incident, taken in by Anne, who purports to be from the FBI, and looking to keep them from harm, they find themselves relatively settled and for the younger members of the flock, happy. Living the nearest to a normal life they have experienced in their lives, the even get to attend schools and meet kids of their own age, while all the way, trying to find out more about their parents and what the were created for.

Max, never quite settles down, and can’t bring herself to trust Anne fully, but puts it down to losing her status as flock ‘Mom’, and it is here I have my main gripe about this book, we never get any feelings about whether to trust Anne or not (and I won’t say here whether or not we should) and I know this is partly down to the story being from Max’s point of view if she doesn’t know, we don’t, but there are so few clues or red herrings, so we don’t really have the fun of trying to guess.

Yes, Max, is mistrustful, but so she should be, after all that has happened to them. Anne, however kindly she appears to be, is an outsider and has to earn or lose that trust. In the end I didn’t care either way as long as the flock were okay, and that’s a shame, it’d have been nice to either root for Anne or despise her. We may get to do one or the other in the future though, as one thing is certain at the end, Anne still has a big part to play in the flock’s future.

The motivations of Ari (chief Eraser) and Jeb their former trusted adult/parent figure continue to shift, change and reveal themselves. We no longer hate Ari, who is obviously as bigger victim of Jeb’s machinations as Max and the gang, but what exactly are those machinations? Where are they leading? Whose side is he really on?

We, don’t really get to find out, in this book, but it is clear, their is something much bigger going on, than he is letting either side know about.

In all it’s another great page-turning story, just don’t expect any resolution at the end. Stand alone books these are not!

On to book 3!

Buy, School’s Out. Forever. (Maximum Ride, Book #2) at Amazon. [UK] [US]

Maximum Ride - The Angel Experiment ~ James Patterson

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Synopsis

Max Ride and her five friends grew up in a science lab/prison called the School. They were created as an experiment. An experiment where they ended up only 98 percent human. That other 2 percent had a big impact. These children are pretty special.But when an ‘experiment’ this secret and this special has escaped from the School, the scientists are pretty keen on making sure the world never finds out about them.Soon, Max and the other children find themselves on the run in an adventure beyond even their wildest dreams.

I’ve read quite a few books by James Patterson in the past, and usually enjoyed them, and despite being in my thirties, I read and and enjoy a fair number of books aimed at the young adult market, so when I discovered Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, a few months ago, it was an easy choice to give it a go, and so snapped it up on Bookmooch along with it’s (first) sequel, School’s Out - Forever (Maximum Ride).

It then sat on my shelves (in the reading queue) until this week. A week off work and with nothing planned other than a much delayed trip to the dentist, I settled down to make a dent in said ‘reading queue’ and The Angel Experiment, was one of those to be chosen.

Patterson, states on the cover, “Prepare to launch, these pages fly,” and boy do they! Strap yourself in for the ride as he takes you on an adrenaline packed roller-coaster of a journey, filled with mystery and suspense.

YOUR FAITHFUL COMPANIONS: Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. Six kids who are pretty normal in most ways - except that they’re 98 percent human, 2 percent bird. They grew up in a lab, living like rats in cages, but now they’re free. Aside, of course, from the fact that they’re prime prey for Erasers - wicked wolf-like creatures with a taste for flying humans.

THE MISSIONS: Rescue Angel from malicious mutants. Infiltrate a secret facility to track down the flock’s missing parents. Scavenge for sustenance. Get revenge on an evil traitor. And save the world. If there’s time.

Surviving on their wits alone, weathering the constant twists and turns, we follow Max and the ‘Flock’ as they first try to rescue their sister, then try and learn just what is going on and why. Secrets about their past and future,in turns , shock, horrify and delight the six brother and sisters, all the while trying to evade the Erasers, who somehow always know how to find the ‘Flock’…

We are led though this story, by 14 year old, Max, our eponymous (full name Maximum Ride) heroine, who’s wit and teenage cynicism makes for a thoroughly entertaining narrator.

The pace never let’s up from the first page, and is always thrilling and full of surprises, as it constantly twists and turns one way and the next, each one of the very short chapters driving the plot on and ending on some kind of cliffhanger, designed to make you read ‘just one more’ chapter, before you put the book down. This is perfect for younger readers, but for me despite getting close it never quite reached un-putdownable status. Precisely because I knew I could fit in a chapter or two during TV adverts or after I went and make another cup of tea. Then again for reading on the bus, at lunch, or for a busy parent, this is probably perfect, so it’s hardly a criticism.

Some of the critical reviews I’ve seen for this book, most notably on Amazon, cite repetitiveness as one of the books faults and I can’t disagree, however as I’ve mentioned, the chapters are that short and the twists and turns, come that thick and fast it hardly matters.

Patterson’s skill as a story teller, elevates this out of the pure teen market (or even those older reader like myself who can enjoy a good young-adult book) to a great read for everyone 10-100!

Further Reading:
Check out MaximumRide.com for updates on an upcoming film, watch a video of Max soaring over New York City, and loads more, especially, Fang�s blog!

I’ll be reading books 2 & 3 over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for my reviews! and finally book 4 in the series, The Maximum Ride: The Final Warning (Maximum Ride) is now available for pre-order!

Buy, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment from Amazon. [UK] [US]