Maximum Ride

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Maximum Ride Series

Covers of all the books released in the Maximum Ride series.
Author James Patterson
Country Flag of the United States USA
Flag of the United Kingdom UK
Language English
Series Maximum Ride
Genre(s) Action-Adventure/Fantasy
Publisher Headline[1]
Doubleday[2]
Publication date April 11, 2005 - present
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Maximum Ride is a Science Fiction series written by the award-winning American author, James Patterson, starting from April 19, 2005 and continuing to the present. There are currently four titles in the action-adventure/fantasy series:

Each of the novels in the series has reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.[3]

Contents

[edit] Premise

The main plot follows the adventures of Maximum Ride, more widely known as Max, and her group of human-avian hybrids (known as the flock), who have been the subjects of experiments[4] leaving them 98% human and 2% bird.[5] The flock is constantly being hunted down by Erasers, human-lupine (wolf) hybrids, that were also created at the School, a secret facility in Death Valley, California, "where a bunch of mad scientists fool around with gene splicing and other complex sciences."[5]Upon leaving the School, they settle down in a house in the mountains. After being discovered by the Erasers, Angel, the youngest of the flock, is kidnapped by them. The rest of the flock sets out on a action-packed adventure to get her back. The adventure takes them all over the world, from California[6] to New York[7] in the first novel, to Washington D.C.[8] in the second, to Europe[9] in the third, and Antarctica[10] in the fourth.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of characters in Maximum Ride

[edit] "The Flock"

[edit] Others


[edit] Book summaries

[edit] The Angel Experiment

The Flock begins the book in their Colorado home, originally given to them by Jeb, their genetic altering father who is assumed dead. As the book opens, Angel is kidnapped by Erasers, causing Nudge, Fang, Gazzy (The Gasman), Iggy, and Max to attempt a rescue. They correctly assume she is at the "School," the place where all of the Flock was assumed artificially created, their DNA fused with avian DNA, and raised in cages. Before the book had opened, Jeb (one of the scientists) had taught the Flock how to fly and brought them to freedom, leaving his son Ari behind. While staying behind, Iggy and The Gasman run into trouble with Erasers at home. So they abandon the house and later join up with Nudge, Fang and Max.
While flying to the "School," Max separates from Nudge and Fang to save a girl (Ella Martinez) from local bullies, but gets shot in her wing in the process, rendering her flightless. She has to trust her secret to both the girl and her mother, a veterinarian. Meanwhile, Fang and Nudge wait for Max with hawks overlooking Lake Mead, until finally meeting up with Gassy, Iggy, and Max. Once again united, they continue on with their original mission: to get to the "School" and save Angel.
At the infamous "School," Angel has been subject to cruel tests of her endurance, brainpower, and more. Even worse, she has found out that Jeb isn't dead - he abandoned them to go back to the School as one of her "torturers". Angel questions how much longer she can go on like this and is about to give up when she is finally rescued.
The flock rescues Angel, with a little fight from Erasers, and head to New York City. Max begins to have crushing headaches for no discernible cause except for a mysterious voice in the back of her head, which shows her pictures and tells her cryptic messages. Through the direction of the Voice, the Flock finds the Institute for Higher Living, where Nudge discovers her gift - being able to sense residual memories by touching objects. With Nudge's help, the Flock unlocks a computer at the institute and discovers information about their parents - all except for Max's. Venturing farther into the institute, they find other mutants like themselves whom they set free. One of them is Total, a seemingly normal small black dog,that can jump high into the air who is unofficially adopted by Angel. They are in Mid-flight on their way to Washington, D.C., where they read in secret documents at the institute that their parents were there, as the book closes.

