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The Final Warning (Maximum Ride #4)

by James Patterson (Goodreads Author)

3.81 · rating details · 19,112 ratings · 1,479 reviews

Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride and the other members of the "Flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly.

Max returns in book 4 of the series in a chilling adventure unlike any other. Safe havens for the six highly-sought-after winged kids have become increasingly hard to find-so the flock takes refug...more

Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages

Published February 1st 2009 by Grand Central Publishing (first published March 17th 2008)

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Nov 15, 2011

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* rated it

· review of another edition

*Editing this review a bit so it's not so lacking in punctuation and whatnot. Gosh, reading it makes my eyes bleed. I'm sorry I used to be such a troll.*

So, I remember the lovely morning I got this book. It was on Easter, and my parents gave it to me. And I was all like, "GOSH GOLLY, THANKS MOM AND DAD!" Because at the time, I was a hardcore Maximum Ride fan and I'd been eagerly awaiting this day to have the fourth book in my hands.

The first thing I noticed about i...more*Editing this review a bit so it's not so lacking in punctuation and whatnot. Gosh, reading it makes my eyes bleed. I'm sorry I used to be such a troll.*

So, I remember the lovely morning I got this book. It was on Easter, and my parents gave it to me. And I was all like, "GOSH GOLLY, THANKS MOM AND DAD!" Because at the time, I was a hardcore Maximum Ride fan and I'd been eagerly awaiting this day to have the fourth book in my hands.

The first thing I noticed about it was that it was disappointingly ... small. While the first three books had been 400+ pages or so, this one was like less than 300. And in James Patterson pages, that's like 50 pages––considering the large font and ADHD chapters that only last for half a page. But I figured ... Oh, well. It was Maximum Ride. It was sure to be awesome ... right?

Well, I read the book in one sitting. And when I finished it, I wanted to throw it across the room and scream. Basically, nothing important happened throughout this entire book. It was one of those books where I stared at the last page for a really long time and then finally said to myself, "That's it?!"

At the time, I was sorely disappointed. But in retrospect, and after seeing how the books only got worse and worse (although maybe none of them quite as bad as this one), I shouldn't have been all that surprised. When I read the first few books, I had no idea who James Patterson was. As I got older, I learned that he is ... well ... not the best person in the world. He pretty much makes a ton of money by cranking out random ideas and then making poor little ghostwriters write his books for him. I'm fairly certain that more than one person wrote this series, based on its schizophrenic nature––the fact that almost none of the plot lines are ever resolved, and the characters' personalities gradually disappear as the series progresses.

That said, I thought the first few books were not so bad. They were at least action-packed and I actually cared about the characters. Around the third book I started to realize that nothing made sense and that the author was just throwing plot twists in our faces and then never explaining them.

I pretty much still stand by what I said in my original review for this book: "I thought the third book was okay--Max & co. saving the world from some evil company trying to take over the world? A little cliché, but tolerable. But then Max & co. going to Antarctica to study cute fuzzy penguins and then preaching to Congress about global warming???!!! WHAT???!!! Did some global warming research foundation pay James Patterson or something, because I am completely confused!!!"

Really, the sudden change in pace and ... well, the plot in general ... is just completely jarring. I understand that the fourth book is supposedly the first in some kind of sub-series. But even so, it just doesn't make sense. Why would a bunch of scientists genetically alter a bunch of children to "save the world" and then make them go take care of penguins? Why would they even need freaking wings in order to do that?

I could go on and on about the flaws in this series, but if you read my reviews for books 5 and onward, I think I've done enough of that already ...(less)

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May 15, 2008

Jessica rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult

P-U, people! Now, I try to be nice in my Goodread-reviewing, really I do. Books I didn't like usually just disappear from my list, unless the author is dead (like Steinbeck), lest I spread bad feelings amongst the authorly community.

But Patterson must be stopped!

And since he doesn't even write these books, I feel the need to call attention to what his "co-writer" is doing.

