| Author | James Patterson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller, Young-adult fiction, Science fiction |
| Publisher | Headline[1] Doubleday[2] Little, Brown and Company[3] |
| Published | April 11, 2005 – present |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Maximum Ride is a series of young adult science fiction and fantasy novels by American author James Patterson. The series chronicles the lives of six fugitive kids – Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel known collectively as the Flock. Bred in a laboratory called the School, they endured scientific experiments that rendered them 98% human and 2% avian.
In the first three books of the series, the Flock spends much of their time running from human-lupine hybrids (called Erasers) created by the School. Book 4 is mainly about the Flock rising against global warming, whereas Book 5 is about saving Dr. Martinez while battling environmental pollution. Book 6 is about rescuing Fang, and Book 7 is about stopping the Doomsday Group from destroying the world's population of non-mutated humans. The books are divided into two sets: The Fugitives (books 1–3) and The Protectors (books 4–7). The series shares a few similarities with two of Patterson's previous books, When the Wind Blows and The Lake House.
Patterson recently announced that the series would end with an eight book in February 2012. Patterson said the eighth book will be titled Nevermore, as announced at his book talk for charity at Lincoln Hall.[4]
Contents |
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment focuses around the rescue of Angel, the youngest member of the Flock. The Flock has been living in a secret house in the mountains for years after escaping from the School with help from Jeb Batchelder, but after being attacked by a pack of Erasers (human-lupine hybrids) they have no choice but to leave their home. During the attack, the Erasers manage to kidnap Angel and take her to the School, which is the lab where the flock was once held and experimented on by the Whitecoats, or in other terms, crazy-insane, insane-crazy scientists. After Angel is captured, the flock has to face their worst nightmares and return to the School to save her. Max is deeply confused when she finds that Jeb Batchelder--the man who had rescued the flock from the School and become a father figure to the flock before disappearing two years before--has reappeared but sided with the Whitecoats and, meanwhile, his son Ari was transformed into a blood-thirsty Eraser. As Max focuses on looking after the Flock and saving Angel, she is also struggling with a Voice in her head that gives her annoying, but useful information in the most complicated ways. The Voice also tells her that she was created to save the world. After rescuing Angel, The Flock flees to New York City, where they start trying locate a mysterious industry titled 'The Institute for Higher Living', in order to uncover information about their parents. Max also meets Ella, a girl who she rescued from a gang of bullies, and her mother, Dr. Valencia Martinez. Total, a black Scottie is also added to the group after the Flock breaks into the Institute and releases all of the "experiments" and human-animal hybrids held there.
Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever begins with the Flock heading off to look for their parents using papers with a computerized code that they had obtained at the Institute for Higher Living. On the way, they run into flying Erasers (with deformed, patched-on wings), including Ari. After a fight with Ari, Fang suffers injuries worse enough to need medical treatment at a hospital. FBI agent Anne Walker and her colleagues question members of the Flock for information about the School and its experiments. She offers her home for residence while Fang recovers (even though he healed in only a few days.) The only catch was that the Flock had to allow Anne Walker to ask them questions about the lab known as the School. The Flock agrees, and eventually they are enrolled into a real school. While at the school, Max witnesses Fang kissing a girl named Lissa, nicknamed by Max the 'Red-Headed Wonder'. Shortly after, most likely out of jealousy, Max starts to go out with a boy named Sam. The principal of the school works for the Institute (for the Higher Living) and almost traps the Flock at the school. Once they return to their residence, Anne Walker reveals herself as a member of the lab that created the Flock, and seeks to study them, or to make it blunter, recapture them. Later, Max is kidnapped and replaced with a clone known as Max 2 that has her appearance but acts entirely different from the original Max. In the end, Max discovers that she was set up to kill the Max 2. Max cannot bring her to destroy the other Max, and escapes with the Flock after Gasman and Iggy set off one of their handy-dandy bombs.
