The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, Book 1)

THE STORY: Maximum Ride is a fourteen-year-old girl with wings (or a mutant freak depending on the current turn of events) who is the result of some experiments at a secret lab to inject avian genes into human embroyos. Max is the oldest of the six members of her family, or as they refer to themselves, the flock. The others are Fang - a taciturn boy who is four months younger than Max; Iggy - who was blinded by experimentation on his sight at the lab; Nudge - a young girl who talks non-stop; and two siblings, the Gasman - an eight-year-old boy with persistent intestinal problems and Angel, his six-year-old sister. Max and her companions were kept in cages and subject to repeated scientific experiments during their life at the School (as the lab was called); they were eventually freed by one of the lab scientists (who are referred to by the flock as Whitecoats) named Jeb Batchelder. Jeb secreted them at his mountain home and raised and educated them; but Jeb suddenly disappeared two years ago and the flock has been on its own since then. Suddenly, Erasers (experimental beings also developed at the lab who can morph into powerful vicious wolf-like creatures) raid the family's mountain hideaway and kidnap Angel.

The remaining five kids determine to rescue Angel, who they assume has been returned to the School. Obviously the mission, for which they are ill equipped, will involve extreme danger despite the advantage of flight which their thirteen foot wing span provides them. Their journey begins with a return to the School in Death Valley, California; after a harrowing ecapes and great emotional trauma they eventually make their way across the continent to search for the clues to the identities of their human parents in another secret lab located somewhere in NYC. The fact that the Erasers possess a seeming uncanny ability to locate the flock adds to the tension which builds as the story approaches the point where the flock may be forced to choose between the bonds which have made them the only "family" each has ever known and the pull of searching for their biological parents. Each of them wants an answer to the question of how they came to be participants in such a despicable experiment; they also intensely yearn to somehow become members of a nuclear human family with a "real" mom and dad. As a point of clarification, despite the subtitle THE ANGEL EXPERIMENT, the flock do not think of themselves as angels and while they bear a superficial resemblance to our general conception of angels, there is no mention of this resemblance at any point during the story.

THE GOOD: the decision of James Patterson to attempt to realize the potential of Max's character (which first appeared in WHEN THE WIND BLOWS) after her adventures headed toward a dead end in LAKE HOUSE, which received very poor reviews. The basic storyline is quite clever and it has sufficient elements to develop into an interesting fantasy series, although some readers of the earlier books may be disconcerted by the fact that with the exception of Max's winged nature and her escape from a despicable school, there are few similarities with the earlier books. (In effect, this is a cover of those books not a sequel; it utilizes the same basic character but everything else is diffeent.) The situation in which the "children" find themselves evokes both sympathy and tension in the reader; the author accommodates his legion of fans with his usual style of very brief action-filled chapters and frequent plot twists. The technique of using Max as the narrator very effectively provides insight into her psychological travails and impacts the reader emotionally. While there is frequent violence, most of it is less disturbing than in some of Patterson's work, both because it is less graphically described and also because it occurs in the realm of fantasy. Finally, the examination of the moral and ethical issues relating to the scientific experiments which produced the protagonists and the discussions of family relationships and responsibilities are cleverly interspersed throughtout the narrative. It is this aspect and it's potentially thought provoking and educational impact on young readers (certainly an important target audience for the book as I will discuss later) which led me to slightly upgrade my two star rating.

THE BAD: The potential of the story is never realized, as is increasing the case with Patterson's books. Interesting ideas are never fully developed, even the humorous moments seem rushed. Either Patterson is getting increasingly lazy and just attempting to establish a new franchise to milk or he is involved in too many projects; whichever is the case his editors should have required a major rewrite. The thought process was also sloppy, this is a fantasy set in the real world, not the creation of a whole new world. So, when the flock is in NYC, it frequents Central Park, finds sanctuary in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and takes the Madison Avenue bus. Yet suddenly in a disconcerting switch with no conceivable purpose the kids visit a fictional AFO Schmidt (rather than FAO Schwarz) and dine at the Garden Tavern, which resembles in every detail the Tavern on the Green. The narrative content actually more resembles a comic book or a graphic novel than the usual hard cover of over 400 pages.

