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Maximum Ride #3
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Maximum Ride
434 pages, Paperback
First published May 29, 2007
1254 people are currently reading
26354 people want to read
About the author
James Patterson
950 books356k followersOfficial US Site
Official UK Site
JIMMY Patterson Books
ReadKiddoRead
James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.
Official UK Site
JIMMY Patterson Books
ReadKiddoRead
James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,896 reviews
February 5, 2008
I find one of the great benefits of teaching is being able to buy/read ya lit without having to justify to myself its literary merit (I'm buying it for my classroom library; I'm reading it for research). Much of the YA Lit that I read though, is, in fact, well written, intelligent, thought-provoking pieces of literature. The Maximum Ride series was certainly never that. While I enjoyed the first two Maximum Ride books (The Angel Experiment and School's Out Forever), they are certainly brain candy. I know it's full of sugar and empty calories, but its just so addicting to read something interesting without actually having to think about it. Unfortunately, Maximum Ride: Saving the World and other Extreme Sports lacks any substance what-so-ever. Its the equivilant to eating cubes of sugar. The other plots, while predictable, were at least plausible (in a bird-avian-hybrids-fighting-to-save-the-world-is-normal sort of way). The style of writing, while cute in the first two books, is now extremely annoying. What was, at first, an attempt to sound authentic, is now appearing a desperate attempt to sound young. This book gives in to all the YA Lit stereotypes of fluff books without any literary merit. I don't think you need to dumb down literature to get kids to like it. This book is an insult to all 14-year-old kids with wings everywhere.
Want to read
July 18, 2011There was a metaphorical hole in my heart. A spiritual void and yearning for oblivion. My hands didn't want to turn the pages of the many books I own. Too lazy. What's the point? I'll still be me. Nothing on tv. All of these channels and NOTHING on. It's probably broken. There's no way that the same show is on every channel. I was bored. There was nothing to do. Pretty much the mental equivalent of food in the fridge and there's nothing good (tasty) to eat. I've got nothing! I'm a wasteland. There's no party in my mouth and no one is invited. All alone. Fifth graders are probably smarter than me. I could find out for sure but I'm too lazy and there's nothing on tv.
And in the dead television set a voice spoke to me. To me! It said, "Mariel." It was eerie, believe me. Not only was it broken, it was also unplugged! And it knew my name and it wasn't "Hey, you! You retarded or something? Get out of the way!" like the heavy books on my bookshelves say. I waited to hear it again to be sure. Pitter pitter pat. Is that the pitter patting of little feet? Was my biological clock ticking? (No.)
"I'm bored. It was exciting at first that my broken tv is talking to me. The dangling plug gave it an extra something, I'll admit. Now what?"
"Read my book. The pages turn themselves! I've got loads more where that came from. I write and sell these things like nobody's business."
"James Patterson?" It's hard to tell without bending down and turning my head sideways. He's curled up in the fetal position. But I run down my mind of authors who sell like nobody's business. It's not Stephenie Myer. She's a woman, I think.
"Yes, it's me." I'm cynical about this stuff. This girl I don't think much of is a huge fan of his. Guilt by association. "Hey, you look uncomfortable in there. It's not very big. I'm too cheap and it's also pretty old."
"You don't need to tell me! My hardbacks are $29.99. You can't pay for that? Kids in Africa could live off that for a year. You can't afford that for me?" "Welll...." A hand extends from the bowels of the television set to offer a hardcover book. I don't have any cash. "Your immortal soul will do."
"That's pretty steep..." But I'm bored and the novelty of purchasing through tv gets to me. Didn't Morgan Freeman star in the film versions? Who can you trust if you can't trust Morgan Freeman? Didn't he even play God in some thing? Anyway, he always plays those wise old guys. If you need to explain something that doesn't make sense in a movie, you get Morgan Freeman to do it... Wait, that doesn't seem right. I HATE those movies. "Okay, you got me." What was I using it for anyway? I probably gave it away to someone years ago like the loophole on The Simpson's. It'd be neat to get something through the tv. I like the scene in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film when they teleport the chocolate bar. I always wanted to do that when a kid and the sugar cereal ads would come on. (I don't have any cereal. Nothing to eat.)
The tube switches off and I wait for the maniacial laughter. A cha ching or something. My hands are burning . I rub my fingers over the neon raised letters as if they were braille and I could feel the magic contained within. The authors name is bigger than the title. That's always a sign of selling like nobody's business. Don't ask questions and they will tell you no lies. MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS. It's part three! But I haven't read the first two! And I don't have another immortal soul to sell! Did I use it to miss it? I still feel empty except for this shiny new book to distract me. Should I have children (pitter pitter patterson) and sell theirs?
There's a chick and shadowy other people (chicks and non chicks) are standing sorta behind her. The one in the back is probably going to die. It's pretty tense. Like watching a dream on the corners of your mind. Or trying to play a song in your head to get rid of the bad song that's already stuck in there (that happens to me a lot). Or a rorschach test and there are only wrong answers. That happened to me. "Interesting." "What's interesting about it?" "It's interesting that you ask why it is interesting." Therapy doesn't help.
MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS. But you can save the world another way!
JAMES PATTERSON. It's larger than the above title. Use your mental abilities to image that those are larger than the other words. James Patterson.
The good news! You don't need to read the first two. It all makes perfect sense!
The bad guys from the first two books are after the good guys of the first two books. They are good because James Patterson says it is so. Look how large his name is. That's street cred that Mariah Carey couldn't buy with all of the rappers turned bodyguards in the employ of the Jonas brothers. He's on tv!
Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel. I bet Angel dies. Iggy is probably the smart aleck who secretly loves the little one he gives a hard time. Gasman has gas or works in the employ of the government. Maybe he's a double agent. By day he collects bills and by night he eats tacos. Fang and Max have erotic tension you could cut through like butter. It melts.
Genetically engineered like Hitler would never dream of engineering. The Swedes are way beyond it too. That's saying something because they are blonder than Germans. It's all the sunlight they get. Now these blondes (I just realized they could all get into that blondes only concert held by The Police aka the gestapo) could kick all of your asses because they are genetically superior. Blondes have more fun. I am a brunette and this is why I am often bored. They could breed turtles with spiders and then those turtle-spiders would eat your children. Angel is stuck in Mexico where the chihuahuas are bitches in heat and mating with giant chupachabras because the male chihuahuas are humping the legs of tourists instead. She got into a fight her first day because they pronounced the g as an h. Nudge is ALL THE WAY in Canada and hiding in an igloo from rabid mounties who did it with their horses when lonely one drunken night. It's wrong to mess with nature. That's what Max (she's a girl. Her name is probably something like Maxine. James Patterson was a genius giving her a boy's name. It's not messing with boy-girl nature it's just she's too bad ass to be a girl and that's natural selection in action) is probably all about. With the help of her gang, of course. They eat yummy roly poly fish-heads to survive. They keep them on dry ice because the dead bodies of the lesser humans are on all the regular ice. When they get a head out to eat there's lots of fog like in a music video. It's hard to find time for the James Cameron directed sex scene with all the cool visual effects like dry ice. The hand only starts half way sliding down the steamed up car windows of THE MAXIMUM RIDE. The MAXIMUM RIDE has a car race against another bad ass car. The one that was featured on Trick my Truck marathon the day I had car troubles and had to sit in a stinky lobby for hours. I never wanted to die more in my life than that day. If I appreciated chase scenes I'd have been happier and could relate to other people who got the point of really long chase scenes that never seem to end.
They fight to the death in a game of extreme frisbee. Flying through the air (this is how Angel gets it. It cuts through her neck and her head comes right off) and crying Duck! in time. Marco! Polo! is played in the dire straits by Iggy versus the genetic snobs that are the bad guys. It's hard because his buddies are in different parts of the world and he can't hear if they cry out polo or not.
The pages turned themselves so quickly that I hardly had time to ask any questions. Morgan Freeman read the audio book and that helped. I trust that guy. He wouldn't lie about any of this. Flirty fishing. C'mon, give a little loving. Kiss the girls. Itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout. What? Okay, Morgan... If he says there is going to be a big race war and it's not moving fast enough and the winners won't be smart enough and all we gotta do is wait and take over in the aftermath.... If we stop being cheap with our $29.99 and give it to the starving James Pattersons who need it...
