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The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride #1)

by James Patterson (Goodreads Author)

4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 · rating details · 89,123 ratings · 5,802 reviews

From the bestselling author James Patterson comes the stunning, breathtaking start to the blockbuster series! Six unforgettable kids—with no families, no homes—are running for their lives. Max Ride and her best friends have the ability to fly. And that's just the beginning of their amazing powers. But they don't know where they come from, who's hunting them, why they are d...more

Mass Market Paperback, First Edition, 413 pages

Published May 1st 2006 by Warner Vision Books (first published April 11th 2005)

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Oct 09, 2012 Jenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: yafiction, science-fiction

OK. I thought this was going to be a lame cheese fest. I mean, James Patterson? I know kids seem to like the series OK, and even a couple adults have recommended it to me. But I figured it wasn't my bag.
I'm not sure why. Genetically engineered mutant kids with wings escaping from evil scientists and fighting super strong werewolf-like soldiers. What's not to like? I couldn't put it down. Fast paced, exciting, kind of horrifying and a lot better written than I expected. I'm totally reading the n...more

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Oct 03, 2009 Angelc rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was okay, but I just felt like it didn't have a lot of substance. I didn't really take anything away from it, almost like it didn't have a lot of deep meaning. And it wasn't terribly entertaining, either. I just would have liked the characters to be a little deeper, I guess. I doubt I will read the rest of the series.

Reviewed for: http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com/

like 38 likes · see review

Jan 31, 2008 Denae rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: the rebellious at heart

Shelves: sci-fi, favorites, have-read-aloud, fantasy-present-day, thrice-or-more, 1st-person-narrative

Max is a sarcastic and tough teen with amazing wings. She's leader of her flock of bird kids, and they work hard to stay away from the troublesome adult scientists. Max struggles to keep her flock together, discover her destiny, and save the world while she's at it.
Finding their parents would be a nice bonus, too, if only the whitcoats would stop trying to kill them.

like 13 likes · see review

Jul 04, 2007 Allison rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books_id_recommend_to_anyone

Take a bit of the child-like innocence vs. evil of Harry Potter, some of the artificially-created destiny from Ender's Game, throw in the flying fantasies from Eragon and mix them in with Patterson's trademark flippant characterization, and you've got Maximum Ride.

This is the book I'm going to recommend when everyone's recovering from the end of Harry Potter later this month. Really. It's that good. And the best part is there are two more books after this one. There's already a waiting list for...more

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Aug 12, 2008 Joe rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: individuals with a high tolerance for bad writing

Shelves: borrowed-library, middle-school-ya

Now this is a terrible book.

Written with all the wit and grace of a one-legged puppy, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment reveals its intentions within the first chapter alone. This is not a book of striking prose or even serviceable but entertaining MOR lit. It is merely a cash cow, another mindless series designed to appeal to reluctant readers. It is, in a word, soulless.

Maximum Ride follows the adventures of six children, each of whom is the product of a genetic experiment: they are 98% human...more

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Jun 27, 2007 Jane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy fans twelve years and up

One of my students recommended this book, and while I was intrigued by the premise, and the fact that the protagonist is a female action hero, I found the dialogue beyond basic (only an adult would imagine that kids really communicate like this) and the plot was a liitle repetitious. it's part of a trilogy - but I don't care enough about these characters to read more.

like 14 likes · see review

Sep 14, 2008 Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, sci-fi, superpowers

- I need to go on a re-reviewing spree soon. Gosh, my old review made me sound like a huge idiot. YAY. This will be fun. -

like 10 likes · see review

Jan 22, 2009 Violet rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, sci-fi, mystery, 5-stars

I love this book. It was exciting, funny, interesting, and original. I really really love it.

This book really should have been two books. One for the part with them saving Angel and one for the part where they're in New York. I think it might have been better that way. Give readers a little break before more excitement. It would make James Patterson (the author) more money. But then again, it was kind of cool not to have to wait for the next book.

After reading the first book I really only have o...more I love this book. It was exciting, funny, interesting, and original. I really really love it.

This book really should have been two books. One for the part with them saving Angel and one for the part where they're in New York. I think it might have been better that way. Give readers a little break before more excitement. It would make James Patterson (the author) more money. But then again, it was kind of cool not to have to wait for the next book.

After reading the first book I really only have one question: Does the government know about the School? If so, are they government funded? They never really touched on that. I wonder...........

