The Angel Experiment

Maximum Ride is no ordinary 14 year old girl. She and her adopted family - Fang and Iggy, both 13, Nudge, 11, Gazzy, 8, and Angel, 6 - were created in a lab called the School. The experiment made them 2% bird. Apart from the fact that they have wings and can fly, they also have special powers that are revealed as the story unfolds.[return:][return:]At some point before the story begins a sympathetic scientist named Jeb helped the flock escape. He spent a couple of years raising and caring for them before disappearing one day. Max and gang assumed that he had been killed by the School s mercenaries, another experiment which resulted in wolf-like mutants called Erasers.[return:][return:]When their hideout is discovered by the Erasers in the beginning of this book, Angel is captured and taken away. The flock realises that one of their old friends back at the School, Jeb s son Ari, now lead the Erasers and is out for their blood.[return:][return:]Max makes a decision that she never wanted to make: They had to go back to the School and save Angel. [return:][return:] Maximum Ride was inspired by James Patterson s previous novels When the Wind Blows and The Lake House , which also featured a Max who escaped from a School. But all similarities end here. This is a different Max with a different set of supporting characters. [return:][return:]While the other kids found new powers, Max finds a Voice in her head. She s not gone off her rocker; something s been implanted in her that could be opening this unsettling two-way communication. Her mission, the Voice tells her, is that she has to save the world.[return:][return:]I found Maximum Ride a bit of a disappointment; the main reason I got it was because I loved the original two novels. [return:][return:]However, it was intended for a new audience altogether, and I don t mean people who haven t read Patterson before. The series is aimed at kids, which is a little hard to believe at first if you judge books by their cover. Narrated by Max, the book may appeal to younger readers who have entertained fantasies of flying and other cool things.[return:][return:]Having done various genres and written convincingly from the POV of women, Patterson now tries his hand at writing for young adults. It s sci-fi meets fantasy, and certainly is a different spin from Cornelia Funke or JK Rowling. However, I probably won t endorse it as being better. His trademark short chapters may keep some of you reading, but it s a tired device for a long time fan. I need a break from Patterson anyway.[return:]return:

Overall, a quick, page turner that is enjoyable enough. Not much happens and the plot is often repetitive. The attempt at humor is juvenile, which makes sense for the target audience. Interesting enough premise to continue reading to see where it goes.

Edit: just started reading the second book, summaries of future books, and reviews. Does not seem like it really goes anywhere. Weird blog subplot, that I actually remember as a teen reading this series. Will not be reading more of the books.
It was good to distract me and get reading actual books again.

I got about 80 pages into this book and I couldn't stand to finish it. The characters have no depth! The story line is shaky at best. Max goes on a rescue mission and ends up eating cookies in a strangers house? Really? It's like the tone of this book wants to be serious but just can't be. Not to mention it jump starts you into a story line. Who is Jed? Why is there an entire life they are flashbacking on that I have no concept of? This was just horrible.

Overall, better than I thought it would be, even if the ending was rather abrupt. I would have been annoyed if I had read this back when it originally was published and not known it was the first of a series. The characters were mostly likable (Angel was a little bratty, but expected because of her age). Only real issue was at times the dialogue and character thoughts felt a bit cheesy and dated.

I absolutely ADORED the Maximum Ride series when I read it in eighth grade. However, that was many years ago and, had I read it today, I probably would not be giving it 4 stars do to its... stupidity? I hate to use that word because I was honestly so hooked on this series, but avian-humans and a flying talking dog? Absolutely recommend this series 100% to anyone between the ages of 11 and 14. Any older and you'll probably feel too old to be reading a story like this.

Again, I LOVED THIS BOOK SERI

I re-read this for podcast reasons and stand by my original review.

http://www.idontevenownatelevision.com/2018/03/18/102-the-angel-experiment-maximum-ride-book-1-w-renata-and-kait-from-worst-bestsellers/

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I found this VERY hard to get through and would not recommend it to adults. However it is VERY popular among teens. It's very fast paced which allegedly makes it appealing to reluctant readers. It's about 6 kids who were experimented on and have wings and powers and are on the run from the government.

Good readlikes can be found in the comics world with Runaways, Avengers Academy, X-Men, or... anything, basically.

As the three stars insinuates, I liked this book. I wasn't absolutely dying to finish it, but the story was interesting enough to keep me reading.

The main problems I had with this book seemed to be focused in the first half. At the beginning, Patterson seemed to just scratch the surface of every facet of the book. I liked all the characters but I didn't feel like I had a deep understanding of any of them, even the narrator, Max. The plot was interesting but every time a new problem came up it was either solved quite quickly and easily or it was kind of pushed to the side (perhaps for other books in the series?) The plot seemed to overpower the character development in the first half of the book, which seems kind of backwards to me, especially for the first book in a series (shouldn't the readers get a good sense of the characters first, and then get into the action?)

Then, around the halfway mark, I started to like this book a lot more. I started to see the characters as individuals, not just “the flock”. I began to get a sense of what the characters wanted, what they believed in, and what they were fighting for. I still think some of the problems wrapped up a little easily (the group of mutant kids from the Institute just running off on their own?–yeah, that's gonna come back and bite the flock in their asses) but I do realize this is kind of a kid's book, so I take that into consideration. I do think I would have liked this book even more if I were younger.

Speaking of the age demographic, I'm not sure that Patterson really had a handle on the “young adult” genre. And this book didn't even seem young adult to me–more children's. The main characters range from age 6-14, but they act like they're probably ages 12-18. Yeah, yeah they've dealt with a lot in their short lives and are probably more mature than average kids their ages, but I still think some of their decisions, language, and actions were unrealistic.

All in all, a fun, quick read full of adventure.

This story was ok, and I'm curious how the next in the series but I hated the writing style. It was like reading a movie script than a book. In addition, this book really didn't tell me anything. It obviously was the first book in the series and hopefully it sets up the rest of the book but there wasn't a lot of meat to it. I guess I really didn't make any personal connections with any of the main characters and would have just liked more.