Maximum Ride
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- This article is about the book series. For the upcoming film, see Maximum Ride (film).
 Cover of The Angel Experiment |
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| Author | James Patterson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | 1st Book: Kamil Vojnar & Roger Wood 2nd Book: David Perry, Pete Turner & Rob Matheson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young Adult Fiction |
| Publisher | Little, Brown |
| Released | 1st Book: April 2005 2nd Book: May 2006 |
| Pages | 1st Book: 422 2nd Book: 408 |
| ISBN | ISBN 1st Book: 0-316-15556-X 2st Book: 0-316-15559-4 |
Maximum Ride is a book series by James Patterson and published by Little, Brown. The series is set in the near future, and centers around the 'Flock', a group of human-avian hybrids on the run from the scientists who created them. There are two books in the series so far: The Angel Experiment (2005) which was a New York Times Bestseller for 12 weeks, and School's Out Forever(2006). The third book in the series, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, is set to be released in May 2007 [1].
The series is similar to When the Wind Blows and The Lake House.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] The Angel Experiment
The main character of the series is a fourteen year old girl named Max. She is the leader of a 'flock' of six children: Fang, Iggy, Nudge, The Gasman, Angel, and herself. The only ones who are related by blood are The Gasman and Angel, who are brother and sister. The flock escaped from a laboratory called 'The School'; a place where scientists, or whitecoats, illegally experiment on human children for reasons unknown. The only successful experiments are the Flock, who have avian (bird) DNA, and Erasers, who have lupine (wolf) DNA, and work for The School. Erasers look like normal humans, but can transform into wolf-men with fur, fangs, and claws. The kids all have wings and are able to fly, but some of them have unique powers as well. The Gasman can imitate any voice or sound as well as horrible flatulence, Angel can read people's minds, breathe under water and talk to fish, Nudge is psychometric,Max can fly at supersonic speeds(not yet developed ability in first book). Fang can seemingly melt from shadows like a phantom (though this is really only a description to show how silent and aloof he is). Iggy is blind, a side effect of a perfectionist "school" experiment. Because of this, his other senses have been sharpened and he effectively memorizes his surroundings and is even able to cook. The Flock escaped The School by being smuggled out by Jeb Batchelder, a whitecoat who felt pity for them. Jeb taught the flock numerous skills, many of which they still use, such as fighting techniques, flying, and a secret language. It is unknown whether his care towards the flock was feigned or real because he left them and disappeared for two years. The flock believed him to be dead but found out he had returned to the School. Max and the others quickly found hatred for Jeb and resented his abandonment. After Jeb left the flock to fend for themselves, Max took over the "hard and thankless" job of being the leader.
The book begins with Angel being kidnapped by Erasers and being taken back to the School. One of the Erasers, Ari, was Jeb's son. He was once human, and had always been bitter about being left out by the flock while they were still at The School. Then his father had left him for the flock for a period of time, meanwhile... the whitecoats turned him into an eraser- making him the first eraser to be made after birth. Max, Fang, and Nudge go to rescue Angel, but Max makes Iggy and The Gasman stay home (because Iggy is blind and the Gasman couldn't keep up). On the way to The School, Max stops to help a girl who was being bullied. However, it resulted in her being shot in the shoulder and wing, meaning she couldn't catch up with Fang and Nudge. She finds the girl,that she helped, Ella, and is invited into her house. Her mom, who is a veterinarian, helps to treat her wound. When they notice her wings, they still accept her. Max starts to have thoughts about what having a real home and family would be like, and compares it to Ella's house. However, when Ella's mom does her X-rays, she notices a chip in Max's forearm that she says cannot be removed. Her guess is that the chip sends out a type of tracking signal. After a couple of days, Max recovers and goes to catch up to the others. (while, in looking for Max, Fang and Nudge fly over Tipisco, Arizona, which is supposedly where Nudge's parents live. They see a lady who could be her Mom, but then Ari shows up. Nudge flies away, but Ari is stronger than Fang and eventually sits on him, punching him in the face until Nudge spray-paints Ari's in the face, making his hair green for a while into the story).
Meanwhile, Iggy and The Gasman have been fending off Eraser attacks on the house (by building bombs, making oil-slicks and putting tacks in the ground) and decided to try to catch up with the others and do so just before Max gets back to Fang and Nudge. Afterwards, all five head to The School. They fly pretty far, and then stop to eat (they need to eat a lot and often because flying takes a lot of energy. They see a jerk take out money from an ATM, and they are able to get some out, too, after Iggy is able to put in the right code just from hearing it once. Then they "borrow" a car with Max driving, and stop for lunch. At the fast-food place, they are suddenly surrounded by erasers and dash to the car. Max speeds away but then, while being chased by erasers in another car, collide with another oncoming car. They erasers mob the car and get everyone but Iggy and the Gasman. Everyone but Iggy and The Gasman are taken to the school, and it is discovered that Jeb Batchelder is still alive and is working for the whitecoats again, and probably was the entire time. He also tells Max that she was created to save the world. Max hates his guts, and tells it to him. Eventually they are taken to the yard where the erasers are trained to kill and given the uncoorperative expiriments to practice on. However, the flock is rescued by Iggy and Gazzy seconds before they are turned loose with the erasers. Iggy and Gazzy bring some hawk friends that Nudge and Fang discovered while waiting for Max to reappear after being shot and in the custody of Ella and her mothe, and storm the school. They leave The School with Angel, and the whole flock is happy at being together again, although they cannot go home- the erasers know where it is and are expecting them. So they decide to go East.
While heading East, Max experiences excruciating pain from her head that causes her to not be able to move or talk. She falls from the sky, but Fang grabs her before she crashes to the ground. Then they go to make camp on land. After Max recovers, Angel decides to tell the flock that she heard someone think about the address of another place like The School that has information about the flock: The Institute, in New York. She also reveals that she heard someone's thoughts about them having human parents. Supposedly The School had told Nudge's parents that she had died, Iggy's mom died when he was born, Angel and The Gasman's parents gave them to the school willingly, and Fang's teenage mom was also told that he was dead. Angel didn't hear any thoughts about Max. They are all upset, Angel and Gazzy for being given up, Nudge at the hospital for lying and stealing her, Iggy for bad luck, Max for having no idea whatsoever, and Fang about not having a family at all, just a teenager who was "probably a crack addict or something". (Max and Fang talked about their stories after the others went to sleep- if they looked upset, too, then the whole flock would feel insecure. Plus, as Max points out, "there are some things we trust only each other to hear").
