The Angel Experiment

This could have been a good book if it had been written by a good author, if that makes any sense. If you're willing to forget that you've ever read anything before in your entire life, The Angel Experiment has a mildly compelling premise if you dig deep enough. I imagine someone with talent exploring the ethics behind experimentation with DNA, lab testing on living creatures, and what it means to be human.

Instead, our author created a character called "The Gasman." Why is he called The Gasman? Because he is gassy. That's right. One main character's entire existence is a fart joke. The problem is he only rips ass one time, at the beginning of the book. It's like this witless ape Patterson said to himself, "I like farts. Farts are funny. show more Here is a character named after his farts. Hehehehe. I'll make him fart...oh God what am I doing. I have to pretend like I still have self-respect." Don't forget, boys and girls, this man made $95 million this year.

The action sequences in this book made me want to die. I'm not joking. After reading for the 89th time about Max feeling one of her half-man half-wolf enemy's ribs crunch before her almighty 14-year-old girl-bird fist, you'll feel the same way.

I'll just give you a little taste, just because I'm a dick.

"Grab Big Mouth", said the head guy, and the other two moved to flank me.
Which made mistake number three. Bam, you're out.
I moved fast, fast, fast. With no warning, I snapped a high kick right into the lead jerk's chest. A blow that would have only knocked Fang's breath away actually seemed to snap a rib on this guy. I heard the crack, and the guy choked, looking shocked, and fell backward.

Sorry, sorry, that's enough.

There is something worse than the fight scenes, unfortunately. It's the dialogue. What was the last thing Max said before she got in that fight I just shared with you?

"Actually, I think kicking your stupid butts would be good for me."

Because, you know, that's how people talk.

The leads in this book are 14, 11, 8, and 6, but I won't claim that they don't talk like kids their age would. I'm claiming they don't talk like kids their species would.

You can tell me that these kids are part bird. I'll tell you they're 2% bird, and they have wings, so that ought to cover it. And I don't think a talking bird would ever say something like this:

"I feel like, like pudding," Iggy groaned. "Pudding with nerve endings. Pudding in great pain."

Whatever you say, Iggy.

Maybe the dialogue isn't as bad as I think it is. I just have a lot of trouble thinking through a quote when it is followed by, "said the Gasman."

This is unrelated, but this is the second Patterson book I've read, and coincidentally, both books had a character suffering from schizophrenia who seemed to have a backstory worth exploring, and in both books, the person in question is used instead as a cartoony punchline. I'm not saying I'm offended by the lack of compassion within this depiction of mental illness. If someone threw up on the sidewalk and the vomit somehow congealed into the n word, I think it's ok to scrub it away and move on without much fuss. But in a book desperately lacking character development, to take interesting people and just waste them spectacularly feels to me like a really bad trademark for an author to have.

Once again, like I said about Guilty Wives, I see The Angel Experiment as a book that is fairly honest about what it is. It's the perfect book for anyone who wanted the old Batman graphics that said stuff like "BOP" and "POW" to be turned into a nine installment young adult series.

Sorry, I have to say it one more time. A main character in this book is named "The Gasman." show less

One of the first series I ever got really incredibly attached to, several years ago. My love for it hasn't decreased since.

The thing that struck me immediately about this book was how quickly it grabbed you, and not gently. From Max's first warning words in the prologue, you simply cannot stop turning the pages. There is action around every corner, each snapshot chapter seems to end in a cliffhanger, and Max's sarcastic, real, snarky, very teenage narration carries you through her world in breakneck fashion. And her "family"...! This is one seriously great cast of characters. Everyone can find a favorite, or like me, won't be able to choose. Wittily tomboyish Max, stoic and cool Fang, blind cook and pyro Iggy, motormouth Nudge, tough show more little Gazzy, and sweet-but-deadly Angel. This book also wins the award for making me laugh out loud the most in the shortest space of time. I can't even count all my favorite, hilarious parts.

And the best part is, by the end, you know the story's far from over! show less

Most kids wish they could have superpowers, but the flying protagonists in James Patterson’s The Angel Experiment wouldn’t necessarily agree. The kids love flying, but they don’t love everything that comes with being genetically altered human beings; the evil scientists, the bad guys, the dog crates, and any other life threatening dangers they face daily.
Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel are 98% human 2% bird. The kids are all natural born humans that were either kidnapped from their parents or sold to scientists that genetically altered their DNA. All six kids grew up in a lab facing exhausting experiment after exhausting experiment and afterward having very little to eat, not nearly enough to satisfy bird kids with show more incredibly high metabolisms. One of the experiments actually renders Iggy blind.
In The Angel Experiment the kids are living in a house hidden in a secret location on top of a cliff. One of the scientists, Jeb, helped them escape from the lab and brought them to the house. He stayed with them for a while and took care of them, but one day he just disappeared. Now the kids are alone in the house, Max is in charge, and they’re just trying to stay out of danger.
James Patterson has done an amazing job creating the plot of this story. He has turned everyone’s childhood fantasy, of flying, into a very realistic nightmare. The kids were doing fine living on their own and staying out of trouble when they spot some of the scientists’ evil creations making their way toward the house. In all the chaos that follows, Max loses sight of the others and is wrapped up in her own fight. Eventually the enemy retreats and Max scopes out the damage, but to her bemusement Angel is gone! The kids go on a dangerous and enticing journey to find Angel and bring her home.
The emotions the characters feel and experience are so real that as the reader you feel like it is you, not Max, who has lost your little sister. When I finished The Angel Experiment I immediately started reading the next book in the series, and the next, and the next, until there were no more books to read. I am now anxiously waiting for the next book of the series to be released.
I would recommend the entire Maximum Ride series to anyone who’s looking for a good series to read or has ever dreamed of flying. show less

This is Patterson writing a pretty typical Patterson novel but aimed at teens, so more angst, less sex and about the same level of violence. Maximum Ride is a winged girl (though the wings seem to be pretty invisible until they're needed, have to ask about how it would be possible to hide the wings that are described as pretty big), part of an experiment in genetics, hiding out with other winged people until the other group of mutants and their mutual creators come knocking.