[edit] School's Out Forever

Fang is critically injured on the way to DC by a flying Eraser attack. They have no choice but to go to the hospital, and their secret is discovered. The Flock is questioned by the FBI, and in return for Fang's treatment, Max reluctantly agrees for the Flock to stay with Anne Walker, an agent until Fang recovers. After a few days, Anne enrolls the Flock in a school run by William Pruitt. Fang and Max date people from the school named Lissa and Sam, and Iggy is friends with Tess, another girl. But then Iggy finds his parents and the Flock must say goodbye to him. The day after this happens, Max goes into the teachers lounge, and Pruitt, along with three other teachers pull out tasers. The Flock escapes, but must head back to Anne's house for Total. Iggy rejoins the Flock at this point, saying his family treated him like a sideshow act. They head to Florida, on the way discovering the School is run by a large corporation named Itex. In Florida, Max is kidnapped and put in a sensory deprivation tank and is replaced by Max II, an evil identical of her. The new Max leads the Flock into a trap at Itex's main branch, while the original Max eventually gets out of the tank. The original Max finds her way to Itex and engages in a battle to the death with Max II. Max wins, but chooses not to kill Max II. The Flock then escapes by way of one of Iggy and Gazzy's explosives.

[edit] Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

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All the Erasers have been terminated and replaced by robotic flying erasers, or Flyboys. The Flyboys capture everyone except Max and Fang who are trying to get Max's microchip out at Ella Martinez's house in Arizona. When Fang and Max are far away from the Flock, they sit by the fire and Fang listens to Max worry about the future. Fang helps Max to "change her mind" by kissing her and then she throws herself off a cliff, flying away to a nearby tree. Fang gets mad and reveals how much he loves Max to himself. Then, Fang and Max set out to rescue the rest of the Flock but end up getting captured themselves. They are taken to the School, where Angel appears to have betrayed them. After a short stay at the School, they are rescued by Ari, the sole eraser to survive replacement by a Flyboy, who frees them and Angel from the School. In return, Max offers Ari a place in the Flock, causing a rift. Angry with Max, Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy go off on their own. Fang's Flock heads to Los Angeles where they try to put out a special edition of People magazine about Itex, but the plan fails because Fang threatens a man. Soon after, Fang uses a gun to fight Flyboys. Meanwhile, Max's Flock heads to Europe to destroy Itex world headquarters. Max's Flock is captured by Flyboys, however and taken to the dungeons in Itex world headquarters in Germany. It is here Max discovers that the Voice is none other than Jeb Batchelder, a scientist from the School who had helped them escape when they were first there as young children. Max also is told that the evil director of Itex, Marian Jannsen, is her mother. Her mother is actually Dr. Martinez, along with Jeb Batchelder as her father and Ari as her half-brother. Meanwhile, in LA, Fang's Flock only gets the word out about Itex through Fang's blog, which was started in book 2. They receive a message requesting help from Max, and agree to come to Germany. Before they can get there,however, Max must fight Omega, Itex's version of the perfect human, to the death. Max struggles but with some advice from Jeb and mass chaos caused by Angel's mind-controlling and youths who have read Fang's blog.Finally, Max defeats Omega and returns home to the USA. Ari dies in Max's arms in keeping with his expiration date. At the end of the book, the Flock reunites and promises to never break apart again.

[edit] The Final Warning

The flock attend Ari's funeral, just after a new breed of Flyboy attacks the cabin they were thought to be living in. The flock are led by Dr Martinez, who is now called Mom by Max, and Jeb to Washington where they are offered a comfortable life and an education in return for aid from the flock to the government. Fang tries to kiss Max again. Max barely recognizes her subconscious love for Fang before she flies off the near by dock away from Fang. Max refuses the government offer and facility and they leave Washington. The flock members have also begun to mutate on their own, or without the abilities programmed in. Angel develops a shape-changing skill, Nudge develops magnetism, Fang develops the ability to disappear, and Iggy finds he knows what colour things are by touching them. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the new breed of Flyboy, who are lumpy and misshapen, were created by a cybernetic man called the Uber-Director, or UD by Max. The head lieutenant is a powerful new Flyboy called Gozen. Dr Martinez takes the flock to meet a woman named Brigid Dwyer, who offers them a comfortable life for nothing. Max doesn't believe her and asks her to show her what the flock would have to do. They are offered a place on a research ship which is on its way to the Antarctic, the flock accept and are soon on the bottom of the world. When they get there, two new, very unexpected skills develop. Iggy begins to see, but soon realizes he can only see things if they are surrounded by white, and Total grows wings. During the trip, Max becomes paranoid when she finds Brigid and Fang getting closer. Fang confronts Max's emotional behavior telling her they will always have a "thing", that she knows that and nothing is going to change it. A member of the research ship is attacked by a Leopard Seal and killed. The flock discovers that she was a spy sending information from the vessel. Angel goes off with Total and the love of his life, Akila, a Malamute brought along on the Antarctic expedition. Angel falls down a crevasse but is soon rescued by Fang and Max, who are in turn captured by Gozen. The rest of the flock was also captured and they are taken to Miami, which has been evacuated because of a Level 5 hurricane that is about to hit. They meet the Uber-Director (or "UD"), who attempts to auction them off to worldwide bidders, but the building they are in is destroyed by a category four hurricane. Gozen and the UD are both destroyed, but the rest of the Flock survive, along with Akila. The ending consists of Max standing before Congress in Washington, D.C. pleading for the planet to change its ways. The flock is given a comfy life and a School dedicated to them. Max complained that School was the wrong word to pick, but before the flock can even enjoy it, the voice inside Max's head speaks up and tells them that their mission is not over. The book ends with the Flock launching into the sky, with Max saying they can face any challenge that they come across.

