Maximum Ride: Max, James Patterson

 

I found out that there was a new Maximum Ride book on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I bought it. That’s how good these series are. This one is no disappointment. I’m really enjoying the environmental view on these books. I think it’s a great way to get the message across to children.

                Max is 98% human, and 2% bird, because some evil scientists from a corporation called Itexicon (Itex for short) messed around with her genes when she was an embryo. So she’s stronger than the average grown man, she has a really efficient heart, and she’s filled with air sack so it’s easier for her to fly (she only weighs 95 pounds). And she has wings. As does the rest of her flock:

Max is fourteen, leader of the flock. She likes a good fight, and found out in ‘Maximum Ride: the Final Warning’ that her mum was Dr Martinez, a very nice avian scientist who has a human daughter (Ella). Because none of the flock know who their parents are.

Fang is second in command. He’s quiet, mysterious, and always wears dark clothes. He’s also fourteen years old.

Iggy is fourteen years old, but he’s blind, and assumes nowhere near as much responsibility as Max or Fang. He’s best friends with Gazzy, and he loves to build explosives (ie. Bombs).

Gazzy (or the Gasman – hint hint) is eight, also has an uncanny love for explosives and is Angel’s brother. They are the only blood siblings in the flock.

Angel is six. She can read minds, send telepathic messages to animals, fly (because of her wings), but other than that, she’s a normal six year old girl. Oh Yeah, and she can breathe underwater.

Nudge is eleven, and she can attract metals. She’s probably the most ‘normal’ member of the flock; she loves talking. She will talk about anything on her mind, and she’s easily the nicest one in the flock; she’s always the one to comfort a distressed flock member.

And Total. He’s a Scottie. A dog. But don’t call him that – he’ll get really mad at you. Because he can talk, and he’s just spurted wings.

                In this book, Mr Chu is the head of an evil corporation (sort of on the Itex level, but for different reasons), and he wants Max to severe her ties with CSM (or Coalition to Stop Madness – an environmental group). Being herself, she refuses, and it goes downhill from there. Mr Chu does some things to really annoy Max, and she’s going to stop him.

                Of course, the flock never does anything small scale, and now, they have the help of the US Navy. No more will be revealed. Bang on 9/10 for this book.