Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride

File:Maximum Ride Series.jpg Covers of the first four books released in the Maximum Ride series
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports Maximum Ride: The Final Warning MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel
Author	James Patterson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy, Thriller, Young-adult fiction, Sci-Fi
Publisher	Headline Doubleday Little, Brown and Company
Published	April 11, 2005 – present
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Maximum Ride is a series of six young adult science fiction/fantasy books, written by the award-winning American author James Patterson. It is based on two of his previously written books, When The Wind Blows and The Lake House. The series chronicles the lives of six human/avian fugitives. Bred in a science lab called "The School", the Flock endured scientific experiments that rendered them 98% human and 2% avian. Through the first three books of the Maximum Ride series, the Flock spends much of their time running from human-lupine hybrids created by the School called Erasers. Book four is mainly about the flock rising against global warming, while Book 5 is about saving Dr. Martinez from a man named Mr. Chu, while battling environmental pollution. The reason for the change in style of the books is reportedly because the series is to be made up of two trilogies: The Fugitives (books 1–3) and The Protectors (books 4-6).

The series debuted on April 11, 2005, and the most recent installment was published on March 15, 2010.

Plot

The first book in James Patterson's Maximum Ride series focuses around the rescue of Angel (the sister of the youngest boy in the group Gazzy a.k.a the Gasman) , the youngest member of the Flock. The Flock is safe in the mountains until the day a pack of Erasers, cruel and bloodthirsty, half-wolf half-men, appear out of nowhere and kidnap Angel. The Flock must return to the dreaded School, a horrifying place that holds terrible memories of their past, to rescue Angel. Max is deeply confused when she finds out that Jeb Batchelder, the kindhearted, parental figure who looked after them and rescued them from the school,and then supposedly died, has reappeared as an evil figure, and that Ari, Jeb Batchelder's son, has become an Eraser. While Max is thrown into struggles of looking after all of her Flock, saving Angel from the evil clutches of the white-coats, and realizing how complicated love can be, she is trying to figure out why she has a mysterious voice inside her head that no one else can hear, one that is telling her that her mission is to save the world...

After being reunited with Angel and adding a Scottish Terrier named Total to their group, the second book starts with the Flock heading off to look for their parents through papers they found in an underground lab called the Institute for Higher Living. Max is still reeling from Jeb's enigmatic scream over his dying son that Ari was her brother. On the way they run into flying Erasers (with patched on wings), one turning out to be back-from-the-dead Ari, leaving Fang to fighting for his life and suffering injuries enough to be treated at a hospital. Anne Walker, a motherly figure of sorts, offers her home for residence while Fang recovers, and the flock agrees. What they didn't expect was to get enrolled into a real school with teachers, students, and classes. As if that wasn't enough, Total develops into a talking dog, which, of course, just adds to all the mystery. But all the people surrounding the Flock may not be who they claim. Max becomes instantly jealous after spotting Fang kissing a red-haired girl (who Max calls The Red Haired Wonder). The principal, in reality, works for the Institute and almost traps the flock at the school, only to end up with failure. Later, Max is kidnapped and replaced with a clone Max, one that has her appearance but acts differently. In the end, a fight will leave only one Max standing as Jeb makes it clear that there can be only one Max.

In the third installment, Max is faced with the task of saving the world from the Itex corporation and the evil Director - the company behind the School - who want to terminate all recombinant species and cut the population of earth by half. While all this is happening Fang is trying to persuade Max to find a permanent home where they can just live. The Erasers were some of the first to be destroyed and have been replaced with new threat of Flyboys (robotic-like Erasers that can fly). Further issues arise when Max invites Ari - the single remaining Eraser- to join the group after escaping from the School again, leaving Fang and half of the Flock to split off in protest. Max becomes the leader of one group (Angel, Nudge, and Ari) and Fang the leader of the second, Iggy and The Gasman. In the end, Ari dies, and with all the other crazy things happening, Max finally finds out who her parents are, which turns out to be a good and bad thing. She also begins to realize a feeling for Fang.

With the help of Max's newly found mom and dad, the Flock is taken to Antarctica in the fourth book, where a scientific team requires their assistance. But danger finds the Flock in the remote location, and they must fight when they find an international organization that is led by the Uber Director, who Max calls UD. He attempts to use the flock for darker purposes by auctioning them off to the corrupted leaders of foreign countries to be used as weapons and mercenary. Also in the story, Total meets the love of his life, Akila the malamute, while growing wings as well. Fang kisses Max a couple of times and Max starts to notice more that they are meant for each other even though she doesn't want to admit it.