That is: churning out one of the WORST BOOKS I've read this year!

...more

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Apr 04, 2008

Karin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-reads

The release of a sequel is an anticipated event, especially if the sequel is written by a wildly-popular, best-selling author like James Patterson. Approximately 4.8 million copies have been sold of the previous three books in the Maximum Ride series, so hopes were high that Final Warning, the new installment, would be just as entertaining. When a sequel fails to live up to the standards of the previous books in the series, readers feel let down.

There are three issues that affect t...more

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Aug 25, 2008

Patrick rated it

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Shelves: young-adult

AAAAAAAhhhhhh!! This series is fun. The first three books are an action-packed fun adventure with decent characters. There are plot holes, but the point is believable teenage angst in the midst of constant danger. This 4th book has some good parts involving the characters dealing with adults' expectations of them. But it is also a full-on, boring, crappy, global warming propaganda pamphlet with some random bad guy thrown in out of nowhere and an extra bad hurricane--due to global warming of c...more

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Mar 19, 2008

Stephanie rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: readers of the previous books

Shelves: fiction

Ok, the humor was still there. The book was funny. Thin. But funny.

*SPOILERS BEGIN*
I completely felt the ending was horrible. It was a disappointment. It was like Patterson was attempting to write the book, but wasn't done yet, and had forgotten to put in most of the excitement. I was also angry at the sorely lacking Max/Fang scenes. Sure we had a kiss and a mention every other chapter, but there was nothing sturdy. Even the ending, it ends with them going off on another missio...more

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Apr 17, 2008

Leela rated it

· review of another edition

Quite a disapointment, compared to the other three books. It's about a third of the size, and is not nearly as good as the others. Where is the HEART POUNDING ACTION? The WITTY SARCASTIC HUMOR? The SUSPENSE that makes you wanna CRY everytime you are forced to put the book down.
I've heard rumors that there are going to be 5 books of this series, and I can only hope the others are much much much better.

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Apr 04, 2009

Sella Thorne rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: NO ONE. Unless you're either a) insane, b) enjoy headaches, or c) obsessed with global warming.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Eew. This book sucked SOOO BAD. James Patterson seems to have a talent for making every next book in this series worse than the one before. I declare the Maximum Ride series as now officially RUINED. This book was boring, full of lecturing global warming yapper (all of which I already KNOW) and lacking any adventure. There were no action-packed chase scenes, no thrilling fights that Maximum Ride used to always be full of. Instead, the MCs are stuck in Antarctica - of all places - trying to help ...moreEew. This book sucked SOOO BAD. James Patterson seems to have a talent for making every next book in this series worse than the one before. I declare the Maximum Ride series as now officially RUINED. This book was boring, full of lecturing global warming yapper (all of which I already KNOW) and lacking any adventure. There were no action-packed chase scenes, no thrilling fights that Maximum Ride used to always be full of. Instead, the MCs are stuck in Antarctica - of all places - trying to help stop the climate change. Wow. How exciting. NOT.

As for the conflicts of the story- there are basically none left. There are no true, great villains anymore. Now that Ari is dead, the "bad guys" are ceasing to be complex. Now, what Max and the flock are fighting against are lacking-depth, two-dimensional, robotic, "evil" freaks who go "Mwa ha ha I'm going to kill you and take over the world! GRR!!" Ugh.

It's not only the plot that has totally flumped in this book. The characters, I deeply regret to say, are dying. The flock used to be the reason I loved the M.R. series- their personalities were so complex and awesome, and they were so fun to watch. Especially Max. She used to be such a great narrator- her voice had been great and strong, and she used to be tough, funny, sarcastic, cynical, and kick-butting. Now there's no Max anymore, but a completely different person stuck in her body. She's turned into this weak, lovestruck, mopey, pathetic softie who falls for anything and does what anyone tells her to. I mean, come ON! Where has the totally cool Max gone? And who is this new freak?