In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, the Flock must save the world from the Itex Corporation (the company behind the School, and also connected to the Institute for Higher Living) and its Director, who plans to terminate and destroy all recombinant species and cut the Earth's population in half (otherwise known as the By-Half Plan). Meanwhile, the Erasers have been replaced with the flying, robotic Erasers called Flyboys. As this is happening, Fang tries to persuade Max to find a permanent home where they can live in peace and forget about the world, only caring about themselves and the Flock. Max invites Ari (the last remaining Eraser and Max's half-brother) to join the group after escaping from the School once more, causing Fang, Iggy, and the Gasman to leave the Flock in protest, leaving only Max, Nudge, Angle, and Ari. In the end, Ari dies because of an expiration date that appeared on the back of his neck, revealing the date that he would die. The group reunites and Max discovers that Jeb Batchelder is her father, and her mother is Dr. Valencia Martinez, a kindly veterinarian from the first book (Maximum Ride: The Angle Experiment). Max also begins to realize that she may have romantic feelings toward Fang.
In the fourth book, The Final Warning, the Flock flies out of a government meeting set up to decide--what the government officials think--is best for them. Later, they go to Antarcticaat Jeb Batchelder and Dr. Valencia Martinez's request, where a team of scientists needs their assistance in studying ocean pollution level. There they fight an international organization led by the Uber Director, who intends to auction off the Flock to corrupt leaders of foreign countries to be used as weapons and/or mercenaries. When Angel, Total, and Akila go after a baby penguin in the midst of a blizzard, they trap themselves inside some type of chasm. Max and Fang begin to worry, and head off to find them. Once they were all together, they were forced to refuge inside a hole-cave to keep safe because of a monstrous blizzard. In the midst of this, the Uber Director's team fines them and capture them along with Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy. They are taken to Miami. The Flock defeats the Uber Director in the midst of a hurricane and makes their escape. Meanwhile, Total grows wings of his own and falls in love with Akila, an Alaskan Malamute. Max and Fang kiss a few times, and Max starts to acknowledge her feelings for him even more then before.
At the start of MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel,the Flock is attacked by bionic assassins (which Max nicknames M-Geeks) at environmental awareness shows in Los Angeles and Mexico City. Later, the government enlists their help in finding out what is destroying hundreds of ships and killing millions of fish off the coast of Hawaii. While the Flock is undertaking the task, a criminal mastermind is tracking their every move. Then, Dr. Martinez (Max's mother) is kidnapped and held hostage. The Flock takes a submarine down to the ocean depths, fends off hordes of M-Geeks and rescues Dr. Martinez from an underwater dome as it starts to flood. During their struggles, Fang and Max's relationship grows stronger, and Max feels that she loves Fang.
In Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel, the Flock travels to Africa to aid the people there. They meet Dr. Hans, a former Itex worker, and Dylan, another human-avian hybrid designed to be Max's "perfect other half." After a prophetic statement from Angel stating that Fang will die soon, Max is traumatized and starts spending more time with him. Dylan joins the Flock, and they return to their newly rebuilt home in the mountains. Max and Fang are told to leave the Flock because they are more focused on their personal relationship than the surrounding dangers. Angel becomes the new leader of the Flock and gets rid of the rules Max set up for them. Eventually the group reunites, but Fang is captured by Dr. Hans and his heart stops while he is being experimented on. The Flock rushes to save Fang, Max admits she loves Fang in order to try to wake him up then Max stabs his heart with an adrenaline shot and revives him. Dylan also injects himself in a suicide attempt, but fails. In the epilogue, Total and Akila are married, and Fang leaves Max a note saying that the Flock is in danger with him there, and that he will meet Max again in 20 years.
In Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel, Max hasn't gotten over the fact that Fang has left her, so she has to go live with her mother because she won't take care of herself. But Max is slowly starting to warm up to Dylan despite her mixed feelings in the sixth book. Meanwhile Fang starts his own gang which includes Max's clone, now called Maya. The two teams join forces in Paris to stop an organization known as the Doomsday Group from killing themselves in order to save the planet. Max is hurt even more after Fang asks her to come and help them, making her feel like she's just Fang's audience of one. They fight a lot, but Angel breaks them up. Everything goes awry when the Gazzy fails to disarm all the bombs under the gathering spot. The bombs explode while Fang, the Gazzy, and Angel are still in the blast radius. Fang and Gazzy make it out safely, but Angel is missing, leaving everyone heartbroken. In Angel's epilogue it said she was still alive, but her whereabouts were not specified.
According to an article by the publisher, the final book in the Maximum Ride series, is going to come out in February. However, the release date was later changed to August 6th, 2012.
