Book Review: Maximum Ride #1: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
Maximum Ride #1: The Angel Experiment
James Patterson
Read by Evan Rachel Wood
Hachette Audio, 2008
ISBN 160024226X
Abridged Audio Book
The Flock is a group of six kids who were an experiment from before birth, genetically engineered to have wings. Led by Max, a fourteen-year-old girl, the six have escaped but are being pursued by another group of kids whose own experiment was much more sinister. Known as the Erasers, they are half human half wolf and are incredibly strong and vicious, and an old friend of Max’s is one of them.
The Erasers kidnap the youngest of the Flock, Angel, and take her back to the “School” where they were all born and raised. Max leads Fang, Iggy, Nudge and Gasman on a rescue mission and they start to learn a bit about their pasts and their destinies. Max begins to hear a voice in her head telling her she must save the world—but how and from what and where is this voice coming from?
This is Patterson‘s first foray into the young adult world and there are signs he doesn’t quite know how to do it. The most distracting thing is that these kids frequently sound like adults and they rarely show the vulnerability of children. The story is a bit overblown, too, and I think the abridged audio edition I listened to may very well be the best because some of the tedium has been cut out. The abridgement retains enough of the charm and a lot of appealing action to encourage me to try the next installment—I’m compelled to follow all the loose ends—but it will also be an abridgement, by choice.
Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, May 2010.
May 31, 2010
Tags: audio, Hachette, science fiction, young adult Posted in: Full Reviews, My Reviews
Loading ...
Leave a Reply