THE TRULY UGLY: The author seemingly changes the rules at will whenever the flock confronts a problem. While it is difficult to be specfic without providing spoilers, two general examples will suffice. First, in the absence of any source of funds, the family soon confronts situations with which it would be very difficult to cope in their disguised state as regular children. So on two separate occasions, ATM cards very propitiously come into their possession, once in a totally unbelievable manner. In another situation, just when required one of them suddenly manages to drive a car. (These aren't the most outrageous examples.) But most importantly, THERE IS AN ENDING BUT NO CONCLUSION! Many events remain unexplained. The reader and Max are both left in a state of shock by the apparent implications of a horrible tragedy near the end of the story, yet there is no closure. Even when a book such as this one is intended to be the initial installment of a series, it should satisfy the reader on a standalone basis. This fails that requirement.

SUMMARY: While there was no indication either on the book jacket or in the television commercials which I saw that this book was intended for the youth market (perhaps preteen), the price, the nature of the story and the website to which the reader is referred all seem to indicate that is the intended audience. I will obviously be interested in the opinions expressed in the reviews of such readers, but I believe that there are numerous better written alternatives available for both adults and young readers interested in fantasy. Among the best known works of recent vintage are not only the Harry Potter series but the wonderful Thursday Next quartet by Jasper Fforde. Thus I strongly recommend that rather than buy this book you at least wait until the sequel is published in the hope that some of the loose threads wil be tied up. If you are too much of a James Patterson fan to wait that long, either just borrow it from your local library (to which I plan to donate my copy, which is definitely not a keeper), or alternatively wait for the paperback rather than encourage the author and publisher to produce more books of this quality by purchasing the hardcover edition.

Tucker Andersen

If anything, I had seriously misconceptions when it came to Maximum Ride. For once it was written by James Patterson, world renowned author of murder mysteries that were turned into movies usually starring Morgan Freeman to name a couple. When I saw this down at the library in the young adults section, the immediate thought that came flying from my head was, "Somebody misplaced this book in the wrong section!" I thought this because I knew James Patterson for writing books for ADULT audiences only, so was irked that someone would leave the book in the wrong section of the library. Of course, it irked me so much that I took a chance and snatched it off the book shelf to read it myself (odd no?). After several weeks I finally got around to reading it. Without a doubt these pages DO FLY as the side panel of the book warned. The storyline surrounding the characters could be more well thought out; Its sort of hard for me to describe, but a short summary would be this: [Max and her band of brothers and sisters (the flock) find themselves hunted by a organization from a place called The School after being ambushed in their hideaway home.

From there they find themselves constantly running for their lives while trying unravel secrets hidden from them]. The concept of children with the ability to fly (with the inclusion of Hollow Bones) with WINGS is a nice touch to the story; The flying scenes were written very convincingly. The description of the action unfolding the extremely short chapters were well detailed, the words unfolded in my mind smoothly, the pharagraphs constructed in way that you don't find yourself scratching your head trying figure out how'd that character end up in such a position and so forth.

The characters are stellar; From Max to Angel, these Teenagers, tweenagers, and kids are excellent reflections of their real life counterparts to a T. And the villains, while they make you hate them, are well written. They're never so predictable, or straightforward with their plans it makes you roll your eyes. And, yes, while this book leaves some things unexplained and the story does end quite abruptly, Max convincingly shushes that with a convincing teenage comment. Highly recommended reading.

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment is truly an amazing book. I picked up at noon and couldn't put it down (literally) until 2:00 am when I finished it. I was so worked up i didn't sleep all night. I actually reread some parts of the book. This book is, in a sense, based on When the Wind Blows and The Lake House. Max, the main character is 98% human and 2% avian (bird)is in all three books, but the other characters are changed up a little bit.