Maximum "Max" Ride is a title character and the main protagonist of the series. She is a 14-year-old (15 in Fang) avian-human hybrid and the leader of the Flock. Max is described as a tomboy, with a witty and sarcastic attitude but with a soft side. She has brown hair and brown eyes,in MAX she is described as having brown hair with little streaks. Some fans think it might be because Angel and Gazzy already have blonde hair yet only Nudge has brown hair. Max is five feet and eight inches tall and and weighs 98 pounds as described in The Final WarningMax has a 13 foot wingspan. in MAX Max has an affair with Fang in the desert after talking to him about Nudge wanting to cut her wings off, she holds her fear and stays. Later the Flock meets Dylan who, according to Dr. Gunther-Hagen, is Max's "perfect other half". Max begins to feel an attraction for Dylan. In Angel she and Dylan grow closer, confusing her feelings about Fang who begins to grow closer with Maya, who is essentially Max's clone.
Max is one of the two members of the Flock who found her parents; Iggy is the other. Yet she is the only one to like her parents, Iggy leaving his after only a week or so. She was stunned when she learned that Jeb Batchelder (a "white coat" who helped them escape from the school and then raised them) is her father. Dr. Valencia Martinez is her biological mother. Max trusts Dr. Martinez completely, but remains wary of Jeb. She is also close to her half-sister, Dr. Martinez' daughter Ella. Max first meets Ella while trying to save her from some bullies. Max dislikes and somewhat likes Ari (Jeb's son), with whom she is constantly fighting until he joins her "mini-flock" that was created in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports for a short time after rescuing them from the School. A short while after Ari is rescued from the School, he expires ("white coat" word for died). After Ari's "death" the two mini-flocks created by Max and Fang come back together.
Max has a Voice in her head, which gives her cryptic messages that she sometimes disregards. She initially feared that it was an enemy inside her, or someone from the School tracking the Flock. At one point Max believes the Voice to be Jeb Batchelder's; she is later disappointed when he assures her he is not the voice, but he can be.
In Angel, Max lets Dylan replace Fang. She was angry that Fang replaced her with her clone, and she figured out the clone's name was Maya. Also Fang created a new "flock" with all kinds of new talents. This deeply pains Max. There is also the doomsday group. They put a strange spell-like hypnosis on people so they act like zombies and believe in nothing but the "One Light". So, Max's flock and Fang's flock are forced to work together. Max and Fang fight almost nonstop, so this plan was not a success. In the end, Angel goes missing after a huge explosion.
Max can fly incredibly fast, hitting speeds over 300 miles per hour, unlike any other member of the Flock. And in MAX, it turns out she has gills like Angel. Her bird DNA may have come from a hawk, since her wings are mostly brown with long white feathers.
Fang is 14 years old (15 in Fang and "Angel"). He is second in command of the Flock and Max's best friend (and later her boyfriend). He is able to virtually disappear by staying very still and quiet. He is somewhat stronger than the rest of the flock, often sustaining near-fatal wounds.( See books one and two.) He also develops "gill power" at the end of MAX. Fang almost always wears dark clothing and always seems to be sneaking up on Max. He has dark hair and eyes with olive skin. He may have Raven DNA as his wings are black and large in comparison to him. In "The Angel Experiment" he found out that the School took him after he was born. His mother had put him up for adoption and was later told he had died. Fang was bitter towards this information and decided he didn't want to find his mother because he suspected that she wasn't much older than him now when she had him and was probably a drug addict, believing that to be the reason why he was put for adoption in the first place. He is somewhat reserved, but cares deeply about the Flock. He is a very silent character and seems quite dark and mysterious, always hiding his feelings. He can almost match Max in speed by flying at up to 250 mph.
He runs a blog about the Flock's adventures that proves useful in several books.( See School's out forever) He has had one romantic relationship. In book 1, Max kisses Fang when he is injured. In School's Out Forever, he is seen kissing the "Red-Haired Wonder," Lissa. He and Max fight, and afterwards they make up.In "Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports" he kisses Max who flees with fright. In the Final Warning (book 4), Fang seems to like Dr. Brigid Dwyer, of whom worked with the Flock in their mission at Antarctica, and Max grows jealous. In MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel, Fang blows off dinner with Brigid and the scientists for a date with Max to eat kimchi and ice cream. By the end of the book it is confirmed that Fang and Max are a couple. Earlier in the series, when Ari joins the flock, Fang decides to lead half of the Flock and leaves Max. He later comes back, reuniting in an epic battle at the end of book 3 when Ari dies. Fang leaves the Flock again at the end of Fang because of Dylan, Max's "perfect other half", and because Angel has predicted that Fang would be the first to die. Knowing he would put the others in danger, he leaves the Flock. Everyone is upset by this, especially Max, but she finds a letter he wrote to her saying that if in 20 years, the world hasn't come to an end, he'll meet her on the cliff where they learned to fly like the hawks.