I love Max's charater. She is so witty and funny, yet so caring and loving, yet so angry and violent. I love her. I couldn't come up with a better charater myself.

This book made me think about animal testing, what with them being in cages and being experimented on. The point of veiw of Angel inside the School is really like an animal's point of veiw in a lab. That got me thinking. Do animals feel the same way as Angel did in a cage and being experimented on? Should we be testing on animals in the first place?

Then I thought about testing on mice. Mice are okay to test on, right? I mean they have short lives and reproduce very fast. They're not like humans. They're expendable, right? Wait! I bet some would say the same thing about testing on humans. There's a lot of them in the world. They should be expendable, too, right? God, I'm starting to think that all animal testing is bad, no matter the animal. But how can we test our medicine if we don't have animal testing? How do we learn about science and living things if we don't test on animals? I mean in the future we might be able to not test on animals, but now I think we NEED to do animal testing, to advance the human race.

So for all those animal testing scientists, you have my permission to do animal testing only if you do one thing: treat the animals kindly and treat them as if they were humans because one day they might as well be.

So anyway back to the book, I love it!!!! It would be so cool to have wings, but if I had to go through what they went through, I wouldn't want to have wings. Anyway, I love this book and I can't wait to read the more. =)(less)

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Aug 24, 2012 luhvBOOKS ♫ I'm fighting for you ♫ ♪The battle is already won♪ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Title: The Angel Experiment

Author: James Patterson

Series: Maximum Ride #1

Rating: ★★★★★

Summary: In James Patterson's blockbuster series, fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time...like when Angel,...more

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Feb 15, 2010 April rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

Maximum Ride is not an ordinary teenage girl. She and her 'siblings' are part of a governmental genetic experiment. Max is part human, part bird, and a whole lot of attitude. Anyways, for the majority of the book, Max and her 'flock' are on the run from the government and these bad guys called erasers, which is really a synonym for werewolf.
Read the rest of my review here

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Aug 29, 2012 Kat (Le Pauvre Cœur) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amazing-love-interest, cool-heroine, cute-as-a-kitten, surprised-me-like-a-slap-in-my-face, unique, sucky-writing, guilty-pleasure

Six kids. Max, Fang, Angel, Nudge, Iggy, and the Gasman. All mutants who had escaped from the School, a lab full of insane scientists, many years ago. But they've been found again, and one of their flock, the young Angel, was kidnapped.
And they'll do anything to get her back.
Thus begins a whirlwind of action, adventure, discovering new things, violence, pain, and secrets. But all of this leads Max back to one thing: She has to save the world.

The writing style irritated me at first, but it got...more

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Feb 27, 2010 Hope rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone with any sense of humor or adventure.

Recommended to Hope by: Jensen Schlabach

Shelves: reviewed, recommended-to-me, 2010-reads, sci-fi, young-adult, laugh-out-loud-funny-in-places

The only reason this book doesn't get five stars from me is because I'm so confused by some things. But I liked it A LOT. A lot a lot.

First, I didn't feel like it really went anywhere. It's like you can tell it's trying to go somewhere but it's not really doing it.
Basically, this book was just full of the flock running, getting caught, running, getting beat up, running, getting chased by the cops, running... Over and over. After a while it was kind of predictable (not to mention painful). It t...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Jennifer Carafa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The book is about a group of 6 kids who are pretty normal except they are 98% human and 2% bird! They have wings, can fly, and also posses super-human talents. They were created at a place called the “School”. They lived there as experiments until Jeb, a human scientist set them free. Each member of this group has been created with super-human abilities like great speed, strength, physic powers, and flight.
Angel, the youngest who is telepathic and can breathe underwater, is kidnapped by Erasers...more The book is about a group of 6 kids who are pretty normal except they are 98% human and 2% bird! They have wings, can fly, and also posses super-human talents. They were created at a place called the “School”. They lived there as experiments until Jeb, a human scientist set them free. Each member of this group has been created with super-human abilities like great speed, strength, physic powers, and flight.
Angel, the youngest who is telepathic and can breathe underwater, is kidnapped by Erasers. Erasers are part human and part wolf and were also created at the School. The head of the Erasers is a kid name Ari. Max sets off to save Angel and on the way she see a girl getting bullied so she goes to help her and ends up getting shot in her wing. The girl, Ella, convinces Max to come home with her and she does. Ella’s mom, Dr. Martinez helps Max and takes her to hospital to get help. There they discover that Max has a tracer in her arm that cannot be removed.
When Max meets up with the rest of the flock they start to travel to the school again and end up getting attacked by the Erasers. The erasers kidnap all of them except but Iggy and Gazzy. Max is brought back to the school and finds Jeb there where he discovers he was created to save the world. Finally Iggy and Gazzy show up with a flock of hawks and escape from the school. They discover another place called the Institute that knows about the flock and that they might have parents. Max begins to get very sick and has head pains. She can’t move, talk nor walk.
Again the Erasers show up and Jeb is there. He tells Max that she needs to save the world and demands all the Erasers to leave. Max goes into the Institute and discovers that everyone of the Flock has a real name, parents. He prints out the list and realizes everyone lived near Washington, D.C.. They decide to head to D.C. but Ari tries to stop them. Max and Ari fight and then they hear a crack. Ari has broken his neck and dies. Jeb yells to Max, “you killed your own brother!”
The Flock finally heads to D.C. and takes a dog from the institute, Total, with them.