But it sounds like you're one of the bad guys! The bad guys believed in genetic superiority! But I don't have a cool name that could be either a man or a woman's like Max or Morgan. I'm NOT superior. It's like when the Soviets were for the people and then got all the good stuff anyway. I'd ask Liam Neeson what HE thinks but he's busy being smart in Hollywood films. Morgan says to trust him so I must.
There's a test at the end of the book. I failed just like I failed those ink blot tests. I failed every page of the graphic novel version. It was ink blots of product placements and I kept saying pepsi when it was coke.
It was a big ink splot on the page. It asks you what you think it is. I said it was a bunny rabbit. WRONG. It was James Patterson with a full head of blonde hair. There's another one and I said it was a bunny (law of averages?). Do they grade on a curve? It was James Patterson connected with all of the readers of the world. The connect the dots felt like braille and I could read the connectedness through my eyeballs and fingertips. He does sell a lot of books. Connected. Through him we could all be connected. "Look, we got the same book!" It's not all ink blots (I kept saying bunny and it was never a bunny). "Do you use a lot of hand lotion?" "What's a lot?" My pages don't turn themselves. I've been wrong this whole time. "Do you see the emperor's new clothes?" Yes? I made it! That was the right answer. I won a t-shirt, a key chain, a coffee mug and all I had to do was give up the souls of any children I may have (which is bound to happen any day now that I have something as huge in common with the wide world as love of James Patterson).
Now I watch all of Morgan Freeman's movies (he's very wise) and I never have to raise the energy to turn a page again.
When you get to heaven tell 'em that James Patterson sent you.
And in the dead television set a voice spoke to me. To me! It said, "Mariel." It was eerie, believe me. Not only was it broken, it was also unplugged! And it knew my name and it wasn't "Hey, you! You retarded or something? Get out of the way!" like the heavy books on my bookshelves say. I waited to hear it again to be sure. Pitter pitter pat. Is that the pitter patting of little feet? Was my biological clock ticking? (No.)
"I'm bored. It was exciting at first that my broken tv is talking to me. The dangling plug gave it an extra something, I'll admit. Now what?"
"Read my book. The pages turn themselves! I've got loads more where that came from. I write and sell these things like nobody's business."
"James Patterson?" It's hard to tell without bending down and turning my head sideways. He's curled up in the fetal position. But I run down my mind of authors who sell like nobody's business. It's not Stephenie Myer. She's a woman, I think.
"Yes, it's me." I'm cynical about this stuff. This girl I don't think much of is a huge fan of his. Guilt by association. "Hey, you look uncomfortable in there. It's not very big. I'm too cheap and it's also pretty old."
"You don't need to tell me! My hardbacks are $29.99. You can't pay for that? Kids in Africa could live off that for a year. You can't afford that for me?" "Welll...." A hand extends from the bowels of the television set to offer a hardcover book. I don't have any cash. "Your immortal soul will do."
"That's pretty steep..." But I'm bored and the novelty of purchasing through tv gets to me. Didn't Morgan Freeman star in the film versions? Who can you trust if you can't trust Morgan Freeman? Didn't he even play God in some thing? Anyway, he always plays those wise old guys. If you need to explain something that doesn't make sense in a movie, you get Morgan Freeman to do it... Wait, that doesn't seem right. I HATE those movies. "Okay, you got me." What was I using it for anyway? I probably gave it away to someone years ago like the loophole on The Simpson's. It'd be neat to get something through the tv. I like the scene in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film when they teleport the chocolate bar. I always wanted to do that when a kid and the sugar cereal ads would come on. (I don't have any cereal. Nothing to eat.)
The tube switches off and I wait for the maniacial laughter. A cha ching or something. My hands are burning . I rub my fingers over the neon raised letters as if they were braille and I could feel the magic contained within. The authors name is bigger than the title. That's always a sign of selling like nobody's business. Don't ask questions and they will tell you no lies. MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS. It's part three! But I haven't read the first two! And I don't have another immortal soul to sell! Did I use it to miss it? I still feel empty except for this shiny new book to distract me. Should I have children (pitter pitter patterson) and sell theirs?
There's a chick and shadowy other people (chicks and non chicks) are standing sorta behind her. The one in the back is probably going to die. It's pretty tense. Like watching a dream on the corners of your mind. Or trying to play a song in your head to get rid of the bad song that's already stuck in there (that happens to me a lot). Or a rorschach test and there are only wrong answers. That happened to me. "Interesting." "What's interesting about it?" "It's interesting that you ask why it is interesting." Therapy doesn't help.
MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS. But you can save the world another way!
JAMES PATTERSON. It's larger than the above title. Use your mental abilities to image that those are larger than the other words. James Patterson.
The good news! You don't need to read the first two. It all makes perfect sense!
The bad guys from the first two books are after the good guys of the first two books. They are good because James Patterson says it is so. Look how large his name is. That's street cred that Mariah Carey couldn't buy with all of the rappers turned bodyguards in the employ of the Jonas brothers. He's on tv!
Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel. I bet Angel dies. Iggy is probably the smart aleck who secretly loves the little one he gives a hard time. Gasman has gas or works in the employ of the government. Maybe he's a double agent. By day he collects bills and by night he eats tacos. Fang and Max have erotic tension you could cut through like butter. It melts.
Genetically engineered like Hitler would never dream of engineering. The Swedes are way beyond it too. That's saying something because they are blonder than Germans. It's all the sunlight they get. Now these blondes (I just realized they could all get into that blondes only concert held by The Police aka the gestapo) could kick all of your asses because they are genetically superior. Blondes have more fun. I am a brunette and this is why I am often bored. They could breed turtles with spiders and then those turtle-spiders would eat your children. Angel is stuck in Mexico where the chihuahuas are bitches in heat and mating with giant chupachabras because the male chihuahuas are humping the legs of tourists instead. She got into a fight her first day because they pronounced the g as an h. Nudge is ALL THE WAY in Canada and hiding in an igloo from rabid mounties who did it with their horses when lonely one drunken night. It's wrong to mess with nature. That's what Max (she's a girl. Her name is probably something like Maxine. James Patterson was a genius giving her a boy's name. It's not messing with boy-girl nature it's just she's too bad ass to be a girl and that's natural selection in action) is probably all about. With the help of her gang, of course. They eat yummy roly poly fish-heads to survive. They keep them on dry ice because the dead bodies of the lesser humans are on all the regular ice. When they get a head out to eat there's lots of fog like in a music video. It's hard to find time for the James Cameron directed sex scene with all the cool visual effects like dry ice. The hand only starts half way sliding down the steamed up car windows of THE MAXIMUM RIDE. The MAXIMUM RIDE has a car race against another bad ass car. The one that was featured on Trick my Truck marathon the day I had car troubles and had to sit in a stinky lobby for hours. I never wanted to die more in my life than that day. If I appreciated chase scenes I'd have been happier and could relate to other people who got the point of really long chase scenes that never seem to end.
They fight to the death in a game of extreme frisbee. Flying through the air (this is how Angel gets it. It cuts through her neck and her head comes right off) and crying Duck! in time. Marco! Polo! is played in the dire straits by Iggy versus the genetic snobs that are the bad guys. It's hard because his buddies are in different parts of the world and he can't hear if they cry out polo or not.
The pages turned themselves so quickly that I hardly had time to ask any questions. Morgan Freeman read the audio book and that helped. I trust that guy. He wouldn't lie about any of this. Flirty fishing. C'mon, give a little loving. Kiss the girls. Itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout. What? Okay, Morgan... If he says there is going to be a big race war and it's not moving fast enough and the winners won't be smart enough and all we gotta do is wait and take over in the aftermath.... If we stop being cheap with our $29.99 and give it to the starving James Pattersons who need it...
But it sounds like you're one of the bad guys! The bad guys believed in genetic superiority! But I don't have a cool name that could be either a man or a woman's like Max or Morgan. I'm NOT superior. It's like when the Soviets were for the people and then got all the good stuff anyway. I'd ask Liam Neeson what HE thinks but he's busy being smart in Hollywood films. Morgan says to trust him so I must.
There's a test at the end of the book. I failed just like I failed those ink blot tests. I failed every page of the graphic novel version. It was ink blots of product placements and I kept saying pepsi when it was coke.