In Angel, Fang becomes the leader of a new flock. Ratchet, Star, Kate, Holden and Maya (Max's clone renamed) help him try to stop an evil organization called the Doomsday Group who follow a mysterious figure called the "One Light". When he realizes he cannot take them down on his own, he enlists the help of Max's Flock. Max and Fang seem to grow apart and start to like different people. Also, Fang starts having feelings for Maya because she is so much like Max. He then realizes though that Maya wants to be different than Max, and treats her differently. After the planned D-day, Fang leaves with his flock, leaving Max and her flock in the rubble of Paris, France searching for Angel who goes missing.
Fang can breathe underwater, and if he stands still he can blend in to his surroundings like a chameleon.
Iggy is 14 (15 in Fang and "Angel"), but younger than Fang and Max. He is the most sarcastic member of the Flock, is 6' 4", has pale skin, strawberry blond hair, very light blue eyes, is handsome, has wingspan of over 14 feet, and is blind. His avian DNA may have come from a large seabird.( Albatross?) It's revealed that his real name is James and next to Max, he's the only one who has met his parents. His real name is revealed to be James Griffiths. When he found his parents, he learned that he was kidnapped by the School when he was about 4 months old. At first, Iggy decides to leave the Flock to live with his parents, but later leaves when he learned that his parents didn't really care to have him back and only wanted to use him to make money off his story. Due to the whitecoats' experiments to enhance his night vision, Iggy is effectively blind, though he can see if his surroundings are white. His powers include being able to "feel" colors and identify people by feeling their fingerprints and the feel of their wings. Despite his blindness, the Flock often leave things up to him that require precision or detail, such as cooking, doctoring and picking locks. His sense of hearing is also the best of the flock because of his blindness, although he always wants "the easy way out" of situations. He and Gazzy are best friends and have a habit of building bombs out of almost anything. So far Iggy is one of the characters who has not had a book named after him, besides Nudge and the Gasman. Iggy hates being blind.
Nudge is an 11 year old (12 in Fang and Angel) African American and is brown haired, and has 'brown eyes like melted chocolate'.Her wings are often said to be tawny-brown. Her real name is revealed to be Monique and she actually managed to track down who she believes to be her mother, but never actually meets her. The Flock calls her the Nudge Channel because when she's awake it's all Nudge all the time. Nudge can hack into computers with her ability to sense leftover emotions (psychometry) and can also draw metal to her by will. Nudge is described as Max's best supporter, the peace-maker, etc. Nudge is a TOTAL motormouth, and won't stop talking until she's asleep. Some fans believe that she talks so much to cover up the emotional pain she is still in from being in the never ending silence of The School. Whether or not this is true has yet to be discovered.
Gazzy (full name is The Gasman) is eight years old (nine in Fang and "Angel"). He is the biological brother of Angel, and they are the only "true" siblings of the Flock. He has a mischievous nature and makes fun of Max sometimes. He has a problem with his digestion, hence the nickname. He's an expert at constructing and setting off bombs and explosives, along with Iggy, whom he is closest to. He has blond hair and blue eyes and is Angel's older brother. It was revealed that his and Angel's parents sold them each to the School for $10,000 when they were both very young children. One of his powers is the ability to make a cloud of gas that will fill an entire room and smell so bad that it can make people almost pass out. Gazzy also has the ability to perfectly mimic any voice. Gazzy gets a picture of his parents when Max and Fang go check out what they think was Gazzy and Angels house; the Flock sees it many times accidentally and sometimes purposefully throughout the series. Gazzy has about a 10 ft wingspan and may have Owl DNA. His wings are brown in color.