Max soon experiences the brain attack again, this time accompanied by visions of seemingly random landscapes and people. However, she soon recovers again and they finally reach New York. After entering the subway system, Max has another brain attack, and a kid comes by and tells them to stop screwing with his Mac. When he shows them what is on the screen Max stares at it in shock- these are the same visions Max has been having during her brain attacks. Also, while in New York, Max starts hearing a Voice inside her head that seems to be giving her clues about what to do and where to go next, and Angel learns how to control people with her mind. She used her mind control to tell a woman to buy her a stuffed bear that was costumed as an angel (Angel names her Celeste).
They are also getting into trouble because they keep being spotted by erasers, law enforcement, and people when they have their wings out, and no matter where they are, erasers are always hot on their trail.
The flock finds the address of The Institute after one of Max's attacks (she sees the name: The Insitute For Higher Living, along with the address). When the flock locate the building, they discover that there is no organization such as the 'School' inside the building. The woman at the desk becomes suspicious of them and the flock quickly leaves. After, Gazzy breaks down, and the flock decides to go to a restaurant (that Gazzy picks out). Problems arise with the staff at the restaurant and the flock has no choice but to fly through a skylight in the ceiling of the building. They relize now people will really notice them - after having their picture (wing exposed) in the newspaper. Walking down the street, a staff member of a barber shop asks them id they want to be "made over". The flock agrees, and asks to be made over, to look completely different.
Then the flock leaves New York and goes to the ocean, where Angel realizes that she can breathe underwater. But, just when starting to relax, they are discovered by Erasers (Jeb with them). They are surrounded, erasers grab Iggy and Max. Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy fly up, just out of reach, and Fang fights with Ari. Ari smashes Fang's head against a rock, and then almost kills him, but Jeb stops him and tells him to wait. Then he turns to Max and tells her that she should start trying to save the world, and then orders all the erasers to leave, just like that. Fang is badly injured in a fight with Ari, and when Max is checking whether he is OK or not, she randomly kisses him on the lips or as the book said "just like that". This is the first suggestion in the series that Max has something (a crush) for Fang. Fang responds with the word "Ow" since his lip is split, and then stares at her in shock. He is tough enough to fly back to New York with the rest of the flock, and they sleep in the subway tunnel again.
When Max's Voice says that there is a pot of gold under every rainbow, Max figures out that they have to enter The Institute through the sewers. They find a grate in the subway tunnel ground and climb down a latter into the sewer tunnels. They find computers that require a password, and Nudge realizes that she can pick up memories from objects and finds the password. On the computer, Max finds a list of the flock's real names, the names of their parents, and the names of locations, and prints it out. They see that all of the locations are close to Washington D. C. Afterwards, they start to leave, but they find dozens of mutants locked up in cages. The flock releases them and begins to escape.
However, Ari tries to stop them, and during the fight, Ari slips in the sewage. Falling down, Max finds herself ontop of Ari. An audible crack is heard, and Ari and Max look at each other in surprise. Ari tells Max that he would never have hurt her like this, and then dies. Ari's neck had been broken. As the flock flies away (along with the other mutants), they hear Jeb scream, "You killed your own brother!" Afterwards, Angel reveals that she took a dog from one of the cages in The Institute. She names it Total, because of the name on its tag. In the end, the flock starts to head towards Washington D.C.
[edit] School's Out-Forever
The story opens onto a scene of the Flock winging their way towards Washington. The Gasman is cracking jokes about seeing UFOs. Fang flies up to Max, and asks if she is okay. She asks him in what way. He replies, "Killing Ari." He says it was him or her, and he's glad she chose him.
Max does an automatic 360, and spots a dark spot moving towards them. She calls Fang over and asks him what he thinks it is. He says it's too fast for a cloud, too lumpy for birds, and too quiet for a chopper. They come to the realization that they are Flying Erasers.
The Erasers are going too fast for the flock to outrun. And so they turn to fight. Max saves Nudge from having her throat torn out, and Iggy blows the chest out of an Eraser with a small explosive. The Flock discovers that the Erasers are very bad flyers, and cannot fight well when flying. Max winds up in hand-to-hand combat with an Eraser. She realizes it is Ari, back from the dead. Afterwards, Angel says that when she read their minds, this time they weren't just thinking, "Kill the mutants," they were also thinking, "Remember to flap!".
As the flying Erasers fly away to lick their wounds. Everyone says they are okay in response to Max's status report questions. However, as they fly onwards, Max notices that Fang is flying more slowly than the rest of the flock. She drops back, and notices that there is a dark pool of blood on his side. She thinks it's his arm, and he says "Not my arm." He then begins to drop rapidly.
Max enlists Iggy to help her fly Fang down to land. She notices that Fang is truly unconscious. They land on a rocky beach, and lay Fang out on the pebbles. Max tells Nudge to tear strips out of shirts. When the strips are ready, the voice instructs max on what to do to "stop the bleeding". She makes a pad out of the strips and places them on the wound. Iggy informs them that someone is coming. A jogger comes out of the mist, and sees the kids. He asks them what they're doing out so early, and then sees Fang. Before Max can stop him, he whips out his cell phone and calls 911.
Before the paramedics arrive, Max orders Nudge to take Gazzy and Angel and hide. All three of them flat-out refuse. This is unprecedented for the flock members to refuse to follow orders. The point becomes moot because at that moment the paramedics arrive and the flock is loaded into an ambulance with him.
They arrive at the hospital and Fang is wheeled into the heart of the hospital. A nurse asks Max for information about Fang. On the spur of the moment, she dubs Fang with the new name Nick. She says that he is her brother, and that they are all adopted children of missionary parents, who are conveniently off on a mission. A doctor comes out and asks Max to come with him.
