Maximum Ride
Maximum Ride is a series of seven young adult science fiction and fantasy books 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.
Maximum Ride
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Maximum Ride: The Final Warning
MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel
Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel
Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel
Author
James Patterson
In the first three books of the series, the Flock spends much of their time running from human-lupine hybrids created by the School called "Erasers". Book 4 is mainly about the Flock rising against global warming, Book 5 is about saving Dr. Martinez while battling environmental pollution, and Book 6 is about rescuing Fang. The books are sometimes divided into two sets: The Fugitives (books 1–3) and The Protectors (books 4–6). The series shares a few similarities with two of Patterson's previous books, When the Wind Blows and The Lake House.
The series debuted on April 11, 2005, and the most recent installment was published on March 15, 2010. The seventh book is titled Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel and is scheduled to be released on February 14, 2011. Patterson recently announced that the series would end with its currently unnamed eighth book in 2012.
Plot
The first book, The Angel Experiment, focuses around the rescue of Angel, the youngest member of the Flock. The group is safe in the mountains until a pack of Erasers (human-lupine hybrids) appear and kidnap Angel. The Flock must return to the School, where they had once been held and experimented on, to rescue Angel. Max is deeply confused when she finds that Jeb Batchelder, who had rescued them from the School and cared for them before disappearing two years ago, has reappeared as an evil figure, and that his son Ari has become an Eraser. As Max focuses on looking after the Flock and saving Angel, she is puzzled by a Voice in her head saying that her mission is to save the world. The Flock flees to New York City after rescuing Angel from the School, and there they find the Institute for Higher Living, a branch of the School. In the Institute, they break into a laboratory, where Max discovers a computer file that tells the group where they came from. When fleeing the Institute, they are cornered by Ari. Max fights him and accidentally breaks his neck, apparently killing him. After escaping the Erasers, the Flock set out to find their actual parents. A Scottish Terrier named Total is also added to their group.
School's Out – Forever begins with the Flock heading off to look for their parents using papers they found at the Institute for Higher Living. Max is still reeling from Jeb's enigmatic scream over his dying son Ari that she "killed her own brother". On the way, they run into flying Erasers (with patched-on wings), including a resurrected Ari, and Fang suffers injuries bad enough to need treatment at a hospital. FBI agent Anne Walker offers her home for residence while Fang recovers. The Flock agrees, and eventually they are enrolled into a real school. However, the principal works for the Institute and almost traps the Flock at the school. Anne reveals herself as a member of the lab that created the Flock, and seeks to recapture them. Later, Max is kidnapped and replaced with a clone that has her appearance but acts differently. In the end, a fight leaves only the real Max standing. Meanwhile, Max goes out with a boy named Sam, but gets jealous when she spots Fang kissing a girl named Lissa. It is also revealed that Total has the ability to speak.
In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, the Flock must save the world from the Itex Corporation (the company behind the School) and its evil Director, who want to terminate all recombinant species and cut the Earth's population in half. The Erasers have been replaced with the flying, robotic Flyboys. As this is happening, Fang tries to persuade Max to find a permanent home where they can live in peace. Max invites Ari (the last remaining Eraser and Max's brother) to join the group after escaping from the School again, causing Fang, Iggy, and the Gasman to leave the Flock in protest. In the end, Ari dies, the group reunites, and Max discovers that her parents are Jeb Batchelder and Dr. Valencia Martinez, a kindly veterinary surgeon from the first book. She also begins to realize she has feelings for Fang.
In the fourth book, The Final Warning, the Flock flies out of a government meeting set up to decide what is best for them. Later, they go with Max's parents to Antarctica, where a team of scientists needs their assistance. 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 mercenaries. When Angel goes after a baby penguin in the midst of a blizzard, the group is captured and taken to Miami. They defeat the Uber Director in the midst of a hurricane and make 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.
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 travel to Africa to help the people there. They meet Dr. Hans, a former Itex worker, and Dylan, another 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 dies while being experimented on. The Flock rushes to save Fang, and 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.
Characters
1. Maximum Ride
Maximum Ride (Max for short) is 14 years old, and turns 15 in the sixth book. She is the same age as Fang and Iggy, though a bit older, and is the Flock's leader. She is tough, strong, tomboyish, and is not afraid to get dirty. However, she does have a soft spot. In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports she starts to develop feelings for Fang. But she is so confused about her feelings that when he kisses her for the first time, she runs away. She has brown hair and brown eyes, and says she hates pink. She loves and cares for the Flock; she is like a mother to them. In MAX, she and Fang officially become a couple, which continues until his departure in Fang. Max is distraught when he leaves.
Like the rest of the Flock, Max is a skilled fighter and has wings, hollow bones, air sacs, and stronger-than-human lungs. Max weighs under 100 pounds. Her powers include hyper-speed flying (reaching over 200 mph), and, like Angel, she develops gills and can swim in very deep water without ill effects from water pressure. In the first book, Max suffers from violent headaches in which she experiences blurred images, words and events. It is thought that the images from the headaches are meant to show Max what is wrong with the world and how she has to save it. After her first headache, Max begins to hear a Voice in her head. The Voice talks to Max when she least expects or wants it to, but gives helpful advice on how she should save the world, how she should deal with the Flock, and who she should and shouldn't trust.
