Author: James Patterson
Publication Date: August 6th, 2012
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Rating: 3/5
Blurb: One last chance…
For Max, Fang, Angel, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy.
Before it all ends.
Are you ready for the final chapter? Are you ready for the ultimate flight? Because THIS IS IT. One last incredible, explosive adventure with an astonishing ending that no one could have seen coming.
For Max, Fang, Angel, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy.
Before it all ends.
Are you ready for the final chapter? Are you ready for the ultimate flight? Because THIS IS IT. One last incredible, explosive adventure with an astonishing ending that no one could have seen coming.
Review: As it seems to have become a bit of a usual part of my reviews, I decided I’d give you a little backstory on how I got into Maximum Ride in the first place before I tell you my thoughts on the last book. In Middle School, one of my best friends (the very same who suggested I read Halo, and Cecilia Ahern whom has become one of my favourite authors ever) suggested that I started this series way back when the fifth book- ‘Max’ was just coming out. As usual, I doubted this friend’s opinion, a fault which I completely apologise for now. However, once I got into the series I quickly finished all five books within the week and became connected to all the characters and their stories. Hence, if I were to give advice to those of you who have never read the series I would beg you to pick it up because I’d be sure that you’d enjoy it. And that concludes the little backstory, so onto the review.
From here on, I cannot be assured that there will no lie any spoilers from any of the books including Nevermore so be warned.
From here, I’m going to break it down like Chami’s review which you can find here. If you have yet to read it, (this also contains spoilers).
Characters:
Maximum Ride has been in my life since I was about thirteen so of course throughout that time I’ve grown closer to the characters and started to believe that I really knew them and could almost predict their reactions to certain situations. However, in this book I felt like these were entirely new characters being presented to me and I felt like I could no longer connect with them - almost like this was a fanfiction (certainly not an insult to any fellow fanfiction writers) where the characters were a little bit too out of character. Honestly, I love Max, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, Angel and even Dylan at some times but it felt like James Patterson had completely lost touch with his characters.
Plot:
To be honest, the previous book - Angel, was when the plot became to loose my interest. Things started to become too…weird, for lack of a better word. For one, Maya infuriated me and while I know some people quite liked her, personally I thought the idea of a Max clone that Fang went off with to be just terrible. I was really hoping that James Patterson was really going to pick the whole thing up with the book and finish the series on such a high note that I would feel content with the ending but sadly, it just didn’t happen for me.
Overall:
I know this review might sound a little like I’m calling James Patterson a terrible writer or something, which is not true- I am a massive fan of James Patterson but I feel like he didn’t put enough into the writing of this book, it really felt like he wasn’t committed to this book or that he’d lost his passion for the series and the characters.
BEWARE OF SPOILERS FILLED REVIEW/RANT BELOW.
**
As I said up above, I wasn’t really a fan of Maya so I have to admit, while it seems cruel, that I didn’t mind that much when she died, however the whole Fang’s new flock betraying him sort of thing just drove me crazy. We’ve seen a fair amount of betrayal through this series from flock members and those outside the flock and so I almost felt like it had begun to repeat itself. On the topic of repeating, I was very disappointed that Ari made another appearance in this book not because I don’t like Ari as a character but because I felt like James Patterson could not just leave him alone. I felt the same way about Jeb and Dr Martinez, I believe those three characters are only ever bought up when James Patterson had completely run out of ideas.
Finally, I’ve got to ask- what was that ending? I just can’t even fathom the right words to describe how I feel about it and honestly I would have been much happier with the first ending rather than that bit added on.
Anyway, thank you if you actually made it through this insanely long review I promise reviews won’t be like this in the future- of course, if you prefer reviews of this length then please let us know.
x Ely
