Maximum Ride: The Series

The ride through the first three books is mindless but brilliant fun. Lots of things are never dealt with satisfactorily, like how do they take off flying so quickly, when they've been hiding their wings under clothing?, but you just don't care because it's fun ... it's a comic book, remember?

This is not a series to think too deeply about; it's a roller coaster ride to buckle up and throw your hands in the air, and just enjoy. Even the worst of the problems (see "What's Broke" below) are fairly minor and don't get in the way of enjoying the book very much. The first and second books, especially, are unadulterated by problems worth mentioning.

This series is fun, plain and simple. A great escape. Read it, and enjoy.

Near the end of the third book, the fun ride hits a couple of bumps. First, the comic book element begins to go over the top and teeter toward cartoony; we move from James Bond to Austin Powers in the feel of the action and the over-the-top melodrama of the villains.

Second, and less obvious but ultimately more problematic, the "save the world" theme begins to devolve. On the one hand, the flock is busy saving the world from imminent threat of forcible and immediate elimination of half of the population, but the focus begins to skew over toward saving the world from pollution and global warming. While these may be worthy goals, they don't really register beside the threat of the megalomaniac mass murderer. (Not to mention being nowhere near as thrilling and kick-butt!) Max wants to stop the By Half Plan, while Fang thinks blogging about pollution and rousing the kids of the world will take care of the job.

James Bond again reigns over Austin Powers in the fourth book - in fact the entire comic book feel is tamed down quite a bit - but the theme continues to be global warming rather than mass murderers. The science lectures are a bit of a downer, too, as the flock takes a cruise to the South Pole to gather data for a research project. I'm left wondering about the people who still want the flock dead, and more importantly, the folks who want half of the world's population dead, without waiting on global warming to do the job. Max is supposed to be specially designed to save the world, to be the only one who can save the world. But she ends up testifying about global warming before Congress - this is something only Max can do?

Book 4 is still a fun read, but the ride has definitely slowed down. It remains to be seen if Patterson can use book 5 to ratchet the pace back up to the roller coaster of the first trilogy, or if he is going to put his readers to sleep with more sincere lectures about switching to fluorescent bulbs.

White is the color of little bunnies with pink noses.

White is the color of fluffy clouds fluffing their way across the sky.

White is the color of soft-serve ice cream in a cone.

White is the color of angels' wings and Angel's wings.

White is the color of brand-new ankle socks fresh out of the bag.

White is the color of crisp sheets in schmancy hotels.

White is the color of every last freaking, gol-danged thing you see for endless miles and miles if you happen to be in Antarctica trying to save the world, which now you aren't so sure you can do because you feel like if you see any more whiteness - Wonder Bread, someone's underwear, teeth - you will completely and totally lose your ever-lovin' mind and wind up pushing a grocery cart full of empty cans around New York City, muttering to yourself.

That was my first poem ever.
Okay, so it's not Shakespeare, but I liked it.
~ Maximum Ride

While staying pretty clean, the swear words the kids don't say are hinted at in a cutesy way. Max often says the letter "H" in place of "hell," as in "what the H is going on?" A younger child says "H-E-double toothpicks!" All of the children freely use "God" as an exclamation.

There is a little kissing, very mild, between some of the older kids.

There is a lot of cartoony violence, and some death.