Strengths (including reviews and awards):
James Patterson is an amazing author who was recently named “The Mand Who Can’t Miss” by Times Magazine.
He was the creator of the #1 new detective series of the past 5 years
Maximum Ride series spent 20 weeks on the New York Timess best sellers lists and 14 of them were at #1.

The main character is a girl who is powerful & strong, and it’s a horror & science fiction book which can help get girls involved!

Drawbacks or other cautions:
It seemed a little too impossible the way the characters super-human talents showed up right when they needed them. There was a lot going on throughout the book and then the ending ended very abruptly. I didn’t like the ending at all… but I’ll have to read the next series.
(less)

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Dec 06, 2007 Iris rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is my first James Patterson, so I'm not entirely sure about his writing style, but I guess the way he's written this book was as if it was the protagonist. Patterson writes in the voice of the girl hero Maximum Ride, and ends mostly with small cliffhangers, which compels the readers to continue reading. (I couldn't really put it down; I kept wanting to find out what happened to the characters.)
Patterson didn't only place small cliffhangers at the end of the chapters, he added a huge one for...more

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Mar 07, 2009 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, bookcrossing, kids-of-most-ages, vampires-ghosts-and-other-creatures, thank-you-charleston-county-library, wnt-to-wean-grandkids-from-sparklly

Years ago, I read a James Patterson book called When the Wind Blows. It was about a "school" where human dna was combined with various animals. The story followed the bird kids and their human friends and enemies. This book takes up on that theme, though is aimed at a young crowd. Patterson wrote the whole Maximum Ride series for his son Jack, and there's now a cult like following on the internet.

This is the first in the series (all of which I have now read, and I've gone back to read the origi...more

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Oct 21, 2011 Jared Vincent Lacaran rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no-one

Shelves: gave-up-on, books-that-i-fucking-hate

this is a really terrible book. it's even worse than the whole twilight and eragon series combined together. the plot is extremely obnoxious, it features cardboard characters, and it has awfully absurd twists. it's dialogues are really horrible, like n old man trying very hard to sound young. this book is very,very,very badly written. a 12 years old could probably do better. the battle scenes, if you could call them that, are also poorly written and not realistic. not even in the least. this boo...more

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Apr 08, 2008 Shirley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Summary: Genetically engineered Max and her friends are 98% human and 2% bird. An adventure story about young adults struggling to survive and discovering whom they are and why they were created along the way.

Personal Response: A very fun and engaging book. I do not know of anyone that has not dreamed they could fly. The characters are enjoyable and the special bond they have with each other and feel they're longing to belong to a family engages you. The characters make the reader think about wh...more

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Jan 18, 2008 Ismael guerra rated it 5 of 5 stars

this book is such a great book, i really enjoyed reading this book. there is not a single moment when your not at the edge of your chair when reading this book. all it deals of is a flock of kids who were subjects of experiments but when they escape they left part human part avian. this book is filled with non-stop action and thrills as the flock struggle for survival against erasers, group of half human half canine hunters, who threaten their very existence. this book is one of my favorites and...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-suspense, sci-fi, young-adult

This is one of those books that is aimed at an audience younger than I prefer to read. I'm disappointed because I'd heard so many recommendations about this series. But, after reading this one, I can tell you I won't be giving the rest a try. Basically, from the beginning, the author didn't make the kids believable. Then, you throw in ridiculous oversights like the fact that no one ever saw them out flying around except when it was intentionally revealed or the fact that these kids, who were she...more