James Patterson has taken the whole "special human" thing WAY too far. The flock members are getting WAY to many new powers. Wasn't it ENOUGH when Angel got to read minds, breathe underwater, CONTROL other people's minds, AND talk to fish? Now she has to change her appearance too? And noooo, Nudge can't just be able to tell what people have done when she touches things. She has to all of a sudden become magnetic. WALLAH- suddenly Iggy can feel color. (???) AND- heck- he can see sometimes, too! Gee. And of course, it's NOT gross enough that Gazzy farts all the time- NOW his farts have to have COLOR. Gross. Oh, and of course, who could forget Fang? Heavens no, he HAS to be able to turn invisible too. Who would have guessed? Ugh. I don't see how Patterson can still explain all these fantasy-cal powers with SCIENCE. It's not science anymore, okay? It's now officially magic. You killed science two books ago.

Not to mention the fact that Total now has wings. (WTF??) And, apparently, the Voice isn't Jeb anymore. Huh. In my opinion, Patterson changed his mind and decided he didn't want it to be Jeb anymore, and know he has no idea who the Voice is going to be, so he's just going to brush it off and pretend it can just be some mysterious thing that we don't know about. Jeez. Like everything else in the M.R. series, it's not thought-out at all.

Want to know another thing that's not thought out at all? The color of Max's hair. Okay, I am SO confused about this, it's not even funny. In the first book, she's described as having dark blonde hair. Then, somewhere in the second book, she's described as having LIGHT blonde hair. THEN, in this book, she's described with BROWN hair! O.M.G.!!! Make up your mind, Patterson. What the heck is her hair color?!?! It's really bugging me.

Anyways...*looong sigh* Maximum Ride has managed to give me yet ANOTHER huge headache. The books have never failed to make me feel like bashing me head against the wall and dumping the stupid pages in the toilet. Urgh. I wonder how James Patterson can possibly make the 5th book worse then this one. But I know it will surprise me and be even suckier than this one. Whoop de doo. Off to read the next one and get some more head-bashing aches. Yippee! >:[
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May 19, 2008

Jennifer Wardrip rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: jens-personal-read

My problem with the story wasn't so much that James Patterson used it as a soapbox for global warming -- after all, it's his book, and he can do what he wants.

The problem, as I see it, is there was NO WAY he started writing this series with a plan to make Max's "saving the world mission" one that had anything to do with this topic.

If you go back and read the series from the beginning, starting with THE ANGEL EXPERIMENT, we all knew that Max and the gang had a ...more

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Mar 18, 2008

Denae rated it

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Shelves: sci-fi

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

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Aug 20, 2008

Alexa rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Brenna Driscoll, Claire Checovich, Beth Hefty, Cecilia DeMarco

Recommended to Alexa by: Leanne Sheth

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 an...moreThe 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 Category 4 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 5 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.(less)

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Mar 25, 2008

Becky rated it

· review of another edition

Well, actually I'd give it a 3 1/2, but there's no option here. I again enjoyed this book and the exciting twists, I really liked the other ones more. This one needs a little more wrapping up, that is if he's not planning on writing any more. The preaching of the "theory" of global warming was getting a bit repetitive. It didn't have the same feel as the rest of the book. It's like the author decided to shift gears, and jump onto the Gore bandwagon. I wonder how many free "$...more

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Dec 27, 2009

dioscurio rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 1-owned, sci-fic

Gw ampe nangis bacanya, bukan karena ceritanya begitu menyentuh sampe bikin termehek2, tapi karena dengan setiap lembar yg gw balik, cerita ini semakin nggak masuk akal, menantang kecerdasan pembaca, bukan dalam arti positip, sayangnya..

Pertama, gw kira buku ketiga adalah akhir serial ini, tapi nggak, entah Author berusaha memanfaatkan momen ato gimana, yg pasti dia sampe bela2in ngubah beberapa fakta biar buku keempat ini bisa rilis..