She is taken to see Fang. The doctor asks if she is like Fang, and she says yes. After she tells him that Fang's heartbeat should be faster and smoother, the doctor asks to listen to her heart. She says yes. He asks why he can hear air down there. She says they have lungs, but they also have smaller air sacs. The doctor says she is a human-avian hybrid. She admits it (saying that she prefers the term Avian-American), and she admits the fact that she has wings. The doctors say that Fang needs blood. Max tells them that they can't give him regular blood, because their red blood cells have nuclei. She gives Fang a donation(two pints).
When she gets back to the waiting room, she discovers that her flock is not there. A nurse directs her to room 7. When she gets there, she finds FBI agents there with the flock. They have set trays of food in front of the flock. Max gets the FBI agents to test the food, and when it proves safe, they fall upon the food and eat like vacuums "inhaling the food". After the flock has had their fill, the FBI agents want to interview the flock individually at separate tables. They agree. Angel goes under the name of Ariel, The Gasman is Captain Terror, Nudge is Krystal, Iggy is Jeff, and Max remains Max. The FBI agents ask them about Jeb, the School, Erasers, etc. The flock doesn't reveal anything.
Max's agent asks her about a man named Jeb Batchelder, and Max refuses to tell him anything. He is interrupted by a woman who introduces herself as Anne. She offers them shelter and the best care for Fang in return for the opportunity to study the flock. Max is hesitant, and goes over to the rest of the flock. She starts to joke around, and Anne comes over, confirming the deal by asking if Max has told them about it.
The catch is that they need to go to her house now (the shelter), and Fang, a.k.a. Nick will be picked up when he is recovered. Max refuses, and the flock winds up staying in Fang's room overnight while he recuperates.
During the stay, while everybody is sleeping, Max is feeling hot, and is full of adrenaline, and upon looking in the mirror, discovers an eraser-self looking out at her. She understandably panics, and touches her face to see if she feels like an eraser. She doesn't feel like an eraser; everything feels normal. The Voice calms her down, but not before warning her that she must know and respect her enemies.
Max finally convinces Anne to let them all (including Fang) to go to her house, because the next morning Fang is almost healed (to the astounded doctors' surprise- they don't know about their supper-fast healing ability). They are then taken with Anne to Virginia, which is where Anne's country chateau is located. It has seven bedrooms, and five bathrooms. It is surrounded by 50 acres of land, including pastures for Anne's many animals, a barn, a pond the size of a swimming pool...anything you would really want for raising six mutant bird kids (but Max is wary that it is a trap.
The flock spends the first day at Anne's house goofing off. That night, they gather in Max's room, to try to decipher the sheets that they stole from the Institute of Higher Living. Somehow, the readable pages had gotten lost, leaving them with reams of numerical code. Each member of the flock takes two pages, and tries to decipher their pages, Fang reading Iggy's to him. After an hour, they are no closer to breaking the code. Anne comes in and asks them if they want to go to bed. Max feels guilty because she thinks that Anne is taking care of Max's flock.
The next morning Max and Iggy make breakfast for the flock, and then Anne makes each of the flock responsible for housekeeping. What really bothers Max is that the flock actually does it-they never had done that for her. Then, the flock goes outside for some exercise: swimming, flying, etc. Then Anne takes the flock aside, one by one, and has them show her what they can do, and interviews them. Anne then tries to cook dinner.
Max tries to maintain her position as the sole protector of the flock by getting the flock ready for bed before Anne.
After the flock has stayed at Anne's house for two weeks, Fang comes into Max's room, and shows Max a possible solution to the problem of the code. He says that while he was racking his brain, looking for a solution, the numbers started looking like map coordinates. He shows her a map of Washington DC and the surrounding areas. Max gets excited, and says that it is a genuine possibility. Max and Fang go then and there to check some of the numbers out.
The first location isn't even a house. It turns out to be a pizza parlor that was built over twenty years before. In that area, there are no buildings where people could live. The next location was better in that it was actually a house. However, it was an abandoned apartment building in a less-than-perfect neighborhood. Fang and Max wait for the occupants to leave, and then go inside to investigate.
They search for over two hours, and in the last closet they try, between the lath and the wall, is a picture of a baby that looks just like a baby Gasman. They start to head out, but just then, the squatters come back. They spot Max, unaware that Fang is at the other end of the hallway. They attempt to attack her, but Fang saves her by pretending to be the angel of death. Max joins in the fun, and the squatters flee. Fang and Max head for home, while the Voice reprimands Max for having fun instead of saving the world.
That night, Max gets out of the shower, and Eraser Max is in the mirror again. The Eraser Max tells Max that they are part of each other, they can help each other out. Max is terrified and runs to her bedroom. Fang knocks, and then enters. He takes in her appearance, and asks what is wrong. Max asks him, If she were to turn into an eraser, would he do what had to be done (kill her), for the good of the flock. Fang says yes, and then quickly kisses her forehead. Max is now more confused than ever.
Max is out by the pond with the rest of the flock. She is using Anne's laptop to look for reports of missing children from the surrounding areas. Angel surfaces from the pond, and tells Max a joke. Total chuckles, and says "Good One". Max scans for the voice throwing Gasman, but he's fifty feet away, doing divebombs into the pond. Max goes over to Angel, and asks her if Total can talk. Angel responds that he can, but he's not that interesting.
That night, Angel comes into Max's room, and tells her that she can't sleep, and could she please go fly around. Gazzy comes in, bearing the same message. In the end, the entire flock goes. The group sees bats, and Max starts to get hot again. She suddenly starts to fly faster than ever before. She has developed a new ability: supersonic speed.
The group goes to check out the other addresses, from the papers they stole from the institute (still using Fang's map coordinates). Angel tells Max that Anne thinks that something is going to happen, but Angel doesn’t know what and she knows Anne isn't sure, either. They go to the next address, Fang's, but it turns out to be just a barbershop. Fang is upset, although he doesn't show it.