2. Fang
Fang is 14 years old (15 in Fang). 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 also develops "gills" at the end of MAX. Fang is described as being tall, dark, and handsome. He is somewhat reserved – the strong, silent type – but cares deeply about the Flock.
He runs a blog about the Flock's adventures that proves useful in several books. He has had one romantic relationship. In book 1, Max kisses Fang and Nudge is upset. In School's Out Forever, he is seen kissing the "Red-Haired Wonder," Lissa. He and Max fight, and afterwards they make up. 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 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'd put the others in danger he leaves them all, promising Max that he'll meet her again in 20 years. At the end of Fang, Max opens a file that includes a draft of a letter he had written to her.
3. Iggy
Iggy is 14 (15 in Fang), but younger than Fang and Max. He is the most sarcastic member of the Flock, and has pale skin, strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and a wingspan of over 15 feet. 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. Despite his blindness, the Flock often leave things up to him that require precision or detail, such as cooking or doctoring. He and Gazzy are best friends and have a habit of building bombs out of most anything. Iggy's birth parents are the only ones the Flock has found so far besides Max's. He leaves them to rejoin the Flock because they seem to care more about the money to be made from Iggy's story than about Iggy himself. His parents mention that his birth name is James Griffiths. In the new excerpt for James Patterson's new novel Angel it is said that Ella, Max's half sister, has a crush on him.
4. The Gasman
The Gasman, also called Gazzy or Gaz, is eight years old (nine in Fang). He has a mischievous nature and makes fun of Max sometimes. He has a problem with his digestion, hence the nickname. Iggy is his best friend, and they enjoy building bombs together. He has blond hair and blue eyes like his sister Angel, of whom he is somewhat protective. One of his powers is the ability to make a green 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 and occasionally throw voices. In the early books he is the only one of the Flock who has any evidence of his family. Gazzy has a picture of himself as a baby; the Flock sees it many times accidentally (sometimes not so accidentally), throughout the series.
5. Nudge
Nudge is an 11 year old (12 in Fang) of African descent. She has tan skin, "super curly hair," and large, deep, dark, brown eyes. She loves to constantly chatter. The Flock calls her the Nudge Channel because she is constantly talking, hardly pausing to take a breath. Nudge can hack into computers with her ability to sense leftover emotions and can also draw metal to her by will. Nudge is described as Max's best supporter, the peace-maker, etc. In MAX, Nudge leaves the flock to attend a school because her heart just isn't into saving the world. Not long after she leaves, though, Nudge returns to the Flock, telling them that her taste of a 'normal life' wasn't worth losing them, and how she missed them far too much to stay apart. Nudge also has a huge thing for fashion; in the books she is constantly trying to get more stuff that is "cool". The name her biological parents gave her is "Monique," according to files she hacked into at Itex headquarters.
6. Angel
Angel is six years old (seven in MAX) and is the Gasman's blood sibling. She has blue eyes and curly blond hair. She obtains seemingly random powers at random times, such as the ability to breathe underwater, talk to fish, and read and control minds. She acquires the ability to swim in deep water at pressures that would crush a normal human. She is eventually able to change her appearance into a 'bird of paradise' form. 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. Angel believes that she is the strongest of the Flock, and in Fang she holds a vote, kicking Max temporarily 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. Max describes her in MAX as "two parts sweet little girl, two parts unholy demon, and two parts of something unrecognizable but even scarier."
7. Total
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. In Fang, Total marries Akila, an Alaskan Malamute whom he met in Antarctica. He is shot in the tail in "Max" but is alright. 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. His funny remarks provide the Flock with laughter and smiles, although sometimes he gets on Max's nerves. He is also a notorious licker, which disgusts Fang and Max.
8. Jeb Batchelder
Jeb Batchelder is a brilliant scientist. He used to work at the School where the Flock was experimented on. He rescues the.Flock and brings them to the mountains, where he raises them as his children for two years. 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 at 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. Jeb donated his chromosomes, which were matched with those of Dr. Martinez to create Max.
9. The Erasers
The half-human, half-wolf 'Erasers' were bred by the School to be guards, but their bigger mission later involves hunting down and even killing the members of the Flock. They have the ability to morph into wolves, super-human strength, and eventually gain wings that are crudely grafted onto their shoulderblades. 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.' Erasers 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 in the later novels (after The Angel Experiment).
10. Dylan
Dylan is an 'Avian-American' hybrid who joins the Flock in Fang. He is said to be Max's 'perfect other half,' causing Maximum 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 syringe containing an unknown substance. 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.
11. Dr. Martinez
Max and Ella's biological mother, and a veteranarian. Max first meets her when she recieves medical aid due to a bullet wound in the first novel. Dr. Martinez and Ella are some of the few humans outside of the lab that know about the mutant qualities of Max.
That's it.. That's all the info I got from wiki. wehehehehe. Yeah! I'm totally super ultra lazy. Wahahaha... I'm in love with FANG!!! And if you don't like novels, maximum ride also have the manga version. I have both of then, but not complete. Yeah I'm hunting for it in Indonesia, but it's not complete yet. Lalalalala... Who cares then. After all I love them!!!
Best regards...
JW!
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