It was a big ink splot on the page. It asks you what you think it is. I said it was a bunny rabbit. WRONG. It was James Patterson with a full head of blonde hair. There's another one and I said it was a bunny (law of averages?). Do they grade on a curve? It was James Patterson connected with all of the readers of the world. The connect the dots felt like braille and I could read the connectedness through my eyeballs and fingertips. He does sell a lot of books. Connected. Through him we could all be connected. "Look, we got the same book!" It's not all ink blots (I kept saying bunny and it was never a bunny). "Do you use a lot of hand lotion?" "What's a lot?" My pages don't turn themselves. I've been wrong this whole time. "Do you see the emperor's new clothes?" Yes? I made it! That was the right answer. I won a t-shirt, a key chain, a coffee mug and all I had to do was give up the souls of any children I may have (which is bound to happen any day now that I have something as huge in common with the wide world as love of James Patterson).
Now I watch all of Morgan Freeman's movies (he's very wise) and I never have to raise the energy to turn a page again.
When you get to heaven tell 'em that James Patterson sent you.
August 13, 2007
HATED IT. I never hate books. This was so poorly written, such a mess of mixed up voice, bad dialog and improbably situations. A total waste of paper.
July 3, 2017
I find it funny that after nearly a decade passed since I last devoured this series, I come on Goodreads and everyone's trashing it. Would it make me less credible if I gave this 4 stars? Should I be caring? I wanted to give this 5 stars but after reading through a few irate reviews I decided to take it down a notch. But I loved it so much when I was a kid, I had fantasies of being Max and everything. Sad that it has lost its magic now that I'm all Grown Up.
September 29, 2024
This book was intended to complete the Maximum Ride series; thanks to its popularity, James Patterson wrote even more sequels. Still, it has the intensity and excitement you'd expect from such a finale. There were so many twists and turns, it felt like a blockbuster movie or old-school-style action/adventure video game.
October 6, 2007
This is actually the third book in the series. I have not read the first two but When the Wind Blows (of which this series was based on,) is one of my favourite books by James Patterson.
When I heard that Patterson had written a children's novel I was surprised. Knowing what his adult books are like, I couldn't imagine how he could write for children without being to scary. I find his writing style completely different in this book, it is hard for me to think of the books as having the same author.
Speaking of writing styles, the book is written differently than most books. It is like there is a narrator who is sitting next to me, telling me the story. Quite a few times the reader is directly addressed. This put an interesting spin on things, I enjoyed it.
Having not read the first two books, I was unsure if I would be able to follow the storyline in number 3 but things are well explained in this book so that you don't even need to have read books one and two.
I found the story a little slow at the beginning, it took a while for things to start happening but once they did, I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to know what happened next. At 24, it wasn't that long ago that I was a teenager and I've always liked teen fiction so I can see why this book is so popular with kids already. One reason why I think Max's stories will become popular is because it's something entirely new. Bird kids? What other book do you know of with bird kids that have escaped from the school they were bred in? I'm glad to hear that the book will be made into a movie, I would like to see it when it comes out.
One thing I didn't like about the book although most others I've heard from did like it, was Fang's blog. If by chance this is the first review you've read of this book, (highly unlikely but still,) then you may not know that Fang (one of the character's) has his own blog (which is really online) and it is consulted and used throughout the entire story. Also modern culture is mentioned like Brad Pitt, Harry Potter and Oprah. What I like about books is that they take me away from the real world into a new world so when the two worlds are combined, I find it harder to imagine life in the "book world."
My favourite part of the book is when Ter Borcht interviews the flock. Max's (and occasionally the other's) smart-alec answers are hilarious! I know most kids would love to be able to talk back to adults like that but obviously can't so it's great!
Overall I enjoyed this book and recommend it to those 12 and up. I hope that James Patterson chooses to write more novels for kids/teens when Maximum Ride is finished. It's books like these that get kids reading.
When I heard that Patterson had written a children's novel I was surprised. Knowing what his adult books are like, I couldn't imagine how he could write for children without being to scary. I find his writing style completely different in this book, it is hard for me to think of the books as having the same author.
Speaking of writing styles, the book is written differently than most books. It is like there is a narrator who is sitting next to me, telling me the story. Quite a few times the reader is directly addressed. This put an interesting spin on things, I enjoyed it.
Having not read the first two books, I was unsure if I would be able to follow the storyline in number 3 but things are well explained in this book so that you don't even need to have read books one and two.
I found the story a little slow at the beginning, it took a while for things to start happening but once they did, I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to know what happened next. At 24, it wasn't that long ago that I was a teenager and I've always liked teen fiction so I can see why this book is so popular with kids already. One reason why I think Max's stories will become popular is because it's something entirely new. Bird kids? What other book do you know of with bird kids that have escaped from the school they were bred in? I'm glad to hear that the book will be made into a movie, I would like to see it when it comes out.
One thing I didn't like about the book although most others I've heard from did like it, was Fang's blog. If by chance this is the first review you've read of this book, (highly unlikely but still,) then you may not know that Fang (one of the character's) has his own blog (which is really online) and it is consulted and used throughout the entire story. Also modern culture is mentioned like Brad Pitt, Harry Potter and Oprah. What I like about books is that they take me away from the real world into a new world so when the two worlds are combined, I find it harder to imagine life in the "book world."
My favourite part of the book is when Ter Borcht interviews the flock. Max's (and occasionally the other's) smart-alec answers are hilarious! I know most kids would love to be able to talk back to adults like that but obviously can't so it's great!
Overall I enjoyed this book and recommend it to those 12 and up. I hope that James Patterson chooses to write more novels for kids/teens when Maximum Ride is finished. It's books like these that get kids reading.
March 26, 2021
I loved this one! It was so ansty! Fang is such a flawed and dramatic character but I love him no matter what weird stuff he does (which I will have to remember when book 7 comes around). Max and the gang are fun and lovable as always.
October 31, 2014
Just like the last two books, Max is on the run. Evil Erasers are after her, only now they're robotic. And there are more evil scientists, all ready to be the most clichè villains imaginable.
I actually took notes on this book. It was so bad I didn't want to forget a single moment.
The book opens with a two-page scene in which the main villain introduces herself by casually ordering everyone to die. Only it's not scary so much as flat, cheesy, and so cardboard evil I almost laughed. First two pages, and you can predict everything the bad guys are going to do.
Next chapter, the necessary summary of the previous books, as this is the third book in the series. Only instead of working it into the plot, like any sane book, Max basically takes a time-out, reminds the reader you're reading a book here ("Those of you who picked up this book cold, even though it's clearly part three of a series, well, get with the program, people!"), which is like a kick upside the head in terms of getting personally involved in the plot. Fang's blog is mentioned, and the URL is also given, in case you want to read more blog-style writing.
The Erasers are gone. Finally. And what comes to replace them? Robot werewolves! Robots... that burn from the briefest contact with fire, break from a well-placed kick, and have to physically attack people because they don't get guns until the end of the book. The flock even says, "It's like they were dipped in gasoline!" Please. If they are covered in flesh and fur, that shouldn't burn that easily. If they aren't, they still shouldn't be leaking oil to the point where they're burning to death because some kid threw a flaming stick from a fire at them (has anyone played with flaming sticks from fires? They generally don't stay lit very long once outside the fire...). They have "creepy" laughter and a horrible sense of humor... the "There is no chance to survive; make your time. Ha ha ha" robot had more life. And they have no guns, no crossbows, not even any rocks. The only way for them to fight is to physically run into the kids and then wail on them. Considering how much those robots probably cost to manufacture, I'm surprised Itex didn't hire out the Mafia at a fraction of the cost. It would have been a better use of the money.
If this hasn't been enough to turn you off, Patterson then reveals that everything in the first hundred pages or so, plus everything in the last two books, was a chemically-induced dream. Yay. It later turns out to be a lie. About a hundred pages later. But I very nearly put the book down at that initial statement, because there was no way I wanted to keep reading after that.
Apparently, people are now able to get tattoos that only show up a few days before you're going to die. And they have your death date on them! How nice of them. I am curious what kind of invisible ink they're using that presumably is triggered by crap in the body that would build up if the body is going into suicide mode. Interestingly, as well, that although death has been programmed into people, they're completely fine right up until the moment they drop dead! Science truly has come a long way... maybe they should've put half that much effort into the social sciences. Every single employee (and the clients) of Itex has to have a negative IQ in terms of social skills. They get all pissed off at the experiments for not being grateful that they brought cookies while everyone was in prison. I realize scientists are deluded, but if you can't even have an ounce of pity for any of them, you stop believing in them.
