Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

By James Patterson

This is the end friends.
But I promise that you’ll fly higher than ever before in this wild adventure, witness battles worthy of multiplex movie screens, and laugh until your sides burst.
Believe it or not, there’s even a little romance.
But all good things—and even terrible, unspeakable ones—must come to an end. This is that moment in time, I’m afraid.
Either we save the world, or we crash and burn. And I mean all of us—even you, faithful reader, because you play a very big part in this story.
--Max

A page turner as usual, this next installment in the Maximum Ride series is as action-packed and sarcastic as the last two. This series is purely for entertainment's sake. There is some swearing and of course the action bits with descriptions of blood and guts; though not overly gory. Max and the flock fight the baddies, and find out some mysteries that have been plaguing readers for a while including just who Max's parents are. If you've read the series, this one is good. It's got a very little romance in it as well...not overly mushy so I liked it. :)

Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever

By James Patterson

Max is sure that a microchip has been inserted under her skin—leading freakish forces of evil to ambush them at any moment. She and the others are supposed to save the world. But from what? And When? And How? Max will stop at nothing to find answers. One thing she does know: it’s got something to do with an astonishing ability they have that no others can claim. They can fly.
Max’s heart-stopping quest to protect her “family” and investigate the mind-blowing mystery of her ultimate destiny continues in the scariest, strangest, and funniest James Patterson thriller yet.
The angel experiment was just a test drive. Now, brace yourself for the maximum ride!

This is the second book in the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. I read the first book, The Angel Experiment a few years ago and just decided for the heck of it to pick up the next one. It was a series that was fun to read, but didn't really seem to have any value other than entertaining you for a few hours. This second book is much like the first. It's a page-turner and something is always happening to the flock, a bunch of mutant kids with avian (bird) DNA fused into their human DNA. They are being chased by the people who created them, and they want them back. And Max, the heroine of the story, is supposed to save the world. They're trying to find out from who and what is going to happen. Along with trying to find their parents...and oh, surviving would be nice. Filled with action and adventure, it's a non-stop trip, though sometimes a bit too unreal. I don't remember this from the first book, but this book sure does take the Lord's name in vain a lot. Rubbed me the wrong way. Just fair warning. Other than that, you've got battles with wolf-bird hybrids and a few scenes of bloodiness, but that's it for parental guidance from me. Check it out if you like that sort of thing.

Daniel X Watch the Skies

By James Patterson and Ned Rust

Lights: All's quiet in the small town of Holliswood-television sets, computers, and portable devices are alglow in every home, classroom, and store. But not all is perfect. Evil is lurking, just out of sight, behind the screen.

Camera: From the darkest depths of James Patterson's imagination flickers the most terrifying character yet: a villain with more ambition than the world can withstand, dead set on throwing a sleepy town into chaos and documenting the destruction of every person in it, including Daniel.

Extermination: Daniel X is the only person who can stop this made-for-TV tyrant from wiping out the city and everyone living there. This devilish director assembles an all-star team of his own creation, and not even Daniel can imagine the enormity of his plans. Can Daniel X stop this deranged outlaw before he stages the most spectaular finale the world has ever seen? Or will Daniel find himself on the cutting-room floor?

This is the second book in the Daniel X series, and I just can't figure why I like them so much. To be honest, the plot is kinda obvious, the villian is pretty cheesy, and the banter is just over-the-top sometimes. I know! It's like a cartoon-book, that's why I like it so much! No, seriously, if this were made into a cartoon, it would rank top on the airwaves. It's got Alien Hunter action and adventure, it's got the teen drama angle, it's got the very funny (sometimes witty) dialogue and the entertainment value it pretty high. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely serious, I love cartoons (I know I'm in my twenties, so sue me) so I'm not bashing the book at all or being duplicitous. I really like the characters and the story that has been set up, its unique in so many ways that it makes me just happy to read it. Of course, at the end of the day it's still fantasy, but it's a fun way to spend your day- it only takes me about two hours to read a book-and I think kids who like comic heroes and such would like Daniel X. It's right down their superpowered alley.