Angel is six years old (seven in Fang and Angel). She has blue eyes and curly blond hair. Angel is also the biological sister of The Gasman (Gazzy). Together they are the only biological siblings in the flock. Her wings are pure white and are 8 ft (9 ft in Fang) across. She obtains seemingly random powers at random times, such as the ability to breathe underwater, talk to fish, don't forget to read and control minds. In The Angel Experiment, she uses her powers to convince a woman to buy her a $49.00 teddy bear that she names Celeste. She acquires the ability to swim in deep water at pressures that would crush a normal human, change her appearance into a 'bird of paradise' form and change her skin and eye color, although after the initial introduction to this power it is never mentioned again, except when she gets trapped under a snow pile in THE FINAL WARNING and tries to change form to escape. It was unsuccessful. Though she may look innocent, she is actually very intelligent and dangerous. Her ability to control people's minds puts her in reach of extreme power. In Fang Angel believes that she is the strongest of the Flock, and holds a vote, temporarily kicking Max out of the group. She also has a 'Voice' in her head, like Max, but this is not revealed to the reader until Fang; the Flock does not know this. Angel is portrayed as calculating and ruthless in Fang, and has pointed a gun at Max to make enemies back off. In Angel, she seems to have mellowed out and helps Max to balance her feelings for Fang and Dylan. She appears to be content with her role and no longer bids for power, but advises Max. (Max is still suspicious of her.) In the end, she volunteers to go undercover in a new evil organization (The Dooms-Day Group). She goes missing after she and Gazzy fail to defuse a bomb, and the others think she is dead. In fact, she is being held captive in an unknown location, and is continually told she is "most superior". She is also a tomboy, but she also enjoys shopping and girly things along with Nudge.
Dylan is an avian-human hybrid who joins the Flock in Fang. He is said to be Max's "perfect other half", causing Max to refer to him as Mr. Perfect. He is described as being over six feet tall with a 15-foot wingspan, and handsome with dark-blond hair and turquoise eyes. He is in love with Max and was 'programmed' to feel that way. Because of this, he and Fang never see eye-to-eye. Dylan nearly dies at the end of Fang after a failed suicide attempt using a hypodermic needle. He is described as extremely attractive and has a beautiful singing voice. He too was made in a lab, from a clone of a boy who had died. He is 8 months old in Fang. He learns how to fly when Max teaches him, by pushing him off a roof. In Angel Max realizes that he has copied her fighting style. In the excerpt for James Patterson's new novel Angel, Max and Dylan share a kiss in the air after Max is seen by Dylan, missing Fang. Later in the story, Dylan and Max kiss twice in Paris, France. In Angel, Dylan still hates Fang for everything he's done. His relationship with Max is complicated, but she does actually start to like him. In Fang he is portrayed as somewhat meek, but appears to grow a backbone, even arguing with Max in Angel. The most notable argument in Angel starts at the beginning of the book with Dylan and Max arguing about how miserable Max has been since Fang left her.
Dylan can heal himself almost instantly by putting some of his saliva on the respective wound and putting pressure on it. In addition, he has super vision, an unnaturally beautiful singing voice, and clairvoyance.
Max is starting to like Dylan, in Angel, which gets Fang really peeved off.
Total is a black Scottie whom Angel saves from the Institute at the end of The Angel Experiment. He is described to have the characteristics of a Scottish terrier. When Total is rescued from the Institute, he is described as Toto from The Wizard of Oz, which would make him a Cairn Terrier. Total's character is not fully developed until School's Out – Forever, when it is discovered that he has the ability to talk. He is usually the funny one in the flock. He is also very dramatic. He gets shot in the tail once and puts on a great show, but is not hurt. Despite his dramtics, he is mature when he want to be and will not tolerate getting treated like a normal dog. In the end of Fang, Total marries Akila, an Alaskan Malamute whom he met in Antarctica. He is known to be a fan of culture, including theatre and cuisine. He has the ability to jump to great heights, and eventually grows his own tiny wings.