Sekarang, gw malah berpikir Suara di ...more

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Dec 19, 2011

Mery rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, i-borrowed, dystopia-scifi, gramedia, terjemahan

cerita nya gak sebagus yang sebelumnya, maksudnya tanpa kejar2an dengan monster monster buatan dengan sayap :D

kisahnya berawal dengan pemakaman Ari. pembuka yang bagus. aku menitik kan air mata, karena aku sayang sama ari. bayangkan anak umur 7 tahun yang dipaksa jadi monster. hiks hiks

setelah itu The Flocks dihadapkan oleh pemerintah yang merayu mereka untuk sekolah. Bayangkan? kata sekolah sudah bagaikan kata jahat buat mereka, sekarang pemerintah mau memasukan me...more

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Sep 07, 2008

Cassie rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: ya-science-fiction, bookwyrm_chrysalis_reviews

Maximum Ride was created to save the world. Now she just needs to figure out how the voice in her head thinks she's going to do this.
With the rest of her flock of Avian-Human hybrids, Max moves from taking down evil corporations to stopping global warming ('cause penguins are cute and hurricanes are bad!).
Now, if only Patterson could be bothered to finish one plot thread before moving on to six more.
If this hadn't been a Maximum Ride book, I would have never finished it, and m...moreMaximum Ride was created to save the world. Now she just needs to figure out how the voice in her head thinks she's going to do this.
With the rest of her flock of Avian-Human hybrids, Max moves from taking down evil corporations to stopping global warming ('cause penguins are cute and hurricanes are bad!).
Now, if only Patterson could be bothered to finish one plot thread before moving on to six more.
If this hadn't been a Maximum Ride book, I would have never finished it, and most likely never even bought it. My general love for Max and the flock is the only thing that got me through all the pages of propaganda about global warming. There were lectures. Multiple page long lectures about global warming. Now, there has always been a definite undertone of eco-warrior, clean up pollution, corporations are bad, etc. in the books. But that took a sideline to the action and characters. In this book, I really felt that Patterson just wanted to talk about global warming and decided to use Max to get his point across.
-Supposedly, this is the last book, but if it isn't, I will be hard pressed to pick up a new title. Whatever your feelings on global warming are, I hate being lectured to in fiction and feeling like someone is dumping their propaganda down my throat. Barely anything even happened in the book, they were too busy talking about global warming. I'm all for empowering kids to make a difference in the world, but I also want them to think about multiple sides of an issue, I want them to question and read scientific studies for themselves, not listen to a pop culture icon tell them how "it is." I mean, how many of us lived through the "Just say no" drug campaigns of the 90s, not to mention the "This is your brain, this is your brain on drugs" scare tactics. At least now they have commercials that go "I got high. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. I just sat on my couch all day like an idiot. You know what? I don't want to get high anymore, so that something can actually happen in my life." Stuff like that tells it more how it is. Sure, Max questions slightly if it's "really bad if the world gets a few degrees warmer," but they stick to the scare tactics and over dramatization that has been popular in global warming ever since An Inconvenient Truth. Complete with ending the book with "worst hurricane ever recorded" (which huh, the bad guys seemed to know was coming, so maybe it wasn't all natural? Never explored this in the book of course).
This book offended me. I feel like Patterson thinks that I have no right to decide for myself what's really happening or not in global warming and that I'm so stupid that I need to be scared into doing what he has decided is the right thing. And what gets me even more is that nobody says a word about this book being such a propaganda tool, but if I wrote a book about a group of kids spreading a counter message, that maybe global warming is part of a natural cycle and that there are more issues involved than just human innovation and existence, then you can bet a million groups would be descending on me like I was trying to poison their children's minds by telling them Santa Claus isn't real.
The hundred pages or so that weren't devoted to saying "global warming=BAD" were enjoyable though. More Max and Fang romantic confusion and tension--I feel like Patterson has that relationship pretty well fleshed out, though I'd like to see some closure or at least some more forward movement. Their relationship really hasn't evolved much from the last book. And at the beginning of this book, they have the funeral for Ari, and I feel so sorry for that kid. Rereading the series before I read this book, my heart just broke for him. He's easily the most tragic character in the series. Still, I only felt like maybe a fourth of the book was about the characters, a fourth on action, and a half on, well, see above. There are so many interactions and relationships that still need to be fleshed out in the books. Max and Jeb especially have a complex relationship that I'd like to see keep evolving. I rather doubt this really is the last book. Patterson left too much open, we still know nothing about the voice, and there's a lot about Max and the flock that keeps getting hinted at, then abandoned. I cringe to think of another book though, as disappointing as this one was to me overall. Maybe he'll fast forward a bit, let Max grow up some. I'd really like to see Max be a little older, because I think her character interactions are at a standstill until she matures a bit more, then her relationships with Jeb and Fang, as well as the rest of the flock, will be able to expand. (Edit - Yep, there is a fifth book listed on amazon. Yay -_-. Maybe this one will have character development. Or maybe they've decided to cool off the world by beating their wings really fast.)
Okay, and seriously, if you call one more bad guy "the director" then, you know what, James Patterson? I'm gonna hit you over the head with a thesaurus. I'm beginning to feel like he doesn't actually read his own writing once he's finished. Not only are there three bad guys called the director (oh, sorry, one is the Uber-Director), but in one book one person was indicated to be "The Director," and the next book it's someone else. He repeats *a lot* of the same kinds of things, has inconsistent chronology (exactly how long does it take to fly somewhere? Huh? Seems to vary by book), never mentioned Nudge was black in the first book (at least not that I could find, I'm thinking he didn't decide that till book two…), and leaves me wondering how even a windbreaker can cover up their wings enough that they don't look like hunchbacks. And, yeah, the wings thing. I really want to see the movie/manga, because I cannot picture how it's supposed to work. Their wing tips should at least fall over their butt. Fourteen feet of actual bone, feather, and muscle only becomes so compact. And they mention cutting slits in jackets, but what about their shirts? And it doesn't seem like they would be able to just snap their wings out of those slits as easily as they always do. Especially while wearing backpacks and such. But okay, enough over-thinking these books. I think the more the author lectures to me about science and real world stuff, the more I question how unlikely his books are to be able to happen in the real world.
Something else I thought of a few days after finishing the book--okay, biggest hurricane in recorded history happens. That's really, really bad, right? Yet, that hurricane is the only reason Max and the flock get away from the Uber-Director. Huh. Global warming bad. But without it, Max and the flock were in big trouble. Bit of a problem with your message there, huh, Patterson? Once again, I don't think he's rereading what he writes.