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

By James Patterson

Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. Six kids who are pretty normal in most ways- except that they're 98% human, 2% bird. They grew up in a lab, living like rats in cages, but now they're free. Aside, of course, from the fact that they're prime prey for Erasers- wicked, wolflike creatures with a taste for flying humans.

When Angel is kidnapped, the flock takes off to rescue her from the dreaded School. Will Max be able to lead the flock in time to rescue Angel? And what about the fact that they now know how to find their parents, but it takes breaking into a top secret institution in New York City? Come fly with the super-powered crew on the beginning of an adventure that just might end in not just saving Angel...but the world.

I've been meaning to read this book for at least two years now and have finally gotten to it; and I was mildly surprised. There were quite a few points in the book where I had no clue whatsoever was going to happen. I was right there with Max wondering what the heck to do next. It was a fast and fun read, though with definate darker undertones. There is a lot of abuse and some violent scenes with the Erasers that end with some painful wounds and a few gruesome deaths. I read this book with the sense of watching the movie in my mind, so it was very graphic for me. I'd suggest 14 and up. The one thing I enjoyed the most about the writing was the voice that Patterson was able to give to Max as she narrates the story. It's really fun to see her personality leaking through the pages. This is a fun book for teens and I'd suggest it to boys and girls equally; it's action packed, with a female lead character. Although it does have very little depth, and has a gigantic cliffhanger, I find it very soap opera-like at the same time in the fact that drama drives the story more than the characters or even the plot. I will say this for Patterson's jump into writing youth fiction: he can write a page-turner.

Sundays at Tiffany's

By James Patterson

What if your one true love was your imaginary friend as a child? Michael was Jane's one friend when she was eight years old, the one person who loved her for her and didn't try to change her into something else. But when Michael leaves on her nineth birthday, claiming that she will forget him, she swears she never will. Twenty years later Jane still remembers Michael with fondness, and has even made an incredibly successful play based off of their relationship. When Jane walks into the resteraunt that she and Michael used to go to and she actually sees him again she thinks she's finally snapped. Will she be able to find love for the first time, or is it really all in her head?

Yuck. Yuck yuck. YUCK. I really really hated this book. It was horrid with the worst profanity I've seen in a novel (which isn't really saying much because I mostly read youth books) but it was still really bad. And it had some very inapropriate content, which of course was not until the end of the book so I just finished it anyway. This book sounded so cute, but I should've known better than to trust a book like this. Oh well. Live and learn. DO NOT READ!!! I actually threw this in the garbage. And anyone who knows me; I do not do this unless I don't want anyone else to read it ever.

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

By James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

“The Greatest Superpower…is the power to create.” Daniel is not your average ordinary teenager. He remembers the night that his parents were brutally murdered by the worst alien in the galaxy. So now Daniel has taken up the mantle his parents left behind: he has become an Alien Hunter; even though he happens to be one himself. Along with the aid of his best friends, he goes in fists flying to destroy number 6 on the infamous list of Dangerous Aliens, and ends up in the fight of his life…literally.

Okay, this was surprisingly fun to read, and I could not tell what was going to happen next. It was thoroughly entertaining, and it makes me want to pick up others of Patterson’s books. Daniel is quite easy to relate to, even if he does hunt aliens for a living. One of the coolest parts of his powers is his power to create things that aren’t truly there. He gives a life to his own imagination. And the trip you take with Daniel is one you’ll never forget. This was a book I picked up at Wal-Mart for six bucks, and I’m really glad I did. It was great, and I can’t wait for the follow-up books to Daniel’s life!

Fun Fact: James Patterson is the Bestselling author of Maximum Ride, which I have been meaning to read forever, but the first book is never in the library or in the stores. If this book is any indication, I know why he is a bestseller. And he’s clean! Hallelujah!