Iggy's address turns out to be an Asian food store, or a used car lot across the street. Iggy explodes with frustration. He tells Max that he can't be without them, because his lost is always worse than their lost, and he won't always have them there to be his eyes. In frustration, he picks up a chunk of asphalt, and hurls it at a storefront, where it shatters against a plate glass window. The alarm goes off, but Iggy refuses to leave. Max persuades him to leave by telling him that she needs the whole flock to be whole herself. They leave right before squad cars start pulling into the lot. Max tells Iggy that the flock will always be his family.
Anne tells the flock that it's time for them to go to a real school. Fang bursts out laughing, thinking that Anne was joking. She explains that she is serious; they are all going to school (Fang and Iggy will be in the same class so Fang can help him). After entering school, Nudge changes her name to Tiffany-Krystal and the Gasman changes his name to the more acceptable Zephyr. Iggy and Gazzy get in trouble on the first day, setting off a stink bomb in the bathroom. Max meets the headmaster (the "headhunter" as she dubbed him), and they immediately hated each other. Nudge and Angel make lots of friends, and a girl (Lisa) flirts with Fang. Max makes a new friend too. (J.J.)
After being in school for a little while, Max spots Fang kissing with a girl (Lisa, or the "Red-Haired Wonder" as a jealous Max dubs her). Max is upset because Fang is her unacknowledged crush. Walking home that day they get in a fight with Erasers, but come out triumphant. Later that night, when Max is tucking Angel in, she asks if she picked up on any of their thoughts. She says Ari- back from the dead- was mad and angry, and "He hates us" but then she adds "And he loves you. He loves you a lot, Max." Max is backing out of Angel's room, in shock, and bumps into Fang. She admits that she feels threatened by Anne taking her place, and Fang says "You’re a fighter, not a mom". This makes Max furious, and she blurts out how she caught Fang kissing Lisa. She comments that the girl was "stuck like glue" when making out with Fang, and shoves him. He shoves her back, and she is mad how she is fighting her best friend, and looking jealous. He just refers to how she kissed him on the beach, and then mentions he has a blog. "Fang's Blog".
They go on a field trip to the White House, and Angel meets the president when she becomes lost. Later they find out she "influenced" some of his decisions on what to do with a billion dollars (from military purposes to the homeless women and children, as well as school systems).
Next Nudge thinks she cracks the code,using the numbers as page numbers and chapters from a well known book, the Bible. In the end it's another dead end. Iggy and Gazzy find a basement, hear the headmaster telling the secretary to hide some files, almost get caught, and set off a bomb to create a distraction to get away. They later get in trouble for it with Anne and the Headmaster. They end up getting grounded from T.V., the computer, etc. That night, Max sees that Anne's TV is on the news, doing a report on missing children. They talk to a couple who lost a child 14 years ago, and their last name was Griffiths (Iggy's last name). The lady looked just like Iggy, too. Max remembers the house and church in the background, and tells Fang. They go check it out later that night, but their search proves fruitless. While on the way to the town to search for the house and church, Fang gets nervous because he is really hot just like Max was. She asks him about it, and he says he is only nervous because he has Max's blood in him, which has her DNA. They don't know if it is good, bad, or not important, so they drop it. When they get back, they see Anne's silhouette against the window, probably looking through their stuff.
Later, Max finds a boy named Sam who asks her out on a date. Fang seems upset, because he didn't say anything when she told everyone. While on the date, Ari and Max 2.0 (a person who resembles Max perfectly) appear in front of the ice cream parlor that Max and Sam are in. After the date, Max and Sam kiss on Anne's doorstep. Fang goes up to her room and teases her. After Max tells him the date went well, he says "So I don't have to kill him?", an implied sign of Fang's reciprocal crush on Max. And then repeats Max's comment: "Stuck like glue." As Max and Fang are talking, Max mentions that she saw Ari when she was on her date and that Ari had her (another Max) with him. Fang seems shocked by this, worried that this could turn out horribly. Max then proceeds to tell Fang that she has seen herself as an eraser in the mirror before. Fang remains calm about it, even jokes about it. But then he tells her that no matter what, he would know if it was her or the other Max, because he knows that she is not evil. Then Fang smooths her hair and tells her she is fine, makes one final joke, and leaves.
Fang and Max continue to look around for Iggy's house, and find it. Max ponders what to do for a moment, and then she steers Fang to the door. A woman answers it and Max is convinced that it is Iggy's mom. They pose as kids selling the Wall Street Journal and after she says she doesn't want it, they leave.
Iggy and Gazzy go back at the basement at school and find the files the headmaster wanted "lost". They find out that the school used to be an insane asylum until two years ago. They also discover a tunnel that goes even further under the school. They tell the flock about it that night, and they realize there is something going on with the school.
That night, as planned, they all fly to the bat cave they had found. Max tells them all they will be leaving Anne's, but at the protest of the younger ones, agrees to stay until Thanksgiving.
They have Thanksgiving with Anne, and she tells them she would like to adopt them.
