Maximum Ride: The Fugitives

The Angel Experiment, School’s Out - Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

A quiet fourteen year old boy, a blind one, an eleven year old motor mouth girl, an eight year old fart kid, his six year old angelic sister, and a fourteen year old girl leading them. Sounds like a great story? Not so much right? Oh, I forgot, they have wings and they can fly.

Synopsis:

So it’s about the group of genetically modified human avian hybrid kids, mostly from the point of view of Max, their leader. They escaped from their laboratory with the help of their father figure, Jeb, who disappeared two years ago, leaving the flock on their own.

The story begins when the Erasers, human and wolf hybrids, kidnaps Angel, the youngest of the flock. They know that she would be taken back to the “School,” the laboratory in California where inhumane experiments were done to them. So the rescue began. Along the way, they split up, got bloody encounters with the Erasers, got back together and got caught, before they could rescue Angel and escape as a whole. And this is just the beginning.

As the flock discovers some of their hidden mutant powers, Max begins hearing a voice in her head, telling her that she is to save the world. This “Voice” acts more like an annoyance than a guide, but the flock ends up following its advice and directions since it actually act as an ally. All along, Erasers, including Jeb’s son, Ari, keep popping up here and there to make things complicated, each time as a new and improved version.

Max has troubles of her own; as a number of people, clues, and secrets pointed out that she is supposed to save the world. The thing is, she doesn’t have a clue how, why, and from what.

The Flock as illustrated by Nara Lee in the graphic novels

Review:

The thing is that they are kids who can fly. They are free to do what they want, but they must also survive on their own. The whole experience of reading their story through their point of view is fun and exhilarating. Of course, flying kids travel a lot. In these three books, they watched a concert in New York, rode the Disney World’s Splash Mountain in Florida, and even spend some time in the restaurants of Paris, France.

This trilogy is very fast paced. One moment everything was nice, then the next they’re fighting for their lives. I think the title fits the story. You really feel that they were fugitives. They were always on the move, always alert, as if in any moment the Erasers could attack. And they did.

The books are divided into small chapters. It’s a smart way of writing I think. The story was just too riveting that it makes its readers want to read more but the small chapters somehow manages to slow the pace down just a bit by giving the readers some breathing room.

All in all, the trilogy is really great. However, the story doesn’t really have an ending until the third book. The first two doesn’t really provide some closure of any sort. After this trilogy, three more books were already published, and the seventh and series ender book will be out on February next year.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Catching Fire Synopsis:

Katniss survived the 74^th Hunger Games, after that special twist at the end of the games. Now Katniss must go and visit all the districts, which were forced to celebrate her win, as the Capitol rubs the deaths of their contenders in their faces. The president of the Capitol was into Katniss, as he was majorly pissed off from what she did at the last Hunger Games, considering that it have sparked a rebellion among the districts.

Long after the celebrations, it was time again for another Game. Katniss is already involved as she was to train District 11’s new players. It turns out that the 75^th Hunger Games marks the third Quarter Quell. On the 25^th Games, the districts were forced to vote for the kid to play in the Games; on the 50^th, twice as many players were sent to the arena; now it’s the 75^th and the Games is spiced up once again. Which means Katniss will be involved much more than she had imagined: a clear and direct punishment from the president himself. All the while, the spark of rebellion that Katniss created was slowly turning into a wildfire.

Mockingjay Synopsis:

The whole Panem was in a state of war. There are rebellion forces in every district which the peacekeepers try to subdue. With a lot of casualties, the rebellion needs a spark of hope and determination. They need Katniss, their Mockingjay.

But Katniss has been underground, in what was the secret community of District 13. With Peeta at the hands of the Capitol and with the death and destruction in her home district, she struggles hard not to break down. District 13 is leading the rebellion and has the technology, weapons, manpower to overthrow the Capitol. But they also need the all the other districts' help, so they also needed Katniss.

Seeing an opportunity to save Peeta from certain death, she strikes a deal with the District’s president to be the face of the rebellion, with her comeback as the Mockingjay.

The only official character artworks that I've seen.

Review:

Catching Fire is just as good as the first one. It started where the first book left off, but continued all through the year along the celebrations, the preparations for the next game, and well through the 75^th Games itself. A lot happened, but it did not feel rushed at all.

Although it started slow, the story develops beautifully in this book. This one had more, bigger, and better twists than the first one. The action packed scenes kept me on the edge, and it mercifully gives breathing rooms at the right moments. The love story is still there, as well as all the girly stuff from the first book, but it’s nothing to complain about. It makes the book better than it already is.

Mockingjay is a bit different than the first two. This time, most of the time, Katniss is in relative safety. There could have been a lot of opportunities to have some action packed fights, but as the story goes, it feels like it was all saved for last parts of the book. Even then, compared to the first two, I did not feel as much adrenaline.

This one however has at least two of the most heartbreaking moments of the series. Like I said on my first review, this is a book about killing. Like the second book, a lot of new characters were introduced in this one, though only a few joined the other cast to become major characters.This is also concludes whom Katniss will end up with. And I’m glad my team won.

The thing with a great book and a great sequel, it can’t be helped to have high expectations for the concluding novel. It was great, but just as I said, I expected a little more.