And then we meet the main target of hatred for the majority of the book: an evil scientist from Germany who has this hugely thick accent. Wow, I never would've imagined the bad guy could be German! And his plan just coincidentally resembles Hitler's little sanitation program, too. Kill everyone unfit, blah, blah, until only half the population is left, and then everyone else will get along so well. Like I said, they need a few psychology classes in their curriculum. Or maybe history. And they had this little "turn in your buddies if they're unfit" program going on at the end, too. Bet nobody saw that rewards program coming.
Did you know regular werewolves can apparently chew through steel? You know, with regular teeth. I'm pretty sure dogs that try that need a trip to the doggie dentist. It must've been really bad steel. (Alternatively, please just say the m-word and make them magical. Or something manufactured that isn't like regular teeth.)
Angel "betrays" everyone, only it wasn't really a betrayal, because she was just pretending! Great. This was set up where? This was hinted at where? This was nothing more than a totally obvious attempt to bludgeon some tension into a scene that was already flat and tired and dead. Angel's betrayal would only have worked if she either hadn't done it at all, or had done it after the appropriate hints that she would do so. As it was, it's not only ridiculous, it doesn't work at all.
Fang has a blog. Patterson apparently felt the need to directly transcribe the comments to that blog. Apart from the fact that it looks like all children have no ability to spell whatsoever, the whole thing has such an obvious eco-spin I nearly laughed. Save the whales! Collect the whole set... He rips at global warming, pollution, world hunger, etc, etc, with these incredibly trite statements. The best part is, although the whole book turns out to be so environmentally friendly it's practically married to Mother Earth, it never offers anything real people could do about any of that. It does suggest protests, complete with bad chants and Moltov cocktails. Somehow I do not think this is going to be an effective strategy. Whining won't change anything. Blowing things up certainly isn't going to get you the kinds of changes you were hoping to see.
This book had a few good lines of dialogue. It had a lot more bad ones. "OMG!" was an actual line (and it's NOT from the blog comments section, where I ignored the bad spelling as best I could). Um, we're reading a book. People generally don't speak in acronyms unless they're actually saying the acronym, and I don't even want to think about Nudge saying "Oh em gee!" instead of "Oh my God!" There's cussing in the rest of the book; this wasn't done to cut down on the swearing. Max says God and Oh my God a lot. It's the only instance of this atrocity in the book, too, which makes it really stand out as the pinnacle of horror. Although every single line the German dude had also made me wince, and every single line the female scientist did too. There was a lot of bad, cheesy, teeth-grinding dialogue. But "OMG!" reminded me it could still go downhill....
So, the flock gets across the ocean, and begins touring Europe as part of Max's non-plan to save the world. And I do mean tour. They stop in tourist places and do tourist things. And oh yeah, then go look up Itex headquarters, only to randomly decide not to attack and find the next one, and on the way stop at more tourist places. And make sarcastic/funny comments about tourist stuff. This really destroyed any sense of direction the book had; are you going to get on with it, or aren't you? Apparently they weren't. And after spending all three books pretty much doing her own thing, whatever the consequences, Max decides to listen to the Voice and leave England's Itex office for later. There are no reasons. I might as well pretend the England office had fleas.
If you read the second book (or was it the first? I lose track of what happened in which book, after a while), you'll remember Max had a clone. It's like the Terminator: she's baaaaaaack. And now there are more clones of everyone else too. And somehow these clones are all exact clones, exactly the same age and the same looks and the same everything. Because we all know that all twins are identical, even when they're genetically identical. They never cut their hair different or have any distinguishing marks or anything.
So, Max and her girls are busting into this castle in Germany, and they need a way to get around. Why use the halls when you can use a ventilation duct? They're always big enough for people, you never get stuck, you never run into rats, and they always lead directly where you wanted to go. Of course, then they get caught, and throw into a dungeon. A literal dungeon. With chains. So yay, being bird-people chained up underground... they weren't quite as claustrophobic as they claimed to be. They all seemed to take it really well.
Maybe this was because our unnamed female evil director genius scientist from page one returns, with a name and a new identity: Mother Dearest! I so should have put money down on that... "I am your mother" wasn't quite the sinister shock Patterson had meant it to be. It's just that kind of book. Of course this is Max's mother. Equally of course is that it later turns out to be a lie (Ha! Patterson is saying; You didn't believe I'd actually tell you the truth about anything!), and also equally obvious is who the genetic mother turns out to be. Hint: there have only been two other adult females in the entire series that have had even minor roles, and you know it's not one of them cause she'd have rubbed it in a long time ago. Also patently obvious is the identity of Max's father. I'd had that pegged by book one, along with the identity of Max's Voice. Who is the Voice? Jeb, of course, who has always been saying the same sort of things, and who is the only character with anything approaching ambiguity. Here's a handy little guide for the rest of the series: if someone doesn't try to kill/capture the flock within the first five seconds, everyone's going to be best friends.
Fang has invented a new way to save the world: spam every inbox in the world with a lousy plea to get up and save our planet because adults are ruining it for us, and if you want to do something just open this attachment.... You know, we'll figure out exactly when the spammers read this book because we'll start getting viruses from emails like these. Fang thinks the kids can do it. Yay kids! You may be only in second grade, but don't let that stop you from learning how to build bombs and lobbing them at defenseless people in an office building! Because obviously, working for Itex means you're in on the plan. Nope, no janitors just trying to feed a family, not having a clue what the corporation whose floors they're cleaning actually does.
Now, Max is sitting in the middle of a prison facility, captured along with all the rest of the experiments, etc, and one of them apparently not only has Internet access, but reads Fang's blog, knows who Max is (versus all the Max clones that are walking around in this same building), and has enough of a brain to give her a message from Fang, although Fang just posted it up on his blog and didn't ask for a hand-delivery. This person is never seen again. Need I say more?
Max is, also, incorruptible. Pardon me while I laugh until my nose bleeds. I don't doubt that characters can have high moral standards, enough so to be immune to a lot of the temptation that comes along with power. It was just the way they put it, on top of everything else.
Well, now the book comes to its freak show, where all the experiments are paraded in front of potential buyers. None of these experiments has even two brain cells to think about escape. One, a boy named Omega, is pitted against Max in a deathmatch (who didn't see that coming), which, once Max looks to be winning, becomes a bunch of really stupid tests that Max should've fought harder before agreeing to take. A foot race? Calculating the weight of a wall? Pulling a bunch of weights?
And oh, yeah, Ari? He dies in Max's arms. Which was supposed to be sweet, I think, except I was too busy wondering how he could be wailing away on the robotic werewolves one minute, and dead the next. Even heart attacks take longer, and strokes don't leave you that conscious of your last moments. It was just a "well, we don't need him anymore," moment. And aww, see, it's supposed to be tragic, cause he dies and she's holding him and she feels bad for him. Right.
Angel's powers were a real deus ex machina. They only worked when Patterson found it convenient for them to work. None of the top bosses were telepathic, and none of them walked around with telepaths to protect them from people like Angel, but she mysteriously can't manipulate any of their minds, only the minds of the other experiments. Angel starts a riot, everyone's fighting, and the whole thing ends when.... you guessed it, kids with rocks show up! Fang's army bursts through the gates, chanting truly hideous rhymes that are a crime against English, and this army of kids manages to subdue the whole mob. You know, I think a few of those robots had machine guns. True, all the robots were dead, but I wouldn't put it beyond one of the mysteriously silent members of the audience to pick one up and start shooting everybody in an effort to protect himself.
So the day is won, thanks in large part to a bunch of second-graders no one dared shoot, although these are evil dictators bent on wiping out half of humanity. Yeah, that didn't make a lot of sense to me either. Max and the flock go to a tear-filled reunion back home, snarf down a bunch of chow, and fly off into the sunset. Literally.
I hope you don't need me to spell out my opinion of this book. Not Recommended.
I actually took notes on this book. It was so bad I didn't want to forget a single moment.
The book opens with a two-page scene in which the main villain introduces herself by casually ordering everyone to die. Only it's not scary so much as flat, cheesy, and so cardboard evil I almost laughed. First two pages, and you can predict everything the bad guys are going to do.
Next chapter, the necessary summary of the previous books, as this is the third book in the series. Only instead of working it into the plot, like any sane book, Max basically takes a time-out, reminds the reader you're reading a book here ("Those of you who picked up this book cold, even though it's clearly part three of a series, well, get with the program, people!"), which is like a kick upside the head in terms of getting personally involved in the plot. Fang's blog is mentioned, and the URL is also given, in case you want to read more blog-style writing.