They drop off Iggy with his parents, and although happy for him, they are all sad. Anne freaks out looking for him, but the flock will not tell where he is, only that he is safe and happy, and that he chose to leave on his own. Then at Thanksgiving, Anne is very nervous about making the dinner, fretting that something will go wrong. Then they give thanks, for family, food, etc, until it is Fang's turn. He follows everyone else's lead about the food and family, but then looks at Max and blushes furiously. At school the next week, the headmaster announces to the whole school that Jeff (Iggy) is missing, and they pretend they do not know where he is. While walking to her classroom that day, Max spots the headmaster. In an attempt to get away (before he sees her and starts yelling at her), she hides in the teachers lounge. But three of the teachers pull out tasers. She runs out, straight into the headmaster. He shoves her back into the teacher's lounge. She fights her way out. She runs down the hall, screaming to the rest of the flock. They join her, and they dash down the hallway. Along the way, Sam screams at Max to go into an empty classroom, where she could be safe adding "You can trust me". In her panic, Max becomes paranoid and bowls him over saying "Sorry, but I can't trust anyone". They then get outside and fly up. They head to Anne's House and grab Total, who is getting chased by an Eraser. Down below, Max sees that Anne is talking to Jeb and Ari. There is also a swarm of other Erasers around them. While they watch what happens below, Iggy shows up. Apparently, his parents wanted to make money off of him by selling his story to magazines and newspapers. After the reunion, Max lands and after some argument, is told that Anne is the Director that was mentioned in her earlier adventure (in NY). Max tells them to stay away from her flock, and she will take them out if she sees them again. Then she rejoins her flock, and they just want to get away from Virginia. But as they fly away, a group of flying erasers chase them. This batch of Erasers can actually fly. They try to lose them in the woods, and most of the erasers hit trees and crash (since they have misjudged their wingspan). But Ari is still hot on Max's trail, so she goes really fast to lose him, then circles back to talk to him. He tells her his plan to kidnap her, and she flies away. But as she does her hears Fang fighting three Erasers at once and goes to help him. They quickly get rid of those, and then Ari shows up. He and Fang fight in the air, and Fang wins (as Max notes- they are "settling some issues"). They meet up with the flock, and Total, in the bat cave.
They start flying to Florida- Angel wants to go there- and on the way Total almost falls to his death but Max saves him. They stop overnight in Georgia, and start flying the next day. When flying, Max's Voice bugs her, and she loses it. She tells Fang she will meet them on the beach and flies super fast to the coastline. She sits on the beach and gets so frustrated with her Voice that she picks up a sharp shell and starts sawing away at her arm, trying to take the chip out. She knows she will loose use of that arm and possibly bleed to death if she does it, but she does anyway. Halfway through it, she hears running footsteps behind her. She looks up to see Fang. He immediately stops her, and he cleans and bandages the wound. He is very angry at her, and the rest of the flock is very concerned. They were all very scared and upset, and doing something very unlike herself, she starts crying. Fang holds her and the rest of the flock talk to her until she calms down.
When she finishes, she apologizes, and tells them that she was just worried about saving the world and everything else. Then Angel pipes up and tells them that when she was at The School she had heard their thoughts- that when the world gets blown up or contaminated they will find a nice spot of land and live peacefully, even though most people will be dead. She tells them that it has something to do with a big company and goes to swim. Gazzy and Total go with her, and Iggy and Nudge walk along the beach. Alone, Fang talks to her about the whole self-surgery thing. She tells him it was just too much. She apologizes for scaring him, and he admits how terrified he was, how much it had scared him. Max in the book says that "then something changed"- but she doesn't know what.
Angel just then pops out of the water and tells everyone she can talk to fish and has four sharks wave to them with their fins.
Then they leave and the next night at their campsite they see two starving kids who said they had been kidnapped by whitecoats. So they feed them and then everyone fell asleep, except the flock posted a guard, just in case, to keep and eye on the kids. Max is on guard at about five in the morning, and she watches, though she pretends to be asleep, the kids get up and go off into the forest. She follows them, only to discover that they are talking into transmitter. Max quickly throws it into the mud, gets them to tell the name of the company they were force to work for (Itex), and gets the flock away before they can trace where the transmitter was and get caught.
When flying away, they pass over Disney World, and the younger kids, convince them to go. They have fun, but then they see Ari sitting on a bench waiting for them to get off a ride. So they go through an employee-only door and fly away. But while in the air, a helicopter sees them and heads that way curiously. They go different ways, and meet up in a junkyard. With Nudge's advice they put different car parts together and start driving south, to Itex Headquarters. They get stopped by the police because they were exceeding the speed limit (they had no speedometer). Angel telepathically orders the cop to go away, and Fang starts driving again.
They stop at a motel and go to sleep, and in the night Max is captured and replaces by the exact copy of her (who has been watching her so she knows what to do). Max is put in an isolation tank, and Max 2.0 takes over being the old one. The next day, she leads the flock into Itex headquarters under the guise of snooping around.
The old Max tries to figure out a way to get out of the tank and back to her flock, even though the only time she is taken out- by Jeb- it hurts every one of her senses.
Meanwhile, Max 2.0 leads them straight down into the basement of Itex. She thinks the flock seems stupid, especially Angel (and her dumb dog) and Fang. Angel keeps watching her closely with a look of distrust on her face, and Fang, who is always aloof, stares at her with an unreadable expression.
The old Max, still stuck in the tank, finally figures out a way to get out. She plays dead until every muscle relaxes and her heart rate slows. Eventually they take her out and she escapes and flies, somewhat painfully, to Itex headquarters. Just as she is about to enter the building, she is swarmed by snakes- her worst fear.
Inside the building Nudge is on the computer with the new Max pretending to listen, Iggy and the Gasman are under the table playing with wires, and Fang is guarding the door with Angel and Total sitting by his feet. The new Max is silently mad that Angel is sleeping- her eyes are closed- and Angel's eyes pop open. She smiles at her and turns to Nudge, who is finding information on her parents. But then Iggy says "someone's coming", and Ari bursts through the door. Fang yells "Scatter" and attacks Ari. But then spiders swarm Gazzy, and Ari bites Angel's arm, tearing off a huge chunk. Fang runs to help her, but a cage is dropped over him. Nudge is chased by rats, and Total is faced with a bowl of dog food. Angel is attacked by the Max 2.0. Fang screams through the chaos that "it can't be real. It isn't real".
The Old Max finds them and gets into an evenly-matched fight with the Max 2.0. The new Max tries to accuse the old one of being a fake, but Angel says she is wrong, and informs Max 2.0 that she can read minds. This is news to the new Max. Suddenly the spiders, rats, and the cage disappear- the holographic virtual-reality system has broken. Now the whitecoats are there, and Jeb. They watch them fight, saying there can only be one Max. So they would fight to the death. Jeb wanted the old Max to win- he taught her everything she knows, but all the whitecoats want the Max 2.0 to win. They fight for a while, and Max gets the upper hand. Just as she is about to kills Max 2.0, she stops. She tells the whitecoats she will not kill her and that the New Max is their problem. Gazzy tells Max to duck. She does, and a huge bomb goes off. Many whitecoats are unconscious and the Max gathers together her shocked, sore flock. Then they all hurry to the hole the bomb made and fly away. Later Max asks Fang if he knew that wasn't the real Max. He then states that he knew when she offered to "cook breakfast." They start laughing and can't stop.
