Reread Review: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

Over the years, mystery author James Patterson has successfully written a slew of middle grade and young adult novels, which all started with 2005's Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. The idea for the plot came from Mr. Patterson's previous adult books, When the Wind Blows and The Lake House. Seven sequels quickly followed, with the last being released in 2012 and was billed as the final installment in the series. Well, Mr. Patterson or Little, Brown & Company must have had a change of heart as the ninth installment, titled Maximum Ride Forever, will arrive in bookstores on May 18th!

The Angel Experiment centers on six kids (Maximum (Max), Fang, Iggy, Nudge, The Gasman (Gazzy), Angel), whom were all created in a laboratory that was testing with the mixture of human and avian DNA. One of the scientist, Jeb Batchelder, helped them escape "the School" and they have been on the run every since.

With Jeb missing, Maximum has taken command of the flock that is until a group of Erasers (the human-lupine hybrids) find out where they are and attack. The flock barely escapes, but the youngest, Angel, was captured. Now Max and others have no choice, but to return to the "the School" and rescue her before it's too late.

Though the book was originally released in 2005, I didn't come across the title until the following year when the paperback was released. My grandmother was a big Patterson fan, so I purchased the book, read it and gave it to her. That's when she told me about When the Wind Blows and The Lake House had a similar plot with a different Max and I borrowed and read her books. Sadly, my grandmother passed away in 2009, and even though I've continued to buy each new Patterson novel, I've only read a handful of them since then. I believe book 5, Max, was the last book that I read in the Maximum Ride series. With all the anticipation with the ninth's book release this month, I decided to reread books 1-5 and also read books 6-8!

Just like any book or movie franchise, the original Maximum Ride novel is still the best, introducing the world to six super-engineered kids. All the characters have their own bits of fun. There is plenty of action throughout the entire book. Mr. Patterson cleverly made a successfully debuted in the middle grade/young adult grenre with Maximum Ride. Overall, the book is a great read for both children and adults. Though a film adaptation still looks grim, there's hope that a web series will take flight soon.