The Erasers are gone. Finally. And what comes to replace them? Robot werewolves! Robots... that burn from the briefest contact with fire, break from a well-placed kick, and have to physically attack people because they don't get guns until the end of the book. The flock even says, "It's like they were dipped in gasoline!" Please. If they are covered in flesh and fur, that shouldn't burn that easily. If they aren't, they still shouldn't be leaking oil to the point where they're burning to death because some kid threw a flaming stick from a fire at them (has anyone played with flaming sticks from fires? They generally don't stay lit very long once outside the fire...). They have "creepy" laughter and a horrible sense of humor... the "There is no chance to survive; make your time. Ha ha ha" robot had more life. And they have no guns, no crossbows, not even any rocks. The only way for them to fight is to physically run into the kids and then wail on them. Considering how much those robots probably cost to manufacture, I'm surprised Itex didn't hire out the Mafia at a fraction of the cost. It would have been a better use of the money.
If this hasn't been enough to turn you off, Patterson then reveals that everything in the first hundred pages or so, plus everything in the last two books, was a chemically-induced dream. Yay. It later turns out to be a lie. About a hundred pages later. But I very nearly put the book down at that initial statement, because there was no way I wanted to keep reading after that.
Apparently, people are now able to get tattoos that only show up a few days before you're going to die. And they have your death date on them! How nice of them. I am curious what kind of invisible ink they're using that presumably is triggered by crap in the body that would build up if the body is going into suicide mode. Interestingly, as well, that although death has been programmed into people, they're completely fine right up until the moment they drop dead! Science truly has come a long way... maybe they should've put half that much effort into the social sciences. Every single employee (and the clients) of Itex has to have a negative IQ in terms of social skills. They get all pissed off at the experiments for not being grateful that they brought cookies while everyone was in prison. I realize scientists are deluded, but if you can't even have an ounce of pity for any of them, you stop believing in them.
And then we meet the main target of hatred for the majority of the book: an evil scientist from Germany who has this hugely thick accent. Wow, I never would've imagined the bad guy could be German! And his plan just coincidentally resembles Hitler's little sanitation program, too. Kill everyone unfit, blah, blah, until only half the population is left, and then everyone else will get along so well. Like I said, they need a few psychology classes in their curriculum. Or maybe history. And they had this little "turn in your buddies if they're unfit" program going on at the end, too. Bet nobody saw that rewards program coming.
Did you know regular werewolves can apparently chew through steel? You know, with regular teeth. I'm pretty sure dogs that try that need a trip to the doggie dentist. It must've been really bad steel. (Alternatively, please just say the m-word and make them magical. Or something manufactured that isn't like regular teeth.)
Angel "betrays" everyone, only it wasn't really a betrayal, because she was just pretending! Great. This was set up where? This was hinted at where? This was nothing more than a totally obvious attempt to bludgeon some tension into a scene that was already flat and tired and dead. Angel's betrayal would only have worked if she either hadn't done it at all, or had done it after the appropriate hints that she would do so. As it was, it's not only ridiculous, it doesn't work at all.
Fang has a blog. Patterson apparently felt the need to directly transcribe the comments to that blog. Apart from the fact that it looks like all children have no ability to spell whatsoever, the whole thing has such an obvious eco-spin I nearly laughed. Save the whales! Collect the whole set... He rips at global warming, pollution, world hunger, etc, etc, with these incredibly trite statements. The best part is, although the whole book turns out to be so environmentally friendly it's practically married to Mother Earth, it never offers anything real people could do about any of that. It does suggest protests, complete with bad chants and Moltov cocktails. Somehow I do not think this is going to be an effective strategy. Whining won't change anything. Blowing things up certainly isn't going to get you the kinds of changes you were hoping to see.
This book had a few good lines of dialogue. It had a lot more bad ones. "OMG!" was an actual line (and it's NOT from the blog comments section, where I ignored the bad spelling as best I could). Um, we're reading a book. People generally don't speak in acronyms unless they're actually saying the acronym, and I don't even want to think about Nudge saying "Oh em gee!" instead of "Oh my God!" There's cussing in the rest of the book; this wasn't done to cut down on the swearing. Max says God and Oh my God a lot. It's the only instance of this atrocity in the book, too, which makes it really stand out as the pinnacle of horror. Although every single line the German dude had also made me wince, and every single line the female scientist did too. There was a lot of bad, cheesy, teeth-grinding dialogue. But "OMG!" reminded me it could still go downhill....
So, the flock gets across the ocean, and begins touring Europe as part of Max's non-plan to save the world. And I do mean tour. They stop in tourist places and do tourist things. And oh yeah, then go look up Itex headquarters, only to randomly decide not to attack and find the next one, and on the way stop at more tourist places. And make sarcastic/funny comments about tourist stuff. This really destroyed any sense of direction the book had; are you going to get on with it, or aren't you? Apparently they weren't. And after spending all three books pretty much doing her own thing, whatever the consequences, Max decides to listen to the Voice and leave England's Itex office for later. There are no reasons. I might as well pretend the England office had fleas.
If you read the second book (or was it the first? I lose track of what happened in which book, after a while), you'll remember Max had a clone. It's like the Terminator: she's baaaaaaack. And now there are more clones of everyone else too. And somehow these clones are all exact clones, exactly the same age and the same looks and the same everything. Because we all know that all twins are identical, even when they're genetically identical. They never cut their hair different or have any distinguishing marks or anything.
So, Max and her girls are busting into this castle in Germany, and they need a way to get around. Why use the halls when you can use a ventilation duct? They're always big enough for people, you never get stuck, you never run into rats, and they always lead directly where you wanted to go. Of course, then they get caught, and throw into a dungeon. A literal dungeon. With chains. So yay, being bird-people chained up underground... they weren't quite as claustrophobic as they claimed to be. They all seemed to take it really well.
Maybe this was because our unnamed female evil director genius scientist from page one returns, with a name and a new identity: Mother Dearest! I so should have put money down on that... "I am your mother" wasn't quite the sinister shock Patterson had meant it to be. It's just that kind of book. Of course this is Max's mother. Equally of course is that it later turns out to be a lie (Ha! Patterson is saying; You didn't believe I'd actually tell you the truth about anything!), and also equally obvious is who the genetic mother turns out to be. Hint: there have only been two other adult females in the entire series that have had even minor roles, and you know it's not one of them cause she'd have rubbed it in a long time ago. Also patently obvious is the identity of Max's father. I'd had that pegged by book one, along with the identity of Max's Voice. Who is the Voice? Jeb, of course, who has always been saying the same sort of things, and who is the only character with anything approaching ambiguity. Here's a handy little guide for the rest of the series: if someone doesn't try to kill/capture the flock within the first five seconds, everyone's going to be best friends.
Fang has invented a new way to save the world: spam every inbox in the world with a lousy plea to get up and save our planet because adults are ruining it for us, and if you want to do something just open this attachment.... You know, we'll figure out exactly when the spammers read this book because we'll start getting viruses from emails like these. Fang thinks the kids can do it. Yay kids! You may be only in second grade, but don't let that stop you from learning how to build bombs and lobbing them at defenseless people in an office building! Because obviously, working for Itex means you're in on the plan. Nope, no janitors just trying to feed a family, not having a clue what the corporation whose floors they're cleaning actually does.
Now, Max is sitting in the middle of a prison facility, captured along with all the rest of the experiments, etc, and one of them apparently not only has Internet access, but reads Fang's blog, knows who Max is (versus all the Max clones that are walking around in this same building), and has enough of a brain to give her a message from Fang, although Fang just posted it up on his blog and didn't ask for a hand-delivery. This person is never seen again. Need I say more?
Max is, also, incorruptible. Pardon me while I laugh until my nose bleeds. I don't doubt that characters can have high moral standards, enough so to be immune to a lot of the temptation that comes along with power. It was just the way they put it, on top of everything else.
Well, now the book comes to its freak show, where all the experiments are paraded in front of potential buyers. None of these experiments has even two brain cells to think about escape. One, a boy named Omega, is pitted against Max in a deathmatch (who didn't see that coming), which, once Max looks to be winning, becomes a bunch of really stupid tests that Max should've fought harder before agreeing to take. A foot race? Calculating the weight of a wall? Pulling a bunch of weights?