Keep watching for the third book: Maximum Ride-Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports.
[edit] Saving the World and other Extreme Sports
little known for the time being
There's one last chance to save the world in MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS, the closing chapter of James Patterson's thrilling trilogy. The time has arrived for Max and her winged "Flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them--but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?
Coming May 29,2007
[2]
[edit] Organizations
[edit] The School
The brainchild of deranged geneticist Roland ter Borcht, the School is the birthplace of the Flock, the Erasers, and countless other genetic experiments of dubious morality. The School serves as a laboratory of Nazi-esque proportions, where cruel experiments on the genetically-altered humans are not only allowed, but encouraged by the scientists inside.
Since the Flock's escape from the School, the School has relentlessly tracked the Flock.
The School is located in Death Valley, California.
[edit] The Institute For Higher Living
An extension of the School, the Institute For Higher Living is another hub of morally dubious genetic experimentation. The Institute's archives store most of the paperwork for both the School and the Institute, including information on the origins of the Flock.
The Institute is located in New York City.
An actual website for the Institute has been found, however, one is required to enter a username and password, so it is inaccessible.
[edit] Itex
A mega-corporation that controls most of the world, via a smattering of satellites and dummy companies. It makes many products, from the test tubes in the labs of The School, to the baby formula that Angel had when she was a baby to jeans that the Gasman wears. It is thought that the flock were created to survive a nuclear Armageddon, probably instigated by this company.
[edit] Recombinants
[edit] Erasers
Erasers are genetically engineered human-lupine hybrids, who have the ability to change their DNA and morph from human to wolf form at will. Designed as the perfect killing machines, Erasers work for the School as hunters, shock troops, and executioners.
In human form, the Erasers have a "sameness" about them; they are adult (regardless of their chronological age), suspiciously attractive and have silky, hypnotic voices.
Their genetic makeup is flawed, resulting in lifespan of about five to six years.
[edit] Flock
The addition of workable wings to a human body produces more than just an angelic appearance. With 2% bird DNA, Flock members have strong, hollow bones, enormous back and pectoral muscles, lodestone implanted in their skulls, small air sacs, a more efficient heart and lungs, and nuclei in their red blood cells. This bioengineering does more than just allow the Flock to fly; on the ground, Flock members have super strength and super speed, though they cannot match the sheer muscle mass of a fully-grown Eraser. They have a very high metabolism; they need to eat around 4500 calories per day. They are much taller than average children their ages as well.
They are the longest lasting experiments from the 'School.'
[edit] Flying Erasers
In a controversial new experiment, the School has begun designing Flying Erasers. These are garden-variety Erasers with enormous wings grafted to their backs. Flying Erasers are badly designed, and can fly only clumsily and with great pain. (As Fang states in the second book, "You're refrigerators with wings.") The leader of the Flying Erasers is Ari Batchelder, son of Jeb Batchelder who is one of the top scientists at the School. But the more batches of flying erasers they make, the more agile they get, even though they have to work hard to stay aloft and they underestimate their wingspan a lot.
[edit] The Flock
[edit] Max
Max, short for Maximum (Maximum Ride), is the protagonist of the series. She is fourteen years old: the oldest of the avian-human hybrids and the leader of the Flock. Max has wings that are tan with brown and white speckles and streaks and is a skilled fighter. She has the ability to fly at speeds that she guesses to be around 200-280mph and has an all knowing Voice in her head which they think is made by a chip in her arm. The flock thinks it might have been implanted by the School as a tracker (the School is the secret organization of evil scientists). She has been told that her destiny is to save the world.
Max supposedly has a crush on her fellow flock member, Fang (she kissed him in the first book). She became very jealous when Fang kissed a girl named Lisa (who was more commonly known as the 'Red-Haired Wonder') in the second book. Even so, she goes out on a date with a boy from school, called Sam, and kisses him. (but she makes comparisons with him and Fang while doing so).
Max is thought to be the daughter of Jeb and the sister of Ari, for in the first book, she "kills" Ari, and Jeb cryptically yells out, "You killed your own brother!" However, this is unconfirmed, and could just be part of the many "tests" Jeb claims she must go through.
Max is very quick and humorous. She is very fast to come up with comebacks, and as narrator of the books, you get a good sense of her witty, intelligent personality. Her leadership skills keep the Flock together, and she cares for her friends as she would her own family. Once in the books, she explains that the Flock 'is her family'. Max is often overwhelmed by all of the cryptic mysteries of her life, but tries to deal with it for the sake of her Flock.
[edit] Fang
Second-in-command, the fourteen year old, black-winged Fang is the most solitary of the flock members. He is described as dark and silent, around 6 ft tall. Biologically, he appears to be Greek, Italian, or Middle Eastern, with dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. He also is described as being very good looking. Fang is stronger, and is physically tougher than the rest of the flock, frequently taking punishing wounds and coming back again. Of all the Flock members, Fang is the closest to Max, whom he appears to harbor a crush on, frequently having late-night talks and confiding in each other things that they do not tell the rest of the flock. He did kiss Max on the forehead in the second book, something he would not normally do with his personality, but he also kissed another girl (Although making comparisons between Max and the girl when he first meets her.). He seemed hurt when Max was asked out on a date with Sam, as he did not react to her announcement. Usually, it seems, he would burst out laughing. After Max's date, Fang goes into Max's room and inquires about it. When Max says it went fine, Fang replies with "So I don't have to kill him?" Fang also blushes when Max gives thanks to his family.
Fang has an online blog by the name of Fang's Blog; [3] linked prominently from the Maximum Ride website, which appears as if written primarily by Fang, with occasional entries from Max, Nudge and Iggy. The name of the blog is 6 kids,12 wings, 1 blog.