The book starts off with this warning, "If you dare to read this story, you become part of the Experiment. I know that sounds a little mysterious-but it's all I can say right now-Max" As soon as I read this, I knew this was going to be a good book. The main characters in this book are Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. The book starts off right in the first few chapters. Angel gets captured by the Erasers, part human, part wolf, and taken back to the horride School (which they escaped in When the Wind Blows). The flock then has to go rescue her and along the way, many things happen. Max gets shot when she helps a little girl named Ella, the Gasman and Iggy set off the Big Boy, a bomb, and kills many Erasers, and Fang and Nudge gind the "hawk" in them.

When the flock finally gets Angel out, Max learns that she has a chip in her arm and the Voice in her head. Amazingly painful headaches announce the presence of the Voice. Painful enough to knock her out cold and fall dangerously from the sky at about a mile high. Lickily Fang catches her (one of my favorite parts). The flock eventually goes to this Institue in NYC and finds horrilbe experiments being done. "Gruesome," was what one of the flock had said. The flock helps the kids get out and in the process, Max kills an Eraser named Ari.

This, so far, is my all time favorite book. I love Max's character, not to mention her wings. Her spunk and her confidence in herself always amazed me. One reason why I think I liked this book so much was something that James Patterson said, "I think people like this book (When the Wind Blows-close enough) because everybody has, at one time or another, dreamt of flying. And these books bring you into lives of people who can fly." I truly believe this is true, what J. Patterson said.

This is an great book!!!:)

This book is almost a plagiarism of the concept of the tv show "Dark Angel" that ran on FOX: genetially altered kids who grew up in a lab, escaped and are now being hunted by those who want to destroy them or bring them back to the lab. The heroine's name is even the same!!! I am completely shocked that James Patterson can get away with something like this. It's completely ludicrous to think people won't notice. Not to mention that the characters are not fully developed, there is no consistency in the world he writes in (New York city ranges from real locations to made up locations) and the kids talk like adults and have conveniences like ATM cards that make no sense. They are orphans trying to stay together as a "family" (another rip-off) and though I would like them better if they were written with more layers, I have to say that Patterson did not make me care AT ALL what happens to these kids. A non-famous writer could NEVER get away with the shoddy writing in this YA book-- and by this I include characterization, world-building, plot and voice. The only good thing about this book is the premise, which like I said, has been done before.

If you've ever read any of my past reviews you'll know I've only reviewed movies I've seen in the past; and that the only time i write a review is when I'm either extremely pleased or disgusted beyond words. Thus for me to write my first book review you can believe my feelings are very strong.

Ill first say i have loved Pattersons work for years, and have got some of my friends interested in his work; in all honesty i owe him a hearty thanks for helping me fall in love with reading again. I love the Cross and Women's Murder Club series and felt unlimited potential with the winged children series (even though Lake House got some pretty rough reviews by some).

Sadly, in Max Ride i felt completely and utterly betrayed. This book felt like either Patterson didn't feel like putting thought into maintaining the continuity of the original story line, or he wanted simply to pander to a younger crowd (and younger dollars) and forfeit his older audience (possibly out of anger toward the harsh reviews on Lake House). What ever you remember in As The Wind Blows and The Lake House mean nothing in Max Ride. There is no Frannie, no Kit, no Ozzy, Max doesn't have eggs. Where the Winged kids knew their parents in Lake House, somehow they don't know who they are in Max Ride. And was i the only one who found it weird that in Max ride the kids wanted eggs for breakfast (kids that are part bird) its like me going to Denny's and saying hey can i have some ovaries and embryos with a side of bacon.