The Flock have barely recovered from their Antarctica adventure before they are pulled into another one at the start of the fifth book. Millions of fish are dying off the coast of Hawaii and something—or someone—is destroying hundreds of ships. The government enlists their help to find out the cause after being unable to themselves. While the Flock is undertaking the task, a criminal mastermind is tracking their every move. Then, Max's mother is kidnapped and is being held in an underground submarine. They must try to save the ocean, Max's mother, and protect themselves from the criminal mastermind's own ideas for them. During the struggles, Fang and Max's relationship is stronger, and Max feels that she loves Fang. The story was originally supposed to be titled, "Maximum Ride: Waterwings."

In the sixth book, the flock travel to Africa to help the people there. Along the way, they meet Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen, who is developing ways to regrow limbs, and also Dylan, designed to be Max's perfect other half and later joining the flock. Then, after a prophetic statement saying that Fang is supposed to die, Max becomes traumatized and spends more time with Fang than helping the flock with surrounding dangers. Max is eventually voted out of the flock, Fang leaving with her by free will, and Angel becomes the new leader for a short time, attempting to bring her new flock to popularity. After all six of them reunite, Fang is captured by Dr. G-H and, while experimented on for faster evolution, dies. Max and the flock come as fast as possible to Fang, taking out all the scientists and guards. Max, unbearable to live without Fang, stabs him with an adrenaline shot and revives him back to life. Dylan also injects himself in a suicide attempt. In the end, Total and Akila are married, and Fang leaves a letter for Max showing his love for her and stating that he has left the flock for good. He also says that if twenty years have passed and the world is still here, they would meet up at the canyon of the hawks in the first book.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Maximum Ride

Max

Maximum Ride, better known to her flock as 'Max', is 14 years old (turned fifteen in Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel) and is the oldest of the avian-human hybrids and the leader of the Flock.She was described as blond but in the fifth book, Max: A Maximum Ride Novel, she herself said that she has light brown hair and brown eyes. Her special powers are "warp drive" when flying and also breathing underwater [Max: A Maximum Ride Novel]. She also has a Voice in her head, aptly named "The Voice", that gives her advice. Another talent she has is that sometimes she can see visions of things like the institution Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment.Her biological father is Jeb Batchelder, who she believes is secretly The Voice but turns out not to be. Max's biological mother is Dr. Martinez. Her daughter, Ella Martinez, is Max's younger half-sister. Ari, Jeb's son, is her half-brother. Max's best friend and her "right-wing-man"/boyfriend is Fang, who both later develop strong non-brother-sister feelings for each other.

The Voice

"The Voice" is a voice in Max's head that appeared halfway through the first book. It gives her advice and directs her places while saying things that may be impossible to figure out. Max originally thought that The Voice came from her chip in her arm, but this was disproved due to the fact that it still existed even when she took it out. There have been some times where The Voice didn't talk for long periods of time. The Voice seems insists on Max being able to save the world and dosen't care about what she must do to achieve that. Max said that she couldn't tell if The Voice was "male or female. Friend or foe. Human or not.". The Voice was once thought to be Jeb, but this was, once again, disproved as well.

Fang

Fang, like Max, is 14 years old and is commonly the second in command of the Flock. He is able to virtually disappear but, by staying perfectly still, he can also walk while invisible if he breathes very slowly and is the same speed with everything in his body (like a heartbeat, etc.). Fang is commonly described as a strong, tall, dark hair and eyes so dark you can't see his pupils, smart, protective, loving, doesn't much show his true feelings, silent, and sometimes very romantic person. In the course of Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Fang begins to develop feelings of love for Max. But in the book "Fang", the flock thinks that because they're in love they're taking their minds off the flock and saving the world. And Fang knows they're right, but Max can't leave the flock since she's the most important member of the flock and they need her to be a good leader and lead the flock. So Fang decides to leave Max and the flock after writing a long letter saying how much he loves Max and everything about her and will miss all of them.

Iggy

Iggy is the sarcastic member of the flock and is slightly younger than Max and Fang. He is blind due to the experiments done on his eyes when he was young, but Iggy can see if his surroundings are white. His powers include being able to "feel" colors. Iggy and Gazzy are best friends, but are always creating bombs out of virtually anything. Iggy is very smart and even though he is blind, his extremely sensitive fingers make him the flock's best doctor, as well as their pretty-much-anything-that-takes-a-lot-of-concentration-and-we-wouldn't-have-a-clue-what-to-do guy and also the best cook in the flock. Iggy's birth-parents are the only ones so far found by the flock -other than Max's- but he left them to rejoin the flock because they seemed to care more about the money they could make from his story than Iggy himself. (turns fifteen too in Fang).