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Dec 20, 2008 Sella Thorne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Whoa!!! This book is sooo good. It's really, really, REALLY fast-paced and action-packed. Even the very first chapter throws you headfirst into straight-on action. It's a very easy read, with short chapters that flow right into the other with cliffhangers. It's not something you can start/stop reading; once you start, there's no turning bag. You're dragged into the story from the very first page, willingly or not, and nothing can tear you from the book- only forceful things, like school, homewor...more

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Oct 29, 2008 Ryan Mclaughlin rated it 3 of 5 stars

In truth, I felt this was a 2-star. I awarded it a third because if I'd read it at the age it was intended for (JuvFic), I probably would have liked it a bit more. Just a bit.

Max and the rest of her flock are mutant humans crossed with bird genes that were freed from their vile laboratory prison (the School) by a sympathizer within the science community. They manage to scratch out a life away from prying eyes until Angel, youngest of the flock, is captured by human-dog mutants that work for the...more

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Oct 18, 2008 pipkinie added it

Tehehe i just finished it yesterday, an awsome adventure and i can't wait to read the other books!

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Oct 22, 2008 Tommy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great Book

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Oct 07, 2008 Elisa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: must-reads, maximum-ride

This was my favorite book series so far. It's about a fourteen year old girl who has wings and grows up in a lab. She and her "flock" (AKA family) escape from the lab.

like 6 likes · see review

Feb 27, 2008 Mohammed rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this book is a great book it is very good a girl in my school who didnt like to read at all got instantly hooked on it and know i cant get her off

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Oct 16, 2008 Chris added it Recommends it for: chris

Recommended to Chris by: yes

the girl can fiy.

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Jan 17, 2011 Sean added it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 24, 2013 Annika rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson was the kind of book for me that I just could not put down! Six mutant bird kids are running from getting hunted down by the dreaded "school". (Am not giving any spoilers!) You never know when an eraser might pop up, (Again, no spoilers!) or when a character might develop a new skill. Six kids, all sticking together, life always being a fight to the death for them. If you can even call being a mutant outcast a life...

You might describe the story plot as a...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Izzy99 ~* The Pirate Princess *~ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: maximum-ride, awesomest-books-ever-read, favorites, girl-heros

Loved at the minute I read the first page and couldn't get enough!

This book is in the first person view of a 14-year-old girl named Maximum Ride. There are five other main characters: Iggy, The Gasman, Angel, Nudge, and Fang. Here's a twist: They aren't normal kids. They're all 2% avian.

The book has to main conflicts. In part 1 and 2, it's rescuing Angel. In parts 3 and 4, it's finding out more about their parents. The book takes place in the US, mostly in California and New York.

The book's st...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Cecilia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have one word for this amazing book, OHSOFAMVABTABULOS! (if you put space it turns out to be- OH SO FAM VAB TABULOS!) not just that but also it was soooooo hard to put down, I love FANG! i'm not to sure about Angel.

***SPOLIER***

the way she got that old lady to buy her Celeste, and the way she got Ari to give celeste back to her. I like Iggy he's interesting, the way he senses and see's things before the rest of the flock does. Nudge, Nudge is the cutest and the best thing ever! I think the ga...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
who loves fang?	18	26	May 16, 2013 10:35pm
What is your all time favourite moment from the Maximum Ride series?	3	11	May 16, 2013 10:34pm
Best Flock Member?	48	110	May 16, 2013 11:33am
Keep Calm And Rea...: Maximum Ride Movie	1	1	May 11, 2013 03:51pm
Movie cast for Maximum Ride	6	54	May 07, 2013 03:34am
Help?	3	30	Apr 27, 2013 08:35pm
The YA Book Club: Team Fang or Team Dylan	52	133	Apr 27, 2013 11:54am

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About James Patterson

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The subject of a Time magazine feature called, "The Man Who Can't Miss," James Patterson is the bestselling author of the past year, bar none, with more than 16 million books sold in North America alone. In 2007, one of every fifteen hardcover fiction books sold was a Patterson title. In the past three years, James has sold more books than any other author (according...more

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Trivia About The Angel Experiment

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Quotes from The Angel Experiment

“Fang: 'Man, You weigh a freaking ton! What have you been eating, rocks?'
Max: 'Why, is your head missing some?” — 1,399 people liked it

“Yes!” said Fang, punching the air. “Freaks rule.” — 1,125 people liked it

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The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride #1)

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