Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment Review

This a great book by James Patterson, targeted at young adults or teens.  However, it has appeal for adults as well.  I personally enjoyed it (in my 30's) as did my mother (in her 50's).

It's a great story about a group of very special children who are just trying to get along in the world.  The poor kids were taken as infants and experimented on.  Now they have wings with which they can fly and are discovering new powers every day.  They escaped from the lab where they were held their entire lives and are trying to make a home in the world while running from the madmen who created them.  I don't want to spoil any of the book, so I'll stop here.  It's absolutely a terrific read, fast-paced and entertaining, while carrying the subtle undertone of morality - just because we CAN do something with science, doesn't mean that we SHOULD.

The only problem I have with this book is that quite a lot of it is simply James Patterson plagerizing his own previous stories about some winged children.  If another author had written this book, he'd sue the pants off of them.  The children have very similiar characteristics to those in the previous books "When the Wind Blows" and "The Lake House".  The lead female character has the same name - Max, short for Maximum.  One of the boys is blind, 2 of the children are actual siblings, the age dynamics are similiar, and the blooming sexual tension between the oldest girl and boy are there.  All found in both books.  I wish Mr. Patterson had simply evolved the original story rather than try to start again from the same outline.

Again, it's a good book and I recommend it.  Just be prepared to be a little annoyed if you've read the older Patterson books which are so similiar.