More at Bookwyrm Chrysalis
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Aug 29, 2008

Rachel rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. What the hell?

That was my general reaction to this book. Also, "Why?!". A dog - who already TALKS - growing WINGS? What the hell? Why?! This development is completely irrelevant to the plot, other then being "cool", and annoyingly convenient. Same with Angel (the 6-year-old flying who can read and control minds, to refresh your memory) suddenly being able to change her appearance at will.

When inexplicable things like this happened in the other ...more

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Jun 20, 2008

Deborah rated it

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Shelves: teen

While this book has some of the excitement of the first ones, it's lacking in a lot of the action and character development that made it easier to ignore Patterson's bad writing style in the other Maximum Ride books. The mysterious "Uber-Director" is also not clear as a villain. What was his motivation for going after the flock? How did he become part human, part machine? It's all too quickly and conveniently ended, in a non-satisfying way. Instead, this book is full of didactic s...more

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Mar 20, 2008

Ibby rated it

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AAAAAAH THE NEXT MAXIMUM RIDE BOOK CAME OUT YEsTERDAY

and my sister won't let me read it...she is sitting on the couch on chapter 19, reading SOOOOOO slowly until its my turn.
the book is actually pretty thin, compared to the others...
there are 3 sequels before this one: "The Angel Experiment", "School's out: Forever" and "Saving the world and other Extreme Sports"
this one is about global warming...ANOTHER book about global warming!!! it ...more

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Oct 06, 2008

Saved By Grace rated it

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Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: very-much-disliked

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

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Apr 05, 2008

Kerry rated it

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Recommends it for: NO ONE!

