Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure (Book 8)

Well, with this book, the Maximum Ride series is finally, officially over. With most series, this would give me a sense of sadness, usually bittersweet if the ending is a good one. But with this, I'm just sort of...glad it's over. There's relief, because a series that I can now honestly say should have ended with the third book will not keep continuing, spiraling into worse and worse books and ruining the name of the series I started out loving.

This book was...disappointing. It's a little sad when I say that the aspect of this book that satisfied me the most was having Max and Fang end up together definitively, because I always had a soft spot for their relationship. But even then I felt like so many unnecessary things had been added show more to it, especially the element of Dylan, that it wasn't really the slow, fumbling, sweet romance that I loved from Book 3 and Book 5. I never understood what purpose Dylan served, and the fact that he was elevated to a main character all the way through the last page of this book really rubs me the wrong way.

The breakdown of the beloved "Flock dynamic" was another thing that was so sad to see. The rapport and familial love they had for each other in the first books was always something I adored; it was so relatable, inspiring, and gave rise to many touching and hilarious moments. But again Dylan shattered that, relegating Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and to a degree Angel to second place characters. And from then on Max's declarations of love and loyalty to "the Flock" and "my family" felt like lip service instead of real feeling.

I won't go on and on about the fact that this book barely had a plot, that the ending was unsatisfying and rushed beyond any reasonable suspension of belief, that Max's character bears so little resemblance from the girl I started off knowing, that so many plot elements were handwaved or thrown in out of sheer illogical convenience, that only once or twice did recognizable characters shine through, and that never once did I laugh out loud when the first three books could often reduce me to helpless giggling. It's just a relief to know the series won't fall any farther.

I will also be going back and changing my star reviews for books 6 and 7 to 3 stars, because looking back it's now too obvious the flaws and drop in quality and character that occurred there for me to give them 4 stars in good conscience. I'd half-hoped this book would redeem those books and end the series on a high(er) note, but alas it didn't happen.

Bottom line; the first three books in this series were a wild ride, an excellent adventure, and gave me six very unique, quirky, and thoroughly likable fictional friends in the Flock. I still stand by my love of those books and would encourage people to read them. Then after book 3 (and especially after book 5), someone hijacked them and their world; that's the closest I can come to explaining it. I'm well aware that Patterson has been having the more recent books ghostwritten, which I hope explains the shift in quality and mood; I like to think he at least made the effort to do something good with the first three.

James Patterson, I thank you for creating them and setting them on their winged path, but I can't quite forgive you for letting this happen to your creation. It's not what an author who really loved his readers and his work would do.

But to the real Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel I met years ago on a clifftop in Colorado in The Angel Experiment: fly high, guys. show less

A few years ago, I read the first Maximum Ride novel after seeing it on a rack at the grocery store, and being intrigued enough to buy it. However, I was far from impressed by it, the writing was too childish and simplistic, and Patterson's weaknesses in writing are magnified. About a year later I read 'Where the Wind Blows', the original version of this story... and guess what? While far from perfect, it was considerably better than Maximum Ride.

I have not bothered to read books 2-7 in this series, I will admit (but I read the summaries to know what was going on) so I can't say that I missed anything. I just wanted to see how the series ended... and jeez louise! Mr. Patterson should have stuck with the original version of the angel show more experiment story. Stick with Where the Wind Blows and its sequel, Lake House. Much better than this poorly-written, poorly-told tween garbage. show less

Guest review by Chayse:

I yelled, I screamed, I cried, I wanted to throw the book (not literally), I was just an emotional wreck. I have waited patiently for this book and when I got it, i didn't want to read it. I didn't want to say goodbye to a world that I fell in love with from the beginning. I didn't want to say goodbye to the characters that I am sure I wasn't the only one to fall in love with. I just didn't want to say...Good Bye!

I was so glad to have one more adventure with the characters that I started crying right from the first page. I was ready to say bye to some but not all. However, James Patterson doesn't give me the chance to say bye when he just....sorry you have to read to find out.

The romance in here was the part I show more wanted to scream at the most. I wanted to yell at Max and call her names for what she was doing but I had to sit back and read what she did. In the end, I had a bittersweet feeling of how it all turned out. It was good but I had my doubts.

The surprises that this book and author has in store for the reader is the one thing that will make this book so much more exciting. I knew I gasped whenever secrets were revealed telling you something of a character that you didn't know.

The ending for me was alright. I wish it could have ended differently, however, the events that led up to it was so intense that I wish there was more.