Fang also obviously dislikes Ari more than the rest of the flock appears to. One reason, Ari nearly killed him twice, at the end of the first book and at the beginning of the second one, not to mention the time in Tipisco where they fought. Another one that is equally credible is that both he and Ari are competing subconsciously for Max, since both seem to have feelings for her.
Fang acts very tough, and yet he is as witty as all the other members of the Flock. He can be defiant at times, and rather aloof, though like Max, he loves the Flock like family.
[edit] Iggy
Iggy is fourteen and the third oldest member of the flock; his blindness, caused by a failed attempt to surgically enhance his night vision when he was younger, is one of his defining traits. He is also very talented at building and using explosives and makes them in cooperation with the Gasman. He is also skilled at picking locks as Max mentions in the first book. Since he was blinded, his other senses have been greatly heightened (e.g.. identifying members of the flock by the feel of their skin or feathers, a quasi-echolocation, telling when someone is coming through vibrations in the floor, and discovering a man's credit card password through the musical tones created by the keypad), and he uses them to compensate for his inability to see. Although he is blind, Iggy is the only one in the flock who can cook well.
Iggy's real name is James Griffiths. He is the only member of the flock who has located his biological parents, but he left their custody to rejoin the Flock when they attempted to sell his life story to eight different magazines. His name in the flock "Iggy could be derived from the Latin "Ignis" meaning "Fire" which would suit the pyromaniac nicely.
[edit] Nudge
"I love Nudge, Nudge is a great kid, but that motormouth of hers could have turned Mother Teresa into an ax murderer."
--Maximum Ride-The Angel Experiment, pg 40
Nudge is African-American, 11 years old and very talkative. Her wings are brown with russet streaks and streaked with white on the underside. She is a skilled computer hacker, and develops tenuous psychometric powers within the course of the first book. Her true name may be Monique.
Of all the Flock members, Nudge is the one most determined to find her biological parents. In the first book Nudge ate the most out of all the flock although this role seems to have been taken over by the Gasman . She is the most social and talkative of the flock, and can find out information from a computer faster than anyone Max knows of.
Nudge is also slightly girly: in the first book, she says that she wants to walk on Fifth Avenue in NYC, and various other things suggesting that she cares for her appearance and other things a girl would care about.
[edit] The Gasman/Gazzy
The Gasman is eight years old. He earned his name from the fact that he frequently passes gas, although he is often called Gazzy or Gasser instead. He also has the ability to mimic any sound or voice, an ability which he uses to play pranks.
The Gasman and Iggy are best friends, and often work together to build explosives, pull pranks, or do tasks for the Flock. Gasman has assumed the name of Zephyr, which is the name of the Roman god of the west wind.
The Gasman is the biological older brother of Angel and they are the only members of the Flock who are actually related. Gazzy is constantly throwing his voice, and in the Second book, Max suspects he has thrown his voice to make it seem as if Total is talking.
[edit] Angel
Though biologically related only to Gasman, Angel is the 'baby sister' of the entire Flock. She is six years old, with curly blond hair and 8-foot-wide white wings that together give her an angelic appearance.
Angel is a very powerful telepath; one time she 'influenced' a woman through her mind to buy her a stuffed animal in a toy store; can read minds, can breathe underwater, and talk to fish. Generally sweet-tempered, Angel exhibits a vicious streak when using her mind-control abilities, at one point making an Eraser fall out of the sky and on another occasion, run into a tree repatedly, with her brain alone. Even though uneducated, she is extremely intelligent for a six-year-old.
In the second book, Angel once expressed a disturbing desire to take over Max's job as leader of the Flock.
Angel is also kidnapped at the very beginning of the Angel Experiment and is known as experiment 11 to the white coats.It is believed that Angel will become all powerful later in life and will turn on the Flock. She seems sweet but she doesn't understand what the difference is between good and bad. There is also the possibility that white coats turned her against the Flock in the Angel Experiment and is having her wait to kill them. Angel is the first one to figure out that Max 2.0 is a fake, due to her telepathic abilities.
Angel is very mature for her age, but succumbs easily to the joys of places like Disney World, as shown in the second book.
[edit] Other
[edit] Total
Total is a Cairn terrier that joined the Flock after their visit to The Institute of Higher Living. He also can talk which is revealed in Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever. Besides talking, he can also jump an incredible height, about 30 feet.
He is very sensitive about being a dog, and doesn't want to be treated any differently than the rest of the flock. In the second book, Total mentions that he wishes that he had wings after nearly dying when Gasman rammed into Iggy, which caused him to drop Total while flying. He is also very close to Angel. She never leaves him behind, and, in the second book, they even went back to Anne's house to get him despite the fact that it was swarming with Erasers.
[edit] Jeb Batchelder
Jeb Batchelder is a scientist from the 'School'. (It is defined as a place were scientists conduct genetic experiments on humans.) He is Ari's father, although this did not stop the 'School' from turning Ari into an Eraser. He helped the flock escape the first time and lived with them for a few years, suddenly and inexplicably disappearing afterwards. Jeb later reappeared at the 'School' when the flock returned, driving Max to hate him with a passion. Throughout the series, he keeps insisting that he is still a friend of the flock and wants to help them. Jeb was the person that first informed Max that it was her destiny to save the world.
[edit] Ari
Ari is the son of Jeb Batchelder, one of the top scientists at the School. Unlike the other hybrids, Ari spent his early life as a non-mutant human. When he was three years old, Jeb disappeared along with the Flock, leaving Ari at the tender mercies of the School's genetic scientists. The geneticists used Ari as an experiment, splicing his DNA with that of a wolf in order to create a new breed of Eraser that could live longer than the previous versions (those whose DNA had been spliced in the womb). But Ari has his downsides too. When his claws and fierece canines come out it burns his hand and gums. He also has feelings for Maximum Ride. Even though he wants to personally see to it that the light is drained from her eyes. Ari is willing to do anything to kill the entire group, especially Fang. Since he has feelings for Max he doesn't want Fang moving in on her. He even allowed White Coats to put wings on him so he could ambush Fang in mid-air.
