Fang (A Maximum Ride Novel) by James Patterson

I just read the newest installment of the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson. For those who have not read these books, this is a Young Adult series about a group of kids who were experimented on by evil genetic engineering scientists who basically combined human DNA with bird DNA to create people with wings and some other cool stuff like super strength and speed. (whew! how's that for a run-on sentence??) Max is the leader of the family of bird-kids and throughout the series they are constantly on the run and fighting their way out of disasters. It's pretty exciting and full of action. In the last couple books there was a bit of a love connection between Max (who is in fact a girl) and Fang (the tall, dark, and handsome guy in the flock) and this book really focuses on that connection. In the beginning of the story the youngest sister Angel (she has some special powers including mind reading and some kind of future telling ability) predicts that Fang will be the first of all of them to die and he will die soon. dun dun dun... Max is really upset to say the least. She meets this crazy doctor who wants to save humanity from an upcoming apocalypse by giving people superhuman abilities with a drug that he tests on human children. He wants Max to join forces with him, which she clearly refuses. This guy has a hard time accepting 'no' for an answer so Max and the flock go into hiding for a bit. The story focuses in more on the Max and Fang relationship and the flock decides that Max should no longer be the leader because she's too distracted. She's basically banished and Fang comes with her. They go to Las Vegas together and are confronted by the evil doctor again. They hear on the tv that the rest of the flock is in trouble and they go to the rescue. I'm going to cut the details and just say that there's more fighting and trauma where Fang's life is in serious jeopardy. Even though I found this book to be fairly predictable and very similar to the other books in the series, I definitely teared up at the end. Oh I forgot to mention that the love connection between Max and Fang is strained by the addition of a new character who was genetically designed to be Max's perfect other half. He's perfectly charming and tries to win over Max. He doesn't really succeed by the end of the book but I have a feeling he'll be a consistent character in any upcoming books.

I really really enjoy the Maximum Ride books; all of them. This one followed suit with the others and was fairly predictable, but I feel like each book is a single episode of a television series that I love, like LOST or Heroes or something. I only wish that these books were a little longer, a little more complex. I read Fang in a single afternoon/evening. Started around 4 pm and finished by bedtime at 10:30 pm. Probably could have finished it sooner without dinner, bathroom, or internet breaks. My point is that I read the book quick and I wanted more. Definitely a fun read but it ended too quickly, like all the rest of the Maximum Ride books.

4 out of 5 stars