Nudge

Nudge is an eleven (turns twelve in Fang) year old of African descent. She finds out that her real name was Monique as a baby and she loves to constantly chatter. Nudge can hack into computers with her ability to sense leftover emotions and can also draw metal to her by will. Nudge is described as Max's best supporter, the peace-maker, etc. In Max: A Maximum Ride Novel, Nudge leaves the flock to attend a school, because her heart just wasn't in to saving the world. Not long after she leaves though, Nudge returns to the flock and tells them about how her taste of a 'normal life' wasn't worth losing them, and how she missed them far to much to stay apart.

The Gasman (Gazzy)

The Gasman is eight years old and he has farting problems. He therefore has a problem with flatulence, which eventually develops into a power. This power is a sort of 'mushroom-cloud' that erupts like a volcano. Gazzy can also imitate any voice or noise flawlessly. Both of these abilities allow him to incapacitate a group of navy seals they were training with in Max: a Maximum Ride Novel by mimicking a bird call and using his flatulence to make them gasp, cough, and wheeze. It is thanks to him they pass the test. Gazzy is just as mischievous as Iggy is, and is a pyromaniac as well. At birth, both Angel (The Gasman's biological sister) and Gaz were sold by their parents for $10,000 to Itex. (Turns nine in Fang)

Angel

Angel is the Gasman's six-year-old(who claims she is seven in Max: A Maximum Ride Novel and turns seven in Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel officially) blood sibling. She obtains seemingly random powers at random times; breathing underwater, talking to fish, being able to read minds, being able to control minds, and changing her appearance. In "Max: A Maximum Ride Novel", Angel claims to be seven years old. Angel, though as innocent as she may look, is actually very dangerous and really smart. Angel's ability allows her control peoples' minds to her will, and she is constantly trying to take leadership of the flock. Angel believes that she is the strongest.

Total

Total is a black dog that was saved from the Institute by Angel at the end of The Angel Experiment. he is described to have the characteristics of a Scottish-terrier. Total's character is not fully developed until School's Out - Forever, when it is discovered that he can talk. In the fourth book ("The Final Warning".), Total starts to develop wings. Total is usually the comedy in the flock and also has the greatest appeal for culture, even more than Nudge's own fashion sense. Total later meets an Alaskan Malamute, named Akila, on the flock's Antarctica trip in The Final Warning. The two fall in love and finally get married in Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel.

Jeb Batchelder

Jeb Batchelder is a brilliant scientist. He used to work at the School where the Flock was experimented on. He rescued the Flock and brought them into the mountains, where he raised them as his children for 2 years. Then Jeb disappeared, leaving the Flock very distressed and had to survive on their own in refuge. In The Angel Experiment, the flock discovers Jeb back at the School when they were captured. This originally led to Flock to believe he was a traitor. Jeb is Ari's and Max's biological father, although Max does not trust him at all after rediscovering his identity. Jeb is shot upon in the sixth book, but he is shown to be making a steady recovery.

Ari

Ari is Jeb Batchelder's son and also Max's half-brother. When he was very young, he admired Max when she was at the School. At the age of seven, he became an Eraser when Jeb left him to protect Max and the others. He never knew that he was Max's brother and tried to kill her multiple times. This backfired when Max killed him by snapping his neck in the first book. Ari is brought back to life in the second book and surprisingly becomes a better person in the third book, going so far as starting to like Max. Ari dies by Max's side for good when his expiration date passes, and his funeral is held in The Final Warning.

The Erasers

The half human half wolf Erasers were bred by the School to be guards, but their bigger mission now involved hunting the flock. They have the ability to morph into wolves, have superhuman strength, and eventually gain wings that they have little experience with. Jeb's son, Ari, becomes an Eraser before the story is told, and is the last one to die when Itex "retires" all the Erasers and replaces them with the Flyboys. Erasers make an appearance in Fang when they attack all of the flock but Max and Fang. It is believed that when Itex was disbanded, some scientists took Eraser DNA with them, creating these new Erasers, though they are never mentioned after the events of the battle. They are always armed.

Flyboys

The 'Flyboys' are basically robot Erasers, with Eraser skin stretched over the metal frame, the Flyboys were first mistaken to be Erasers. They were retired when Itex was disbanded at the end of the third book.