[edit] Unknown Fifth Book

Little is known about this book, but it was confirmed that a fifth Maximum Ride book will be released on March 16, 2009. A synopsis was recently released on www.chapters.indigo.ca . "Maximum Ride and the other members of the Flock have barely recovered from their last arctic adventure, when they are confronted by the most frightening catastrophe yet. Millions of fish are dying off the coast of Hawaii and someone--or "something"--is destroying hundreds of ships. Unable to discover the cause, the government enlists the Flock to help them get to the bottom of the disaster before it is too late. While Max and her team are exploring the depths of the ocean, their every move is being carefully tracked by Mr. Chu--a criminal mastermind with his own plans for the Flock. Can they protect themselves from Mr. Chu's army of mercenaries and save the ocean from utter destruction?" This summary may not be acurate. [11]

[edit] Media

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack was used as a promotional tool, before the release of School's Out Forever on August 14, 2006[12] and included (singer/songwriter) Holly Brook, (pop singer) Marcos Hernandez and (pop punk band) The Summer Obsession to name but a few.

Track No. Track Name Artist
01 Death Said The Summer Obsession
02 What I Wouldn't Give Holly Brook
03 Shaky Cipes and the People
04 Underneath My Skin Brian Steen
05 Disappear The Summer Obsession
06 Wanted Holly Brook
07 The Way I Do Marcos Hernandez
08 Where Do We Go From Here Cooper
09 Golden Days Kelly Dalton
10 Take It From Me The Weepies
11 Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment: Special Excerpt -
12 Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever: Special Excerpt -

[edit] Manga

Illustrated by Narae Lee and licensed by Yen Press, the first chapter is set to come out July 2008 in the magazine Yen PLUS. A free 22-page preview was released on Free Comic Book Day (May 3, 2008).[13]

[edit] Film

In January 2007 it was announced that a film would be created based on the Maximum Ride series. The producer will be Avi Arad, one of the producers of Spider-Man, X-Men and other Marvel movies. [14] In an interview with James Patterson, it was revealed Arad has already planned out the first two movies.[15] The release date of the movie is likely to be between 2010-2012.[16]

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Angel Experiment at Amazon.co.uk
  2. ^ The Last Global Warming Warning at Amazon.co.uk
  3. ^ Laura B. Weiss. "James Patterson Talks about Writing for Kids", School Library Journal, 2006-05-31. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. 
  4. ^ MR:1, Prologue, Pg.1
  5. ^ a b MR:1, Prologue, Pg.2
  6. ^ MR:1, Ch.10, Pg.32
  7. ^ MR:1, Ch.70, Pg.213
  8. ^ MR:2, Ch.59, Pg.167
  9. ^ MR:3, Ch.63, Pg.185
  10. ^ MR:4, Ch.29, Pg.100
  11. ^ http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Maximum-Ride-5-James-Patterson/9780316037594-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%2527Maximum+Ride%2527
  12. ^ School's Out Forever at Amazon.co.uk
  13. ^ http://manga.about.com/b/2008/04/10/first-look-james-pattersons-maximum-ride-manga.htm
  14. ^ http://www.maximumride.co.uk/film.php Maximum Ride - The Film
  15. ^ http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_max.html
  16. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117969291.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1

[edit] External links