And oh, yeah, Ari? He dies in Max's arms. Which was supposed to be sweet, I think, except I was too busy wondering how he could be wailing away on the robotic werewolves one minute, and dead the next. Even heart attacks take longer, and strokes don't leave you that conscious of your last moments. It was just a "well, we don't need him anymore," moment. And aww, see, it's supposed to be tragic, cause he dies and she's holding him and she feels bad for him. Right.
Angel's powers were a real deus ex machina. They only worked when Patterson found it convenient for them to work. None of the top bosses were telepathic, and none of them walked around with telepaths to protect them from people like Angel, but she mysteriously can't manipulate any of their minds, only the minds of the other experiments. Angel starts a riot, everyone's fighting, and the whole thing ends when.... you guessed it, kids with rocks show up! Fang's army bursts through the gates, chanting truly hideous rhymes that are a crime against English, and this army of kids manages to subdue the whole mob. You know, I think a few of those robots had machine guns. True, all the robots were dead, but I wouldn't put it beyond one of the mysteriously silent members of the audience to pick one up and start shooting everybody in an effort to protect himself.
So the day is won, thanks in large part to a bunch of second-graders no one dared shoot, although these are evil dictators bent on wiping out half of humanity. Yeah, that didn't make a lot of sense to me either. Max and the flock go to a tear-filled reunion back home, snarf down a bunch of chow, and fly off into the sunset. Literally.
I hope you don't need me to spell out my opinion of this book. Not Recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2009
Okay, I would love to give this book ever-so-many more stars, but nothing ruins a book like half-a$$ed politics.
I mean, really?!? James, or whoever really wrote this (who is brilliant and the object of my emulation in so many ways), do you really want all children to be socialist democrats?
It's just hilarious to me how present players refuse to learn from history... the alternative being that they are students of history, bent on repeating it over and over again, not caring how many people die as long as it's the "right" people.
Boo on that.
Oh, and kids with sticks and rocks overthrowing a huge, top-secret, billion-dollar facility with no mention of casualties?
Like most of the book, I'm pretty sure that's just a pie-in-the sky dream for Max, and if it wasn't so dangerous and historically flawed I could let it go. The French wanted to kill their royalty, the Germans blamed their problems on the Jews, and America is starting to villify corporations and people with money.
Historically, this trend happens again and again, with the poor/middle-class demanding what the rich have--with no idea how to earn that kind of money themselves, mind you. No, it kind of comes down to killing those with the money so you can just take it by force.
Anyway, clearly I had issues with the message of this book. There's a reason most sci-fi uses metaphors rather than current politics. It's because when an author sets out to use brilliant characters to convert young minds to a current political movement, it makes it impossible to truly enjoy the story.
I'm not a big fan of current environmental policy, current industry standards, landfills, waste and all that stuff, but it's not entirely the fault of corporations. We're the ones who want low prices, who don't use solar and wind power because it's still too pricey and buy everything the corporations tell us too. THAT's a beeter message to give kids: that by supporting the problem by giving it your money makes you the source of the problem. If you're so against large corporations then stop drinking Coke, playing Wii, seeing movies, using paper/government-issued money, eating pre-packaged food not grown or killed locally, riding your mass-produced bike, driving in a car, flying to visit family and buying anything with a logo on it.
THAT is how you take down massive, international corporations. Not by throwing sticks and stones over a high security wall, miraculously destroying a droid army and saving the day.
If you haven't read the book, all this probably sounds nonsensical to you, but the main point is: this book has an agenda for kids.
So, if you've made it this far, IMO this book is nearly ruined by shallow, simplistic environmental politics. Fang's blog is completely uncharacteristic of him and nauseating.
And including the blog's comments?? Who's dumb idea was that?!? It was like spoon-feeding kids words they should parrot at home and school and play.
Gag me!
I mean, really?!? James, or whoever really wrote this (who is brilliant and the object of my emulation in so many ways), do you really want all children to be socialist democrats?
It's just hilarious to me how present players refuse to learn from history... the alternative being that they are students of history, bent on repeating it over and over again, not caring how many people die as long as it's the "right" people.
Boo on that.
Oh, and kids with sticks and rocks overthrowing a huge, top-secret, billion-dollar facility with no mention of casualties?
Like most of the book, I'm pretty sure that's just a pie-in-the sky dream for Max, and if it wasn't so dangerous and historically flawed I could let it go. The French wanted to kill their royalty, the Germans blamed their problems on the Jews, and America is starting to villify corporations and people with money.
Historically, this trend happens again and again, with the poor/middle-class demanding what the rich have--with no idea how to earn that kind of money themselves, mind you. No, it kind of comes down to killing those with the money so you can just take it by force.
Anyway, clearly I had issues with the message of this book. There's a reason most sci-fi uses metaphors rather than current politics. It's because when an author sets out to use brilliant characters to convert young minds to a current political movement, it makes it impossible to truly enjoy the story.
I'm not a big fan of current environmental policy, current industry standards, landfills, waste and all that stuff, but it's not entirely the fault of corporations. We're the ones who want low prices, who don't use solar and wind power because it's still too pricey and buy everything the corporations tell us too. THAT's a beeter message to give kids: that by supporting the problem by giving it your money makes you the source of the problem. If you're so against large corporations then stop drinking Coke, playing Wii, seeing movies, using paper/government-issued money, eating pre-packaged food not grown or killed locally, riding your mass-produced bike, driving in a car, flying to visit family and buying anything with a logo on it.
THAT is how you take down massive, international corporations. Not by throwing sticks and stones over a high security wall, miraculously destroying a droid army and saving the day.
If you haven't read the book, all this probably sounds nonsensical to you, but the main point is: this book has an agenda for kids.
So, if you've made it this far, IMO this book is nearly ruined by shallow, simplistic environmental politics. Fang's blog is completely uncharacteristic of him and nauseating.
And including the blog's comments?? Who's dumb idea was that?!? It was like spoon-feeding kids words they should parrot at home and school and play.
Gag me!
October 4, 2016
"'Hi,' I said lamely. Unfortunately, finding out who my parents actually were had not improved my social graces by leaps and bounds. Oh, well."
The quote above shows exactly why I like this book. Max is so sarcastic and I love the touch she gives to converstations. For example; the way she mocks Ter Borcht and the scientists is so funny. Loved to read those parts!
When I was finished, I was so scared that this great series would be over, but thanks to Mr. Patterson, there is much more to read!
I give this book 3 stars. Can't give the book more, because this book is so full of action and plot twists, that I can't keep up with it. Sometimes it's just too much and it gets unbelievable at some points. Also; I don't even have time to process some of the plot twists, because a new one gets slammed in my face already. A little less would be better in this book, to my taste.
And I'm kinda sad that;
It was really nice though, to read another Maximum Ride book. I know that I will get a light, fast paced, funny book full of action when I pick up one of those.
Like I said; the ending made me feel like this was the last book of the series, but after some research I'm so glad it is not! The ending is nice and well written, I like the way Fang's story and Max' story come together.
The quote above shows exactly why I like this book. Max is so sarcastic and I love the touch she gives to converstations. For example; the way she mocks Ter Borcht and the scientists is so funny. Loved to read those parts!
When I was finished, I was so scared that this great series would be over, but thanks to Mr. Patterson, there is much more to read!
I give this book 3 stars. Can't give the book more, because this book is so full of action and plot twists, that I can't keep up with it. Sometimes it's just too much and it gets unbelievable at some points. Also; I don't even have time to process some of the plot twists, because a new one gets slammed in my face already. A little less would be better in this book, to my taste.
And I'm kinda sad that;
It was really nice though, to read another Maximum Ride book. I know that I will get a light, fast paced, funny book full of action when I pick up one of those.
Like I said; the ending made me feel like this was the last book of the series, but after some research I'm so glad it is not! The ending is nice and well written, I like the way Fang's story and Max' story come together.
August 16, 2008
*puts gun in mouth*
December 2, 2024
4.5stars!
Super fun series, went by quick !
Super fun series, went by quick !
May 29, 2009
Once again, this book has everything Max. Because I originally thought this was the last book in the series, I think I became specially attached to it. Many of my favorite quotes come from this one.
There's more pop-culture and "normal" references in Book 3, but they just it make it all the funnier. Can we say Paris, Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, beach bunnies, LA gangs, and Hollywood sign? :D
This is also the first book to rotate perspective more than the previous two, and for good reason (but I won't say what). I liked it, especially when Fang included the "blog replies".