M-Geeks

Robotic threats that earn their name by looking like 'Machine Geeks'. They are also referred to as 'dumb-bots'. These appeared in the fifth book. They could be killed by chopping their heads or snapping their ankles.

White Coats

White Coats are nicknames for scientists who work for the School or the Institute. They perform experiments on animals & humans and created the Flock, Erasers, Total the talking, flying dog and many other genetic misfits. The majority of experiments do not survive. The White Coats also "retired" the Erasers and created the robotic "Flyboys".

Dylan

Another Avian-Human hybrid who later joins the flock (Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel). He is said to be Max's perfect other-half, and is also extremely handsome. He is in love with Max. Naturally, he and Fang never seem to see eye-to-eye. He almost died at the end of Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel after his suicide attempt.

Reception

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment received generally positive reviews. Cleveland Plain Dealer described it as "like the best sort of video game or action movie, in book form" and commented that it "shows the promise of becoming a favorite" as well as comparing it to the Boxcar Children series: "Think of this group of six, from 14-year-old Max to 6-year-old Angel, like the 'Boxcar Children' of a new millennium." The School Library Journal delivered a more lukewarm review, calling the book an "exciting SF thriller that's not wholly original but still a compelling read". Booklist described it as an "an action-packed cross between Gertrude Chandler Warner's Boxcar Children and Marvel Comics' X-Men", also noting how "Patterson occasionally forgets his audience here, as evidenced by his sardonic tone and such glib adult asides". However, Booklist also praised Patterson for stepping out of his normally adult-genre books as it said, "He's picked a comfortable formula (orphans protecting one another and making a home together)". John Ritchie of the ALAN Review wrote a negative review, saying that Patterson "slips in his attempt to write an action-adventure series for kids". He called the book "filled with every possible comic book/Saturday morning cartoon cliche" and described Patterson's writing style as "uneasy" and Max's dialogue as "horribly fake". The review also stated, "Despite Patterson's attention to contemporary issues like animal testing and genetic engineering, his 133 chapters of action without substance will leave readers more sick than satisfied by this ride."

Unlike the first book, Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever received mixed reviews. The School Library Journal said there was no "distinctive plot" and compared it to a soap opera, saying that "very little actually [happens]. Which I totally disagree with these books are amazing" It also criticized the story for being "disappointingly anticlimactic and violent," though it praised the character of Total for being "sure to entertain." Booklist delivered a positive review, praising Patterson's "ability to write page-turning action scenes" and noting that he "leaven[ed] the suspense with some surprising humor." It also mentioned that fans of the first book would be "delighted" with the sequel. Erin Collazo Miller from About.com praised the "fast-paced" novel, "fun characters," and "interesting premise," but criticized the characters and plot lines for "lack of depth and development." The review said that "[a]fter 400+ pages, readers may wish they were a little further into the plot and that more of their questions had been answered."

The fourth book, Maximum Ride: The Final Warning, received negative response from most fans due to the book's heavy focus on Global Warming. Because of the sudden change in plot and message, this book marked the beginning of Maximum Ride Anti-Fans.

In January of 2010 the webcomic Penny Arcade poked fun at James Patterson based on the description found on the back of the first book.

Other works

OEL manga

Illustrated by NaRae Lee and released by Yen Press, the first chapter of the original English-language manga adaptation came out in July 2008 in the magazine Yen Plus. A free 22-page preview was released on Free Comic Book Day (May 3, 2008). The first volume of the series was released on January 27, 2009 and another volume was released on October 27, 2009, with a third volume scheduled for release in August 2010 and seven more volumes expected to be published.

Film adaptation

In January 2007, it was announced that a film would be created based on the Maximum Ride series. James Patterson will be the executive producer. Avi Arad, one of the producers of Spider-Man, X-Men and other Marvel movies, will also produce alongside Steven Paul. In an interview with James Patterson, it was revealed that Arad has already planned out the first two movies. On August 7, 2008, it was announced that Columbia Pictures bought the screen rights to the franchise. The film is currently slated for an early to mid 2010 release. Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) will direct the first movie, with Don Payne (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) writing the script. In January 2010 it was announced that the film will go into pre-production as the films director Catherine Hardwicke asked for a script rewrite as she wanted more action to the film, making a 2010 release unlikely.

External links

• Maximum Ride Official Website
• Maximum Ride book page at James Patterson Official Website
• Maximum Ride at the Internet Movie Databaselink title
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