If you are looking for My Soul to Save contest - simply scroll down!Max is the fifth installment in James Patterson’s action packed series Maximum Ride. Right away I want to warn anybody that hasn’t read books 1-4 that in the very synopsis of Max there will be tons of spoilers for you, so DON’T READ THIS!!!
Otherwise, if you have read books 1-4, don’t worry I don’t spoil THIS book. You know how I hate spoilers!!
Max finds the title character and her flock continuing their new crusade to inform the world about the need to help the environment and stop pollution and global warming. They’re working for a new organization Max’s mom and other scientists have founded called the Coalition to Stop the Madness. But though it would seem that the flock has found domestic tranquility, trouble soon looms as a sniper tries their best to shoot them down during one of their demonstrations. And when the threats stop being just about Max and her flock and starts to target less genetically mutated insanely strong people, she knows they have to do something about it.
To be honest with ya, I’d suggest you don’t read the book’s inside jacket if you’re already a fan of the series, because I think it gives away a couple things that mighta been a bit more surprising otherwise. Actually, I suggest not reading the jacket any time you are already a fan of a series or author. Knowing nothing at all is always best, in my opinion.
So – if you scroll down and see my review of Maximum Ride: The Final Warning, you’ll know that I wasn’t all that thrilled with the last entry in the series… Expectations and hype was high for Book 5, Max, and…
…I don’t know if it lived up to it all that well.
Now before you start thinking I’m turning into a negative reviewer, know that I HEARTILY recommend you read any and all books I review for YOURSELF because we all have different opinions and I hate to think I EVER dissuade someone from reading! If it sounds good to you – READ IT!!!
But continuing on with my opinion, Max certainly was not bad. I thought it was a vast improvement to the rather thinly veiled lecture The Final Warning ended up being. HOWEVER, I feel like the magic that was sprinkled ever so vibrantly over the first three novels in the Maximum Ride series has become nothing more than a couple specks.
It’s almost as if the entire series has taken on a new life, one that I don’t find nearly as appealing. In the first three books, the flock was a tortured bunch of kids you fell in love with. They were funny, sweet… a family made up of kids with wings with no parent to take care of them. It had a slight edge to all the “family-friendliness” and a grittiness that I now believe is lost.
When in the third book it was revealed that Ms. Martinez was Max’s mom, I was disappointed. Why couldn’t she just be a cool ideal mother to Max? Why did she have to end up being her ACTUAL mother? It actually meant less to me, more cookie-cutter, more rushed and too perfect.
It’s not that I don’t like happy endings… but there just weren’t many more places to go after that. The mysteries seem to be closed. There are no more Erasers. No more School. No need to be on the run, to be in hiding.
Now the whole world knows about them? Knows that they have wings?
To me it has just stopped being the series it was before, which just makes me a bit sad.
I still love the first three books (the third not quite as much, I admit) – but book 5 didn’t fix all of these complaints. And to be honest, the global warming lessons weren’t as obvious… but they were still there.
So, all in all I wasn’t that pleased with it. There was good stuff with Angel, some fun stuff when it was just about the flock and not about the bigger plot and some above-average action sequences… but still not up to par, by any means in my mind, to The Angel Experiment, Schools Out – Forever, and Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports.
But like I said – DON’T take me word for it. Read it for yourself. Maybe the magic will still be there for you.
Otherwise, if you have read books 1-4, don’t worry I don’t spoil THIS book. You know how I hate spoilers!!
Max finds the title character and her flock continuing their new crusade to inform the world about the need to help the environment and stop pollution and global warming. They’re working for a new organization Max’s mom and other scientists have founded called the Coalition to Stop the Madness. But though it would seem that the flock has found domestic tranquility, trouble soon looms as a sniper tries their best to shoot them down during one of their demonstrations. And when the threats stop being just about Max and her flock and starts to target less genetically mutated insanely strong people, she knows they have to do something about it.
To be honest with ya, I’d suggest you don’t read the book’s inside jacket if you’re already a fan of the series, because I think it gives away a couple things that mighta been a bit more surprising otherwise. Actually, I suggest not reading the jacket any time you are already a fan of a series or author. Knowing nothing at all is always best, in my opinion.
So – if you scroll down and see my review of Maximum Ride: The Final Warning, you’ll know that I wasn’t all that thrilled with the last entry in the series… Expectations and hype was high for Book 5, Max, and…
…I don’t know if it lived up to it all that well.
Now before you start thinking I’m turning into a negative reviewer, know that I HEARTILY recommend you read any and all books I review for YOURSELF because we all have different opinions and I hate to think I EVER dissuade someone from reading! If it sounds good to you – READ IT!!!
But continuing on with my opinion, Max certainly was not bad. I thought it was a vast improvement to the rather thinly veiled lecture The Final Warning ended up being. HOWEVER, I feel like the magic that was sprinkled ever so vibrantly over the first three novels in the Maximum Ride series has become nothing more than a couple specks.
It’s almost as if the entire series has taken on a new life, one that I don’t find nearly as appealing. In the first three books, the flock was a tortured bunch of kids you fell in love with. They were funny, sweet… a family made up of kids with wings with no parent to take care of them. It had a slight edge to all the “family-friendliness” and a grittiness that I now believe is lost.
When in the third book it was revealed that Ms. Martinez was Max’s mom, I was disappointed. Why couldn’t she just be a cool ideal mother to Max? Why did she have to end up being her ACTUAL mother? It actually meant less to me, more cookie-cutter, more rushed and too perfect.
It’s not that I don’t like happy endings… but there just weren’t many more places to go after that. The mysteries seem to be closed. There are no more Erasers. No more School. No need to be on the run, to be in hiding.
Now the whole world knows about them? Knows that they have wings?
To me it has just stopped being the series it was before, which just makes me a bit sad.
I still love the first three books (the third not quite as much, I admit) – but book 5 didn’t fix all of these complaints. And to be honest, the global warming lessons weren’t as obvious… but they were still there.
So, all in all I wasn’t that pleased with it. There was good stuff with Angel, some fun stuff when it was just about the flock and not about the bigger plot and some above-average action sequences… but still not up to par, by any means in my mind, to The Angel Experiment, Schools Out – Forever, and Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports.
But like I said – DON’T take me word for it. Read it for yourself. Maybe the magic will still be there for you.
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