And we get our first serious hints of Fang/Max here! Whoo! Max on Valium remains one of the funniest things I've ever read in my life. Same goes for all conversations that pit Flock against School scientists. "I vill now deestroy de Snickuhs bahrs!" "I'll call you Guy in a White Lab Coat." "I play a mean harmonica." xD
Plus, there's the return of Dr. Martinez, Ella, a certain schizo hacker, a troublesome clone, and chocolate chip cookies. What's not to love?
There's more pop-culture and "normal" references in Book 3, but they just it make it all the funnier. Can we say Paris, Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, beach bunnies, LA gangs, and Hollywood sign? :D
This is also the first book to rotate perspective more than the previous two, and for good reason (but I won't say what). I liked it, especially when Fang included the "blog replies".
And we get our first serious hints of Fang/Max here! Whoo! Max on Valium remains one of the funniest things I've ever read in my life. Same goes for all conversations that pit Flock against School scientists. "I vill now deestroy de Snickuhs bahrs!" "I'll call you Guy in a White Lab Coat." "I play a mean harmonica." xD
Plus, there's the return of Dr. Martinez, Ella, a certain schizo hacker, a troublesome clone, and chocolate chip cookies. What's not to love?
November 24, 2023
4.5 ⭐
This one isn't quite as good as the first two, but I still enjoyed it!
This one isn't quite as good as the first two, but I still enjoyed it!
July 29, 2010
This book starts pretty much where the last one left off. Itex is all part of the evil military-industrial complex and has an evil plan. That plan is to kill about half the people on the planet, those not "good enough" and recreate the world. It's up to Max and the flock stop their sinister plan.
Like the previous books, the pace is fast and fun. The author gives a couple of nods to Ian Flemming's James Bond, and that's pretty much the way of his villains. They go to great pains to capture the heroes and promise death to them all (the book opens with that order), yet they seem to prefer needlessly involved, complicated, and risky plots to eliminate our heroes. None of which work. In the end, like Bond, this is the villain's undoing. Further, Patterson replaces Erasers with remarkably Terminator-like replacements. Fortunately for our heroes, the "Flyboys", as they are called, aren't as tough as a Model 101 Terminator. They seem more like the flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz.
The author develops the characters slowly - very slowly. Max and Fang ALMOST confess feelings to each other. We find out who Max's parents really are, and be prepared for some surprises from Ari.
The book ends leaving things wide open for a sequel. There is a great climax and grand battle worthy of any Hollywood action flick. The villain gloats, Max must battle alone, great odds are faced, and the villain is beaten and it's over. Or, is it?
All in all this book is my favourite in the series so far, i cant wait fun read the next one...Enjoy the ride ;)
Like the previous books, the pace is fast and fun. The author gives a couple of nods to Ian Flemming's James Bond, and that's pretty much the way of his villains. They go to great pains to capture the heroes and promise death to them all (the book opens with that order), yet they seem to prefer needlessly involved, complicated, and risky plots to eliminate our heroes. None of which work. In the end, like Bond, this is the villain's undoing. Further, Patterson replaces Erasers with remarkably Terminator-like replacements. Fortunately for our heroes, the "Flyboys", as they are called, aren't as tough as a Model 101 Terminator. They seem more like the flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz.
The author develops the characters slowly - very slowly. Max and Fang ALMOST confess feelings to each other. We find out who Max's parents really are, and be prepared for some surprises from Ari.
The book ends leaving things wide open for a sequel. There is a great climax and grand battle worthy of any Hollywood action flick. The villain gloats, Max must battle alone, great odds are faced, and the villain is beaten and it's over. Or, is it?
All in all this book is my favourite in the series so far, i cant wait fun read the next one...Enjoy the ride ;)
July 4, 2017
This one came with quite a few shocks, particularly And all of that turned out to be And then Also her But then there comes And Go Fang, with his There was actually quite a lot happening in this book!
November 16, 2011
Another super fun installment of this wonderful series by James Patterson. Max and her "flock" of genetically engineered teenagers take a group of wannabe Nazi's looking to create a new master race. A guilty pleasure to be sure, but a pleasure nonetheless.
February 11, 2017
There were so many plot twists in this book that I don't even know where to start. Max and the flock are back to save the world and travel it as well. Angel's mind altering ability comes in very handy this time around and Ari is back with a new attitude. The School has begun eliminating the "failed" experiments and Max and her flock are on the list. They just need to stop the Re-Evolution plan first. The action is non-stop and Max's sarcasm keeps a smile on your face. Old friends are revisited and new ones are made. The short chapters make this a quick enjoyable read. I really like the flow of the story line and looks forward to continuing the series.
April 4, 2013
In my humble and honest opinion, I don't think this book sucked that hard. I mean, there has happened a lot of stuff. The whole "dividing the flock" part and lots of other parts, that right now don't pop into my mind, because I'm exhausted as hell.
We all know, that James Patterson is a nice author and he knows how to strike his audience. This instalment had a nice pace, it was full of action, romance etc. One thing that actually bothered me was the fact, that Max was kinda proud of herself. Like for example, she was talking about herself as pretty, pretty amazing, amazing Max and so on. I mean, c'mon, what a hell? You aren't even half that awesome as you think, miss I-Am-The-Center-Of-Universe!
I liked the part, when Angle turned into a back-stabbing little brat. I thought: "Oh, yeah, Patterson, you got me, big time!" But then, it has been all explained and worked out too easily. She should've at least stay there for another couple of days to find out about some important facts, if reading minds doesn't help in this case.
Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge... as usual. The part of flock which is sort of only a background. I mean, they haven't really took their parts in that story, except for cheering for Fang and Max and sometimes saying something. But they didn't bother me, so I'm cool with it.
Fang was awesome as usual. I like him, you know? Maybe it's because he is always quiet. I can relate to him the most. In some ways, I think we are really similar. Similar so much, that I sometimes find it quite creepy.
Alright, the whole romance was pretty much getting on my nerves with the constant: "Oh yeah, Fang I love you so much, Fang that doesn't meant anything, choose me or him, I'm leaving, get back please, she's my world..." Gosh! Seriously? I felt like punching them both for their utter stupidity!
Well, still I can't wait until I get my hands on the next book in the series, The Final Warning. It has pretty low rating and many people say, that this series start to lose it's point after this one. The truth is, I dont give a shit. I'll read it anyways. It can't be more boring than Evermore or Twilight were, so I guess it's clear.
We all know, that James Patterson is a nice author and he knows how to strike his audience. This instalment had a nice pace, it was full of action, romance etc. One thing that actually bothered me was the fact, that Max was kinda proud of herself. Like for example, she was talking about herself as pretty, pretty amazing, amazing Max and so on. I mean, c'mon, what a hell? You aren't even half that awesome as you think, miss I-Am-The-Center-Of-Universe!
I liked the part, when Angle turned into a back-stabbing little brat. I thought: "Oh, yeah, Patterson, you got me, big time!" But then, it has been all explained and worked out too easily. She should've at least stay there for another couple of days to find out about some important facts, if reading minds doesn't help in this case.
Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge... as usual. The part of flock which is sort of only a background. I mean, they haven't really took their parts in that story, except for cheering for Fang and Max and sometimes saying something. But they didn't bother me, so I'm cool with it.
Fang was awesome as usual. I like him, you know? Maybe it's because he is always quiet. I can relate to him the most. In some ways, I think we are really similar. Similar so much, that I sometimes find it quite creepy.
Alright, the whole romance was pretty much getting on my nerves with the constant: "Oh yeah, Fang I love you so much, Fang that doesn't meant anything, choose me or him, I'm leaving, get back please, she's my world..." Gosh! Seriously? I felt like punching them both for their utter stupidity!
Well, still I can't wait until I get my hands on the next book in the series, The Final Warning. It has pretty low rating and many people say, that this series start to lose it's point after this one. The truth is, I dont give a shit. I'll read it anyways. It can't be more boring than Evermore or Twilight were, so I guess it's clear.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2010
One thing I hate is when a series is written by different authors who pretend to be the main author (to sell books and make loads of $$$) but they don't bother reading the previous books in that particular series.
FOr instance, Ari suddenly can't read yet in the previous book, he signed his name as Wolverine with great relish. The list goes on...but enough whining.