What the hell was that? I've been enjoying the humor and action and adventure of this series (even though they are "young adult" and I'm anything but) . . . but this? OK, yeah, it had the humor. And about two chapters of action and adventure. The rest was penguins and Antarctica and snow and OHNOESGLOBALWARMINGISTEHBAAAAAAADDDDD!!!1!!11!!!ELEVENTY-ONE!!!

Mr. Patterson, if I want a lecture on global warming shoved down my throat, I'll go talk to Al Gore. From you I want ...more

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Oct 16, 2008

Virginia rated it

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

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Mar 08, 2010

Kate rated it

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THIS ONE WAS SOOO ACTION PACKED! I JUST LOV THE FLOCKZ HUMOR I CANT RECALL ALL THE TIMES IVE READ THIS BOOK!

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Nov 09, 2011

Jessica rated it

· review of another edition

The book picks up with the funeral of Ari and I even had tears in my eyes. Then, the kids are taken to DC for some fun explosive adventures which has them decide to take off for a while on their own. Then, Max's mom gets them a gig on a scientists boat and expedition in the Antarctic. Max discovers she is quite jealous over Fangs new love interest a scientist named Brigid. Just when they were starting to relax thoguh, they discover a robot had been put in among them and they go on high alert. Th...more

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Mar 09, 2011

Reading Vacation's Mom rated it

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Maximum Ride = Marvelous Reading

As leader of her Flock, Max is tough and resilient. This bird girl does not give up on her mission to save the world and protect her Flock. She does it all with flair and a sarcastic edge. Despite endless betrayals and growing up in a lab, Max shows that she can have a soft side too.

The members of Max’s Flock are tight and they each have unique talents. Fang can disappear if he sits still long enough. Iggy sees everything in white. Nudge is magnetic. The Gasman is...more

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Mar 19, 2009

Noelani rated it

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I highly enjoyed the first three books in the "Maximum Ride" series, but this one falls a bit short... Perhaps it's the topic, perhaps it's the slightly lecturing tone used... I know that these books are aimed for a Young Adult audience, but adults read these books as well, and to choose a topic that it so over-talked about bored me, and made me really, really wish that Patterson would go back to the excitement and adventure that made the first three books so appealing. Granted, the...more

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Mar 17, 2009

Cooper rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-series, favorite-authors, disappointing-books, top-10-worst-books

Wow. This was.... a letdown:-(. So sad. If you've read any of my other reviews of this series, you know I'm a big fan. That is an understament actually. I'm like, wait outside of the book store for the next book to come out fan. Yeah, I'm like, obsessed with this series now. I've placed every single of the books before this in my top ten favoritest book category. But not this one. Gosh, where to begin. I'm going to say this. I'm still a big fan of this series, and I'm not going to let this get m...moreWow. This was.... a letdown:-(. So sad. If you've read any of my other reviews of this series, you know I'm a big fan. That is an understament actually. I'm like, wait outside of the book store for the next book to come out fan. Yeah, I'm like, obsessed with this series now. I've placed every single of the books before this in my top ten favoritest book category. But not this one. Gosh, where to begin. I'm going to say this. I'm still a big fan of this series, and I'm not going to let this get me down, and the book was okay. It's just, this was such a big difference from the voice that I had come to like about the Max books. It was definitely lacking in smart talk and comebacks that you've come like about Max. I'm sorry I'm being so negative, I'll try to cheer up. By saying the worst part of the book. THE PLOT AND THE ENDING. First the plot. It seems like James Patterson just wrote this to speak out against global warming. Which is fine, I mean, I like to think that I'm a very economical person. But to base the new book of a bestselling series on something like that? I mean seriously! Come on folks, would you rather read about global warming or a wizard trying to destroy an evil Lord that is densely riveted in the plot. I"ll have to make a poll about that... Anyway, another big no-no on the part of Mr. Patterson, is of course, the ending. In my opinion the worst part of any good book, because, as the title implies, it is the end. But for this book, the ending was significantly more... let's say-heartbreaking. I really wanted to like this book, but the ending was the final straw. I was not a happy reader. Okay, I left the book in my locker so I don't have it with me, but it ended pretty much like this:

Max: They built somewhere for us to live. This is horrible.
Fang: Yeah
Voice: You have another mission
Max:Ok, lets go!

