The Maximum Ride series’ flock of winged children is off to Africa for a photo op while providing humanitarian aid. Then Max’s rival, Angel, prophesies that best-friend Fang will be the first to die and it will happen soon. When Dr. Gunther-Hagen introduces Max to Dylan, a gorgeous new bird kid who has been designed to be Max’s perfect mate, Max’s voices tell her Dylan is perfect for her. But how does this affect her commitment to Fang? This will excite the legions of fans waiting for this installment in the flock’s story.
Maximum Ride is a fantastically fast-paced series that has a great premise: human kids with bird DNA grafted to their genes. I’ve read every one in the series and it’s fun to read a “bestseller” in the YA market every once in a while.
Reading Fang however, the newest installment in the Maximum Ride series, sometimes felt like deja vu.
The plot devices were different, new characters were introduced, Angel turned…evil? But even though many things were different in this novel, it felt like I had read the same book…for the fifth time. I understand that James Patterson might not remember that he had used the same sequence of events in a few of his books because he writes about five or more books in a year.
I’m not quite sure why exactly I keep reading the Maximum Ride series, but I’ve read every installment hoping for a new “thing” to arrive and turn the series into the potential it had back in book one: The Angel Experiment. I do get that it is in the style of the book to be contemporary, fast-paced, and have lots of action in it.
Fang and the rest of the books are, metaphorically speaking, skeletal. A potential of what kind of book it might and could be. It’s not given muscles, nerves, blood, or skin to make it a full and satisfying read. It is just plotted, given a bit of dialogue, and given to the YA reading world.
There are only two books left in the series, so when I read Angel I hope things get amped up a bit and James Patterson lets the series really fly.
Note: This book was Complimentary Review Copy courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Children.
I thought the first Maximum Ride book was great. The rest…meh. As you say, they all seemed to be repeating the same storyline. Here’s to hoping that “Angel” will bring something fresh and new.