This book and series is a must read for all readers. I fell in love with the series and I know you will too. James Patterson will take you on a Maximum Ride. show less

Ok. So I have nothing against James Patterson, in fact, I love his work. But this book made me want to scream.
I have read every single book in the Maximum Ride series. And the ending . . . no. It did not work at all.
The thing is, everything got way too repetitive. They get captured, be really smartass to the bad guys, make some miraculous escape. This happens at least once in every book.
And the bad guys changed WAY too much. It has gotten to the point where I honestly can't remember their names. The bad guys literally change with every book.
And . . . I was just so PISSED with this ending.
SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read it, I advise you stop reading this review.
The. World. Ended.
And Max is just OKAY with that? What about Ella? Gazzy? show more Nudge? Iggy? Her mom? Jeb? Anyone she ever cared about?
The thing is, James Patterson doesn't actually say who survived. He just mentioned that Max, Dylan, Angel, and Fang were all sitting on a rock, looking at what had happened.
Max's primary character is protectiveness over her flock. And she's just sitting there, marveling over how different the world looks?
There is so much more that is wrong with this book, but I'm going to spare you the details.
I'm truly sorry if you really enjoyed this book and I have made you mad by writing this. I just feel like this series had such great potential, and this ending did not cut it. AT ALL. show less

I won't say I was dissapointed, because that would mean that I was expecting something great, and I wasn't. Truth be told, I only read the book because I had read the entire series and had to know how it ended.
The plot was cliche, and so full of cliff-hangers that I was literally bored to tears (crying angrily in a Books-a-Million, not my best moment, I know).
In these YA books by James Patterson, it feels as though he is speaking down to the reader. It seems very condescending to me. Now, this may just be my opinion, but I don't feel that Patterson expects much from the teens reading his books. I feel almost disappointed in him.
The plot itself was un-realistic (though that's not really something new), but I am still slightly show more surprised that what I thought was going to happen didn't happen. So, Kudos to Patterson for creating a version different from what I expected to happen. What happened was worse than I expectated it to be, but hey, if that's the price for originality...
Also, what's with all the loose ends flying about? So Dylan just suddenly, for no real explained reason, stops loving Max? So Jeb is really a bad guy? How does the school have all these brainwashing technologies, and if it is so easy to brainwash someone, where can I buy mine? How did they brainwash whole cities of kids to do what they wanted in a cult-like fashion? Iggy's sight problem was never really explained. Total was in it hardly at all. Why is Angel so stuck-up all the time? Why does Max feel the need to string Dylan AND Fang along (One page she's a "strong independent woman" and the next she's crying because Oh no, TWO boys love her, what ever shall she do? Give me a break)? Why are all the adults untrustworthy? Hmm? I don't know if Patterson is just trying to appeal to an audience who doesn't like adults, but I find it kind of offensive. I happen to have adult friends, heck, I'm almost an adult myself, I don't like reading that whole, can't trust anyone over 18 thing the bird-kids have. With good reason. I can't remember reading, in all 8 books, a single adult who could be trusted completely. What's with that?
I shouldn't complain, because, like I said, I didn't expect much. I know that I myself am not going to read any more of James Patterson's YA (or any, really) books, but I hope for future readers that he grows up a little, stops talking down to the reader, explain things in the plots better (or at all), and for goodness sake, no more formula writing. show less

**contains spoilers**

Argh! This book has me so irritated. Not because of the apocalyptic ending - I can cope with that, but because the journey there was so diabolically frustrating. This book is about 75% filled with "OMG they're trying to kill Fang" and Erasers and whatnot either attacking Fang or attacking the gang. Then there's about 15% of "who do I choose, Dylan the sweet pretty boy or dark, sullen Fang." Fair enough, even if it did make me want to tear my hair out in frustration. Then suddenly, finally the 99% plan comes to fruition - most of the world's population will die! And then, to cap it all off, in the last 20 pages or so, planet Earth there is a completely gratuitious number of natural disasters. Ack! Why did we have to show more put up with 75% angst and stupid battles when the whole book could have been Max and her gang vs natural disasters? That would be much more interesting. The other thing that bugged me is ok, we get it the bird kids heal fast - but how come Fang spent like weeks being grounded after breaking his wing, had to hitch-hike across the US to find Max and co, got thrown off a cliff and even worse crippled, before finally limping in with a trailing wing and broken arm - yet the very next day could fly to California with the gang to rescue Angel? These sort of inconsistencies run all the way through - the flock get horrifically injured, yet the next day they're fine, almost as though the author has forgotten what he's done to them. And as for the writing of the battle scenes... Don't get me started.

I'm just glad it's over. The series started turning sour after #3, temperarily scraped back some redeeming features for 6 and 7 and then flopped again for 8.

Will I put myself through this series again?
Never more! show less

As someone who has been with Maximum since the beginning I was very excited, even elated to finally get to the end. Nevermore is an epic in itself, showing new readers the world of Maximum Ride at a glance, but it also gives the faithful readers of the series the long awaited answers they have been asking for. The twists and turns the story takes are brutal, and at times terrifying for both the characters and the reader! I couldn't have hoped for a better ending for the friends I've made in these characters throughout the years! A triumph of Patterson's in ever aspect! Do not begin reading unless you want to become completely consumed! Thank you for the end we all deserve as readers! Best 4 hours of the summer so far!