Analysis: Maximum Ride. The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

My daughter’s friend introduced her to these and the series turned out to be a huge hit. She’s read the whole lot and is hungry for more. So of course, I read the first one to see what this was all about.

Now as you have probably already gathered I am particularly fond of thrillers. I’ve enjoyed the James Patterson’s adult thrillers that I’ve read – including ‘When the Wind Blows’ which is the book in which the character of Max first appears – albeit in a somewhat different guise. So I was eager to see what his Young Adult fiction was like.

Well this is one rollercoaster of a ride. It hits the ground running and the pace picks up speed from there. There’s no let up – one thrill after another. Whereas in most books the pacing varies between fast and moderate this one varies between very fast and extremely fast. I was almost breathless reading it.

However the disadvantage of this is that there isn’t much room for character development and I never really empathised with Max. I didn’t feel that the other characters had much depth either.

But I don’t think that matters here. What kids relate to best with these characters is their alienation – after all – you can’t get much more alienated than being a mutant kid with wings. And for your average teenager this is going to be a big part of the appeal.

When the book ends it’s very obvious that the story isn’t over by a long stretch. The plot is left hanging. You feel like you’ve only read the first chapter, so it’s not surprising the daughter was champing at the bit to get onto the next one.

Analysis: High Octane Thrills

http://www.maximumride.co.uk/