Monday, December 1, 2008

Review: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment


Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
3.5 stars


Reasons for reading: I've been curious about this series since it came out; Young Adult Challenge

Description: "Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel are kids who are pretty normal-except that they're 98% human, 2% bird. They grew up in cages, living like rats, and now they're free-but being chased by the wicked, wolf-like Erasers, who've kidnapped Angel. Led by Max, the "Flock" embarks on a quest to find Angel, infiltrate a secret facility to track down their parents, get revenge on an evil traitor, and try to save the world-if there's time. "

First line: "The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective."

My thoughts: This was a great thriller with the cool (yet horrifying) twist of genetic engineering. I really liked how the flock acted like a family and would do anything to stay together and protect one another. And it's certainly a high-octane ride - in addition to the mystery of why they were created, the kids can never let their guard down for a moment. I thought Max was a great leader while still coming across as a scared and confused 14-year-old girl. And, while not the deepest character portraits ever, each kid comes through with their own personality pretty well, particularly Fang.

One mildly weird thing was that Patterson slightly changed the names of famous places in New York, such as Tavern on the Green and FAO Schwartz - given that Patterson used various product names and locations throughout the book, it really stuck out to me that he changed those names. But perhaps it's a legal thing.

This might just be a series that I have to read til the end!

1 comment:

Zoe said...

I bought this book a few weeks ago, and still have yet to read it. Great review!