This book was like finding out that in the new Cross novel Alex is a cowardly homosexual transvestite, and he has no Nana Mama and no kids. This book felt almost like the season of Dallas where you find out the whole past season was a dream. The ending has no closure, the moments of action were always the same (the Erasers beat up the Winged kids, same beating same way every 30 pages or so, nothing new, nothing fresh).

I know Patterson loves to boast that people tell him to write faster and put his books out to the public at a quicker pace. But let me say that if Max Ride is the best you can do for the loyal fans that read your books religiously, let me be the first to say PLEASE TAKE YOUR FRIGGING TIME. The only reason this book gets one star is that i think it is a good book to help get a child or adolescent interested in reading, (its a good story about being different, being brave, and the value of family and love) and its the lowest rating i can give. But please Patterson, in the future if you are going to make a book and change the whole premise and storyline, please let the fans know ahead of time, before they spending their money on something that undermines what they wanted and expected.

I realize that this is supposed to be the start of a series, but really! A book should have an ending, closure, something that leaves us satisfied and still wanting. This book has neither of these. It just stops. All the questions that you had during the book and especially in the final moments, the new questions that you have, are left hanging. The questions like, who is Max, is Jeb her father, what about the other "angels"? What about the other experiments that they freed? Who is the voice? I know it sounds like I'm probably giving some stuff away, but trust me I'm not. The book could have been great if he had finished it. As it is, you get only half the book, half the story and none of it is satisfying in the least. Stick with Harry Potter. His books have endings.

James Patterson, what happened to the start of a wonderful series? I have been an avid reader for over 50 years. When I read "As the Wind Blows", I thought it was magnificent. When I finished I could actually imagine the story line being true in some desolate place in the world. The book was full of love and compassion and the "flock" became real. Then "The Lake House" came along and picked up right from the ending of the last book. I thought, "this is going to be a great series, something to look forward to".

Then came "Maximum Ride"! I have never been so disappointed in a book before. What happened to Frannie and Kit? What happened to the parents the children had met? What happend to the eggs that were ivory white with a pearly pink sheen? What happened to Frances Jane and Ozymandias? No mention of Oz, Matthew, Peter or Wendy !

Maximum Ride was full of violence, blood, gore, unrealistic cartoon characters and had no connection to the other books accept for the School. No warm fuzzies in this book for sure.

All I have left to say is "What happened, James Patterson, what happened"?

Like others, I bought this book thinking it was part 3 of a series. I feel cheated that Patterson is using the same premise for a basically completely different book. Same bird kid thing with one named Maximum. He shouldn't have used any stuff from the first two books, and I wouldn't have felt like I wasted my money.

Maximum Ride is another one of the recent bizarre books by Patterson on the bird kid theme.

If you read `When the Wind Blows' or `The Lake House' and didn't like them, stay away from this book. It is more of the same goofy writing.

Having really been a big fan of Mr. Patterson back when he was writing the Alex Cross novels, I am more than a bit disappointed with his writing as of late. This one is the worst of the lot in my opinion.

For anyone who has missed the two books on this theme cited previously, they involve a group of `bird children' who are the result of genetic experimentation that grafted avian DNA into that of humans. The resulting `creations' are super strong humans with wings. They can fly, etc.

In this story, the `flock', as they call themselves, battle another group of mutants, created in the same lab, who are part wolf. The wolf men are constantly trying to thwart the bird kids, but are defeated in totally implausible ways.

Some of the bird kids have now developed very unusual abilities: The leader, Max (Maximum Ride) hears a voice of someone communicating with her to save the world. One of the other ones can now breathe underwater and one can now `see' things that have occurred in a place simply by touching objects.

If Patterson is now trying to target the teen market, he should be advertising it that way. There are others who do much better in that area, however, such as C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling.

If you are a Patterson fan from long ago, you might want to do yourself a favor and skip this one so you can remember him as the great writer that he once was.

This not a typical James Patterson book. Took forever to finish. It was too far fetched. Would not recommend to friends. Jacque