Max is still with group. Has chip removed by Dr. A. Martinez and later gets caught with posse and goes back into the "school". Meantime, Fang starts a web blog that is followed by everyone,...including L.A. gang members who offer them refudge and assist in bashing the flyboys (those who replaced the erasers). Grown-ups messed up the world and there are scientists who want to purify it and get rid of more than half the world's population to do so. BTW, they want a new and superior race to do so. Our favorite mutants are to be exterminated.
Speaking of extermination, all the erasers have been terminated and the only one left is Ari. Why?...because his expiration date popped up on the back of his neck so that means, "hey, he's Jeb's son and he's going to die anyway so let's show some kindness". He literally saves Max, Angel (who temporarily pretends to go to the dark side), Fang, Gasman, Iggy, and Nudge. While doing so, Ari is physically hurt and Max takes him with her during their escape. This angers Fang so the boys and the girls split up. Ari is later discovered to be Max's half brother and Mrs. A. Martinez was a scientist who gave Jeb her egg and was therefore Max's real mom. Mrs. Martinez was never sure so she is not to be blamed in any shape or form. Jeb finally cries when Ari dies and I guess Jeb finally sees his son as a 7 yr old mutant but foremost, his son.
Max and gang kick a$$ and save the world and eats lots of French food. Max and Fang make up and all is good again.
Getting weak as the series go on. At least hire writers who truly follow the series!
FOr instance, Ari suddenly can't read yet in the previous book, he signed his name as Wolverine with great relish. The list goes on...but enough whining.
Max is still with group. Has chip removed by Dr. A. Martinez and later gets caught with posse and goes back into the "school". Meantime, Fang starts a web blog that is followed by everyone,...including L.A. gang members who offer them refudge and assist in bashing the flyboys (those who replaced the erasers). Grown-ups messed up the world and there are scientists who want to purify it and get rid of more than half the world's population to do so. BTW, they want a new and superior race to do so. Our favorite mutants are to be exterminated.
Speaking of extermination, all the erasers have been terminated and the only one left is Ari. Why?...because his expiration date popped up on the back of his neck so that means, "hey, he's Jeb's son and he's going to die anyway so let's show some kindness". He literally saves Max, Angel (who temporarily pretends to go to the dark side), Fang, Gasman, Iggy, and Nudge. While doing so, Ari is physically hurt and Max takes him with her during their escape. This angers Fang so the boys and the girls split up. Ari is later discovered to be Max's half brother and Mrs. A. Martinez was a scientist who gave Jeb her egg and was therefore Max's real mom. Mrs. Martinez was never sure so she is not to be blamed in any shape or form. Jeb finally cries when Ari dies and I guess Jeb finally sees his son as a 7 yr old mutant but foremost, his son.
Max and gang kick a$$ and save the world and eats lots of French food. Max and Fang make up and all is good again.
Getting weak as the series go on. At least hire writers who truly follow the series!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2008
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.
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.
February 6, 2008
I'm not sure if James Patterson had a time crunch for writing this book, but it was trash. There were so many improbabilities, pointless scenes, inconsistencies, and it was boring.
While reading "Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports", I had some major "Yeah, right" moments. Max loses the use of one of her arms, then suddenly gets it back? Angel is now powerful enough to hypnotize a crowd? I don't think so!
About that fight with Omega Boy...Max is super strong. She would be able to hold her own against him, but not for long. He's 400 times stronger than a normal human. He would have thumped her BADLY. The Director said that he was perfect. Yet his nose is weak and he doesn't track well. How convenient.
Was there any reason for Jeb and Anne to tell the Flock that everything that they had experienced was a dream? No. Did that whole episode with Iggy, Fang, and Gazzy at the beach have to be inserted? No. Why were the clones of Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and Total even mentioned in the first place? They didn't do anything.
What made me really mad was that it was so stinkin' typical who Max's parents were. Why couldn't Patterson have thrown in a nice plot twist at that point?
On the upside, I really liked the title of this book. Secondly, there were some parts that cracked me up.
While reading "Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports", I had some major "Yeah, right" moments. Max loses the use of one of her arms, then suddenly gets it back? Angel is now powerful enough to hypnotize a crowd? I don't think so!
About that fight with Omega Boy...Max is super strong. She would be able to hold her own against him, but not for long. He's 400 times stronger than a normal human. He would have thumped her BADLY. The Director said that he was perfect. Yet his nose is weak and he doesn't track well. How convenient.
Was there any reason for Jeb and Anne to tell the Flock that everything that they had experienced was a dream? No. Did that whole episode with Iggy, Fang, and Gazzy at the beach have to be inserted? No. Why were the clones of Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and Total even mentioned in the first place? They didn't do anything.
What made me really mad was that it was so stinkin' typical who Max's parents were. Why couldn't Patterson have thrown in a nice plot twist at that point?
On the upside, I really liked the title of this book. Secondly, there were some parts that cracked me up.
June 14, 2016
Basic Info
Format: Audio
Pages/Length: n/a
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy
At A Glance
Love Triangle/Insta Love/Obsession?: Dumb love.
Cliff Hanger: Eh
Triggers: n/a
Rating: 2.5 stars
Score Sheet
All out of ten
Cover: 7
Plot: 5
Characters: 5
World Building: 5
Flow: 6
Series Congruity: 6
Writing: 6
Ending: 6
Total: 5
In Dept
Best Part: It was short.
Worst Part: Yuck tension.
Thoughts Had: JUST KISS ALREADY
Conclusion
Continuing the Series: Yes
Recommending: eh
Short Review: I'm slowing starting to not like this series. I expect way more from Patterson. This whole book was mainly Fang and Max making eyes at each other. It drove me nuts. Nothing major happened. We found Max's mom, which didn't make much sense, again, i expect more. Fang was getting "jealous" of Ari, which um, he's her brother so stop. Boring really. This book really focused too much on Max, not enough on the flock as a whole.
Misc.
Book Boyfriend: No.
Best Friend Material: Angel.
September 30, 2014
In this third installment in the Maximum Ride series everything comes into focus. Max and the flock have abandoned the idea of finding their parents and changed their minds. This time they want to save the world. The mutant wolf men called Erasers have been exterminated and have been replaced with robots. The scientists at the School also want Max and her friends destroyed- for good. Max also has problems of her own like a annoying voice in her head and a micro chip in her arm. The flock splits up and some stay in the US and the others go to Europe to eliminate the Itex corporation that the School is part of. Max will find the truth of her parents and some shocking discoveries are made. Will Max and friends finally destroy the School and Itex for good? I would recommend this book to the fans of Micheal Vey and the Percy Jackson series
May 14, 2009
Um. When did totally unrealistic and unbelievable and STUPID plot twists become acceptable? This book was a best seller. HOW CAN SUCH IDIOTIC THINGS MAKE THE BEST SELLER LIST?
I know, I know. I read it too. But in my defense, the first two books were at least bearable in terms of plot.
If I'm really honest, they weren't that wonderful, but I was caught by Max and Fang's little romance. And Max's attitude is so fun to read.
But this book took it too far.
Don't be surprised though when I tell you that I read book four. (who's idiotic now?)
I know, I know. I read it too. But in my defense, the first two books were at least bearable in terms of plot.
If I'm really honest, they weren't that wonderful, but I was caught by Max and Fang's little romance. And Max's attitude is so fun to read.
But this book took it too far.
Don't be surprised though when I tell you that I read book four. (who's idiotic now?)
January 13, 2012
Worst book ever, I am not even reading the last 3, because it is the same exact book just set in different locations. I am not a fan of James Patterson or anyone who writes crappy books and manages to get money from them. I liked the first two books, they were good, but the third book was just repetitive. Since I am a glutton for punishment I am gonna read the 4th one because he supposedly changes the theme and focus of the book from them being on the run to helping save the world. I really hope the 4th book is good, cause if it isn't I wont be reading the final three.
October 19, 2016
Have you ever stayed up late reading a series? This book will make you do that.
Being the third in the series it is very action packed. But when a two of the members are fighting on there way to "save the world", the band splits.
If you liked the hunger games then this series is for you!
Being the third in the series it is very action packed. But when a two of the members are fighting on there way to "save the world", the band splits.
If you liked the hunger games then this series is for you!
February 10, 2016
This series just keeps getting better and better. I just can't stop reading this series and love the authors writing.
March 30, 2020
I really enjoyed this! I think the first one was a bit better, but this is still really good.
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