Yes it was quite readable but it left a bit of a bad feeling afterwards, as if I had eaten too much bad candy. It's full of conspiracy and black and white and it just didn't seem to be giving me enough for a good eat.

The biggest problem with this book was getting to the end and realising I hadn't borrowed the next in the series, and the library was closed for the long weekend. It definitely leaves you wanting to know more, so don't read it without being prepared to get through a few of the books. In fact there are cliffhangers throughout the book that stop you from putting it down. The idea of children being used as experimental subjects is something I have come across before, and I think I can see some of the dilemnas that will arise in the future books. The pace of this book is just what you want from a thriller/suspense novel. Plenty happening to keep you interested. I think this book has a broad appeal, girls and guys both will enjoy it, and I'm show more glad the book challenge inspired me to pick it up. show less

Romanzo veloce, coinvolgente e simpaticamente istruttivo. E' libro diretto a un pubblico giovane e scritto immedesimandosi in una ragazzina quattordicenne ma, nonostante ciò, presenta alcune frasi e aneddoti di una saggezza incredibile. Messaggi freschi e diretti, comprensibili, dietro i quali si possono nascondere anche insegnamenti più complessi e di natura profonda.

Pur essendo al servizio del demonio, il vecchio Jeb ci aveva insegnato l'utile arte del combattimento da stra­da. Mai giocare in modo leale, non è così che si vince. Usare tutti i colpi bassi possibili. Aspettarsi dolore e fe­rite. Farsi sorprendere dal dolore significa perdere

La conoscenza è un terribile fardello, Max, disse la Voce. Sospirai. Era ancora con noi. show more È una lama a doppio taglio, continuò. Potrebbe rivelarsi utile, ma potrebbe anche metterti in guai peggiori di quelli af­frontati finora. Vero. Ma dovevo farlo comunque. Max, la tua missione va al di là del trovare i loro genitori. Pensa ad aiutare il mondo intero, non solo i tuoi amici. Tenni le ali ferme, lasciandomi trasportare per un lunghissimo tratto da una calda corrente ascensionale. Era come galleggiare su una nuvola, la sensazione più bella che si possa immaginare. Vorrei tanto farla provare anche a voi. Magari la prossima volta. Lo sai, Voce... pensai infine. I miei amici sono il mio mondo.

L'ironia di Max, che come detto racconta in prima persona, è pungente e divertente. Dimostra un acume forgiato grazie alla vita di tutti i giorni e alle esperienze vissute con lo stormo. Niente di troppo acculturato ma una sorta di saggezza disincantata e accompagnata da una buona dose di sagacia.

Per un'ora e mezzo, Fang e io cercammo in tutti i modi possibili e immaginabili e trovammo un'infinità d'istituti di ogni genere, con sede a Mahattan e in tutto lo Stato di New York, ma nessuno faceva ben sperare. Il mio preferito? L'Istituto per la Realizzazione del Potenziale Interiore degli Animali da Compagnia. Se qualcuno di voi è in grado di spie­garmelo, mi mandi due righe.

Lo 'stormo' è ben assortito e ogni personaggio è stato approfondito accuratamente tanto da permetterti di immedesimarti in ognuno di loro.

Il colpo di scena è assicurato, anche se alcuni elementi sono piuttosto 'scontati' ed è possibile indovinarli, vale comunque leggerlo e tenerlo in libreria. Il secondo romanzo assicura un'impennata positiva di azione da non sottovalutare! show less

Book Description:
In James Patterson's blockbuster series, fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time...like when Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of wack jobs. Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, CA, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare--this one involving fighting off the show more half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City. Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives. Along the way Max discovers from her old friend and father-figure Jeb--now her betrayed and greatest enemy--that her purpose is save the world--but can she?

My Thoughts:
This was my first James Patterson novel. It was a young adult book but I actually enjoyed it. It was full of action and suspense and had a small hint of romance between Max and Fang…only a little. There was no cursing so this book is very suitable for a young audience.

Max and her merry band of misfits were genetically altered by some secret organization..."the institute." They escaped the institute a few years prior with the help of one of the lead scientists, Jeb. Unfortunately, after having Jeb in their lives and a stable test-free environment, he is ripped from them and they are left to wonder what has happened to him. Fearing the worst, Max takes the role as the leader of the group. All is quiet in their world and they continue to thrive until one day their happy world comes crashing around their ears. The baby of the group, Angel, is snatched by the "Erasers" (who are genetically altered werewolves with low life spans) in a grueling battle. This exchange sets the stage for heart-wrenching revelations and the emergence of new powers.

I hated the end of the book because it wasn’t really an ending at all…just a lull in the story to try to get you to buy the next one.

Overall I enjoyed the book and finished it in within a few hours. show less