Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

The book I read for my book report review is Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. It is book one of the series. The author is James Patterson, one of America's favorite storytellers (he wrote many books). It's about six kids that are 98% human and 2% bird. And they can fly. They have no parents that they know. that is why they are trying to figure out if they are test tube babies or human babies. If they are human babies, they don't have any information to find them. The 6 kids are Maximum Ride (known as Max, the leader/mom) who is 14, Fang (Mr. Calm, Cool, and Controlled) who is 14, Iggy (blind, can pick locks, the best at bomb builder, and fire starter) who is 14, Nudge who is 11 (known as talk a lot),Gasman (known as Gazzy the brave little one) who is 8, and last of all Angel who is 6 years old (she can read minds). Gasman and Angel are the only blood related people of the family. Iggy went blind because the idiot scientist in the School wanted to give him night vision better with surgery- of course. The School is in Death Valley. It is more of a lab because they extract animal DNA and genetics and put it in helpless human babies. Only 2 of the hundreds of abusive experiments were a success that is known to the readers who read this extravagant book. These are the flock and Erasers. It is a funny name but once you realize what and who they are they are the worst things to the flock. Erasers are half human and live to be 6 years. The other half is wolf. They eat raw meat and want to kill Max and her flock. They have long teeth and claws and are faster than an average adult or human wrestler. They are really deadly and can kill and hurt people for no reason. Let me get to my point now; the flock is running for their lives away from the School and Erasers, for god knows what those idiot white coats (meaning: those scientists) would do to them if they Max and her family got stuck in a lab cage. These scientists gave the flock wings and assorted powers. But one white coat, Jeb, (a father of a son that got turned into an Eraser after Jeb left) felt sorry for them, and helped them go free. He disappeared from the flock's home 2 years ago. He was like a father, he taught them how to fly, self defense, and other than that, anything a normal father would do. He would give them dinner and make sure they ate 3000 calories a day (told you they are different than an average human). The reason they differ is because the flock's bones are thin, light, and still very sturdy. They have extra and strong muscles. Their heart is more efficient. And of course, they need to eat a lot. Max is the main, major character. In the beginning of the book Angel is captured by Erasers. Max, Fang, and Nudge go to the School (a bad place to go when there running away from it) to get Angel back. Along the way when they are flying (during Max's rescue mission)Max goes down and saves this girl called Ella from 3 armed teenage boys. Then when she hurts them and runs she actually got shot. She finds Ella's house and asks for help for her shot wing and shoulder. There she blurts out the secret to Ella and her mom. Iggy and Gasman are left home as they build a secret bomb and destroy the house (really dumb). Nudge and Fang go to the lake where they are supposed to wait for Max and became friends with the hawks that lived close by. Gasman and Iggy come to the lake because Erasers were covering the mountain where their house was. Then all 5 of them go off together to find Angel but get captured by Erasers. They get sent to the school. Luckily Gasman and Iggy did not get caught. But when the door opens Jeb, comes in their cage room… Max was taken to a room and Jeb told her she was supposed to save the world. Max refused the idea and when the white coats came to tell they herded all the doggy crates outside. Ari (son of Jeb) continuously kicked Max's crate until it tips over. Max is so close to Angel's crate that Max managed to unlatch Angel. She flew away as ordered. Then as if a big gray storm cloud came Max knew they were the hawks led by Iggy and Gasman. There was a bloody scene, the hawks and the flock battering up the white coats and Erasers. Max somehow broke free and undid the latches of Fang and Nudge. From the corner of her eye, Max saw Angel to weak to run as she collapsed into a crawl as 2 white coats chased after her. Max got there first and savagely hurt them. Then she threw Angel up into the air. Angel unfurled her wings just in time and shot up in the air, flying. Meanwhile, Fang was boiling with anger/fury, eyes cold with lots of determination. He punched a white coat and the scientist eyes rolled back. Iggy signaled that the battle was over and the hawks returned to the sky. As they left they felt a great wave of relief—School is out—Forever! But Jeb called out Max's name and yelled that it was all a test. He was mingled with the huge crowd and his coat was bloody. Max knew it he got in a battle with a hawk. Max thought about him—he taught her almost everything she knew, comforted her, cheered her on, and the closet guardian she had in her life. I don't think so, she thought to herself. After all, Jeb became a white coat again. He was evil now. The one person she could trust became an evil white coat. After a whole flying she suddenly had a brain attack/stroke. Fang swooped down to her aid. He carried her until Max found her head again. Fang landed. They set up a camp and started a fire. 20 minutes later they explored the limits for something that could be cooked on a stick. They ate up quickly, before it got cold. Then Angel said she heard that they were human babies. And maybe, they still had human parents still alive. She said the information was in a New York. The ending is too good for me to reveal as they go to New York to get info to find their parents data/location. I know it is really confusing and a lot to take in—but the book and Mr. Patterson explains it a lot better.

"The six of us were homeless, aimless, on the run --- and might be for the rest of our lives, however long or short they might be." (Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, pg. 215) This book as I've already told you is about 6 kids running away from the School. The Erasers keep on tracking them down. In New York, Max, meets one of her many enemies, Ari. The major conflict is when Ari and Max get in a final showdown. They both get nasty bruises and cuts during the fight. Bones will crack as well. One will only remain standing, and the other one will die. They are both heavy fighters, strong and really powerful. It was not just fighting either, they told each other many nasty things that were heart breaking/sickening. They don't know that inside themselves they actually cared for one another but they don't know that is what they are actually thinking that.

Even though it is around 422 pages it goes by a bit to fast. You don't want it to stop- it is that phenomenal. I chose this book because when I heard that it was about 6 kids engineered to fly, I decided I had to read it! Don't get me wrong that I'm a picky reader or anything, 'cause I LOVE reading—a lot! I read all the books in the series right after I finished book one. I love all the characters ecpecially Max. They are probably the best books I have read so far. You just zip through the pages. I also would not recommend it to anyone who: does not like blood, killing, or/and pain (i.e. punching, kicking). If you really like romance don't read it--- there is only one kiss that lasted 1.7 seconds.There are funny scenes. I would recommend it to anyone who is ready to come along the ride. I really loved this book and would recommend it to people who also enjoy nonstop action, mystery, and suspense. These pages really do fly, so strap up for the ride, Maximum Ride.

Sharly R.
Ms. Bennett
Period 1