I have amazing writing skills, do I not? Though I may have overdramatized that a tiny bit, but seriously, the Voice says they have a new mission and they take off. You can't get anymore straightforward than that. And here's the kicker. According to the preview of the next book, they are pretty much in the same posistion at the beginnning of the next book. Why God? Why? Why must it end this way? Why couldn't have James Patterson just thought a litttle about the book? It makes me reluctant to read the next book, though apparently Fang and Max get together, something I was waiting for in this book but it never happened. It was pretty much like this:

Max: You like that other girl. I'm jealous.
Fang: Maybe I do, maybe I don't.
Max: Okay.

I mean come one people!
Okay, now I've got some anger out of my system. Don't get me wrong I still love the series and I'm definitely going to read on, and don't let this stop you from reading the books before it. It's just disappointing to read something like this from an author you had expected so much from.(less)

· see review

Feb 22, 2009

Jenna rated it

· review of another edition

I opened this book filled with anticipation, sure that I would not be let down. I was sadly disappointed. Having read the first three in the Maximum Ride series I was expecting this fourth one to at least reach my expectations but it fell far behind them. While reading the first three I was constantly trapped in the story. I could barely put the book down until I had finished so when I had heard that the fourth book had finally come out, I was overjoyed!

The first disapointment ...more

· see review

Feb 04, 2009

Jamieson rated it

· review of another edition

Maximum Ride is a very special girl.

For one thing, she can fly. Her and five other children (Fang, Angel, Nudge, Iggy and Gazzy) have been genetically altered so that two percent of their DNA is avian. What does this mean? It means that they are able to fly.

In their newest adventure, the flock face their most harrowing nemesis yet. The evil Uber Director, part man and part machine, wants to capture the flock and sell them to the highest bidder.

Unaware of the U...more

· see review

Dec 04, 2008

Fred Kirchner rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone who hates to read

Shelves: teen-fiction

Last of Patterson's Maximum Ride Series. I read the first three in like a weekend. They were addictive and his average chapter length is around .75 of a page. Geared to the modern adolescent attention span. By the fourth book I was tired of the premise and the repetitive plot elements:

1) Four sarcastic teens with wings and awesome powers fly around the world evading bad guys intent on enslaving, studying, and reproducing their genetic aberrations in underground clandestine gover...more

· see review

Jan 02, 2012

Liz Bollinger rated it

· review of another edition

Have you ever felt as if the world was on your shoulders? Or even yet, it's existance? Well, in this case it is, in the book James Patterson gives us. This book is Science Fiction, and has robots in it. Let alone the main characters who have a human body, with bird DNA, so they have huge wings that allow them to fly wherever they want. I recommend this book to anyone who has a fairly big imagination, and likes romance. There are a few heated moments between the eldest of the flock, therefore you...more

· see review

Dec 30, 2011

Colleen rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read the Maximum Ride series since it was released. I used to call it my favorite series; but after rereading it before reading Fang and Angel, I think I might want to take back my liking of this series. The first three books of the series were bearable; but not this one and the ones that follow it. There are two main reasons why I personally thought the series should have ended at Saving the World and Other Extreme Crap (I'm to lazy to look up the title)

The Plot or lack of...
...more

· see review

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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 ...more

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“What happened to your tan?"--Fang
"It was dirt." --Max” — 535 people liked it

“Here's a freebie: Don't play poker with a kid who can read minds.” — 494 people liked it

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The Final Warning (Maximum Ride #4)

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