Ari is the least 'wolfy-looking' of the Erasers, always in a partially morphed state, never quite human, never quite wolf. One time, he was mistaken for the X-men character Wolverine.
During the climactic fight scene in "The Angel Experiment", Ari fought with, and had his neck broken by, Max. He was killed, but came back from the dead in order to kill Max. However, the broken spine may have even been a blessing in disguise for him, as it allowed the School's scientists to graft a full pair of wings on his back. Ari is now a Flying Eraser.
Ari and Max share many similarities, the most obvious being that they are both mutants and both hear "their Voice" in their heads. In "The Angel Experiment", the possibility that Ari and Max are siblings is discussed.
In "School's Out Forever" it is revealed that Ari has either a crush or strong admiration for Max. His liking for Max may only be because they are allegedly siblings, but in the way that he describes her in the book it is apparent that this may not be the case. Ari even comes up with a plan to steal Max away, so she could 'read to him and play games with him'. However his wolfish-seven-year-old self shows through when he adds that he planned to cut off her wings.
Ari's greatest desire is to have his father be proud of him, and is extremely and horribly jealous of how his father dotes on Max. He one time expresses a desire to choke his father until he (Jeb) realizes he ought to pay more attention to him (Ari). His father is proud of him in "School's Out Forever" when Ari tells him of his plan to steal Max.
Ari may appear to be an adult in many ways because of his genetic engineering. In the second book, you discover Ari's feelings and thoughts are often like those of his seven-year-old self. This is best shown when he goes to BestMart in the second book. He steals a Gameboy.
Ari also exhibits slight masochistic tendencies, as illustrated when he bites himself several times in School's Out Forever, because the pain 'felt better.'
[edit] Max 2.0
Max 2.0 is a clone of the original Maximum Ride. She was created by the School, in an effort to replace the original Max with a controllable substitute that was apparently the 'upgraded' and more cooperative Max. At one point she secretly replaced Max as the leader of the Flock, only to be exposed and rejected by the other Flock members. At the end of "School's Out Forever" Max asks Fang how they knew that the other Max (version 2.0) wasn't her (Original Max). Fang replies "Because she offered to cook breakfast" and they both start laughing. It is also noticeable when she wondered "why is the blind guy cooking?". At the end of “School’s Out Forever” she fought with, and was defeated by, the original Max. However, the difference between her and the original Max are that while Max II was willing to kill Max in their fight, Max had the chance to kill Max II but did not take it, saying that if she killed Max II she would be sinking to the level of the whitecoats. The whereabouts of Max II are currently unknown.
She is known to hang around with Ari in suspicious ways, on rooftops and other places. As told in The Maximum Ride Blog, 6 kids, 12 wings, 1 blog. Ari enjoy's her company because she bothers Jeb and since she is identical to the original Max, and Ari will do anything to get his father to notice him. She's convinced the original Max is full of herself.
[edit] Anne Walker
Anne is an FBI agent that the flock meets during an incident when Fang has to be taken to the hospital. She offers them protection in exchange for a chance to study them in nonpainful, noninvasive ways. She takes them to her country chateau, and the flock is happy there. Anne treats them with kindness and generosity, almost like a parent, that is totally alien to them. Anne also enrolls them in a school without asking, and acts inappropriately when Iggy and Gazzy set off bombs in their new environment. After this event she gave them hot chocolate and cookies. She is unused to any domestic activities, and struggles valiantly to make the best possible meals and other comforts for her new guests. The greatest success she has is the flock's very first Thanksgiving meal, and it is at this point in time that she makes her offer to adopt them all. However, all throughout their stay, Max cannot settle down as the others, and is jealous, because she thinks that Anne is taking care of her flock. Very soon after Thanksgiving, Max is cornered by the headmaster and several whitecoat plants (pretending to be teachers), convincing her that it was definitely time to leave. The flock escapes from the whitecoats and Erasers in the school, returning to the house to collect Total. Erasers have arrived at Anne's house and Anne seems to be giving them no resistance to their search, even yelling at Ari and poking him in the chest. After securing Total, Max flies down to talk to Jeb, Ari, and Anne, and Jeb reveals that Anne is his boss, or as she is frequently referred to, even before her character is introduced, "the Director." The heartbroken flock then leaves in a hurry.
[edit] William Pruitt
Dubbed "the headhunter" by Max, this is the principal of the school Max and the flock attend. He is hateful, and loathes children; this makes Max question his career choice. He has a shiny bald head, nose hair aplenty and wet-looking, round dark pink lips. He speaks with a British accent. He is not a whitecoat but is definitely associated with the School in some way or form. While spying at recess, Iggy and Gazzy come across a file room with a file that says that the school used to be an insane asylum. They take this into consideration when they escape from the private school Anne enrolled them in.
[edit] Soundtrack for the book
As an opportunity to increase the book's publicity and introduce emerging artists, Little, Brown also published a promotional soundtrack for the second book. The CD can only be found at concerts by the artists on the CD, Five Below (a store that sells trendy items to teens for $5 or less), or winning a contest on the Maximum Ride message board. Also fans who signed up for the Fort Minor Militia Club received 3 free copies. These are tracks on the CD:
- "Death Said" by The Summer Obsession
- "What I Wouldn't Give" by Holly Brook
- "Shaky" by Cipes and the People
- "Underneath My Skin" by Brian Steen
- "Disappear" by The Summer Obsession
- "Wanted" by Holly Brook
- "The Way I Do" by Marcos Hernandez
- "Where Do We Go From Here" by Cooper
- "Golden Days" by Kelly Dalton
- "Take It From Me" by The Weepies
- "Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment: Special Excerpt"
- "Maximum Ride: School's Out - Forever: Special Excerpt"
[edit] Movie
Main Article: Maximum Ride (film)
Warner Brothers will be writing the script for a movie of When The Wind Blows and Maximum Ride. Matthew Huffman will write the script and Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster will produce the film. The movie is actually coming out sometime around fall of 2008.