Jeb Batchelder is a brilliant scientist. He used to work at the School where the Flock was experimented on, but felt compassion for them and later breaks them out of the School. He lives with the Flock deep in the mountains for two years, where he teaches them basic survival skills and how to fight so they can defend themselves. Jeb then disappears, leaving the Flock alone to fend for themselves. The Flock thinks Jeb is dead, but he reappears in later books. In The Angel Experiment, the flock discovers Jeb back at the School when they are recaptured. This initially leads the Flock to believe he is a traitor, but he later comes back to the Flock and helps them on numerous occasions. Jeb is Ari's and Max's biological father. Max does not trust him after discovering his identity. Jeb is shot in the sixth book, but he is shown to be making a steady recovery. Though Jeb and Dr. Martinez are Max's biological parents, there is a professional-only relationship between them,going as far as Max trusting her mom(who trusts Jeb). Jeb donated his chromosomes, which were matched with those of Dr. Martinez to create Max. In Angel, Jeb tells Max she needs to breed with Dylan after the world ends, and later goes missing with Max's mom. Once Max thought Jeb was the Voice in her head, but in The Final Warning he reveals he "can do the voice, but isn't the voice"
The Erasers (pronounced E-raze-rs) are half-human, half-wolf hybrids that were bred by the School to be guards, but their bigger mission later involves hunting down and even killing the members of the Flock. Their powers were superhuman strength and eventually gain wings that are crudely grafted onto their shoulder blades. The Erasers can be deadly by catching their prey none the less. They have a life span of about 4 years to reach maturity and about another year or two to "hunt their prey" on The Flock. Jeb's son, Ari (who was turned into an Eraser at a very young age), is one of the last to die when Itex 'retires' all the Erasers and replaces them with the Flyboys (Robot Erasers with synthetic skin that was attached on top of them). The Erasers are originally killed off because they expire very quickly but they make a surprise appearance in Fang when they attack all of the flock but Max and Fang, who are not at the house with the others. 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 surprise battle. They are always armed, but rarely use their weapons after The Angel Experiment and later novels.
Ari Batchelder is Jeb's son who was turned into an Eraser when Jeb was helping the Flock escape from the school. He is also Max's younger half brother since they have the same father, Jeb. When Ari was only three, the whitecoats used him as an experiment to see if Erasers would be stronger if they were mutated after birth. The wolf DNA turned Ari into a "super-eraser" although he is always partially morphed. In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Max and Fang get into a fight because after Ari broke them out of The School, Max was convinced that he was no longer evil. The Flock splits up: Max, Nudge, Angel, Total, and Ari go to Europe; Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy go to Hollywood. Max and the gang go to ITEX where there is a super-mutant named Omega. Ari tries to help Max fight him, but then his expiration date kicks in and he suddenly dies in Max's arms. He only lived until he was seven.
Gunther-Hagen is one of the other scientists the Flock meets. Max is constantly making fun of his name, calling him things like Dr. G-H, Dr. Haagen-Dazs, Dr. God, etc. He created Dylan, wrote a book, and makes the shocking suggestion that Max and Dylan should come to live with him to Germany in order to "breed" or create the start of Max's "dynasty". He also has some special abilities such as instantly healing from illnesses and regenerating small extremities, such as fingers.
He was Dylan's caretaker until he joined the Flock.
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment received generally positive reviews. The School Library Journal called the book an "exciting SF thriller that's not wholly original but still a compelling read".[5] Booklist described it as an "an action-packed cross between Gertrude Chandler Warner's Boxcar Children and Marvel Comics' X-Men.[5] 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".[6] In January 2010, the webcomic Penny Arcade poked fun at James Patterson based on the description found on the back of the first book.[7][8]
The second book, Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever"[9] was criticized the story for being "disappointingly anticlimactic and violent," though it praised the character of Total for being "sure to entertain."[9] 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."[9] It also mentioned that fans of the first book would be "delighted"[9] 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."[10] The review said that "[a]fter 400+ pages, readers may wish they were a little farther into the plot and that more of their questions had been answered."[10]
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).[11] The first volume of the series was released on January 27, 2009, the second volume was released on October 27, 2009, and the third volume was released on August 17, 2010, with a fourth volume released in April 2011 and six more volumes expected to be published.[12]
In September 2007, it was announced that a film would be created based on the Maximum Ride series. James Patterson will be the executive producer.[13] Avi Arad, (Spider-Man, X-Men) will also produce alongside Steven Paul.[13][14] In an interview with James Patterson, it was revealed that Arad has already planned out the first two movies.[15] On August 7, 2008, it was announced that Columbia Pictures bought the screen rights to the franchise. The film was slated for a 2013 release.[16] Catherine Hardwicke will direct the first movie, with Don Payne writing the script.[13] In January 2010 it was announced that the film will go into pre-production. Hardwicke asked for a script rewrite to include more action in the film, delaying its release until 2013. However, in February 2011, the Maximum Ride Facebook page posted that "The Maximum Ride Movie is Coming – In 3D!" and asked its Facebook fans who they would like to play Max in the movie.[17]
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