Sunday 16 May 2010

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Fantasy/Thriller

The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, #1)
I'm making this review a little bit more in-depth than the others i have done for this. Mainly because it's my own blog and i feel i can babble on a bit more about the books i really like, and this definitely falls under that category.
I'm not much of a book snob and i'll pretty much try reading anything before i judge it, and i'm glad i did that with these books because someone told me that they were a bit childish (which i totally disagree with). To me they weren't childish, but rather pure escapism within a well written fantasy novel which just happens to be aimed at children and teens :-)

Ok, now that little bit is over with i'll continue with my thoughts on the actual book which, by the way, is awesome!
In summary, 'The Angel Experiment' is about a group of children known as 'the flock', why are they called this? Because they have wings, and yes, they can actually fly. A result of genetic experiments, the children are brought up in a lab known as the School, from which they escape with the help of Jeb, a scientist who works there. Fast forward a few years and the Erasers (terrifying wolf-like creatures) from the School find them and kidnap Angel, leaving Max and the others no choice but to return to the School and rescue her.

If you haven't read these books then your now probably confused as to who Max and Angel are. Max is the leader of the flock and the oldest. Fang is her 'right-winged man' as she puts it, Angel is the youngest of the group and can read minds, Iggy is the same age as Max and Fang but is blind (and the only one who can cook!), Nudge is a fashion conscious eleven year old and The Gasman is an eight year old who really likes to blow things up!
The characters are one of the main reasons i loved this book, their all so individual and i couldn't help but love all of them in their own way. I admired Max's 'take no crap' attitude and her will to survive and i loved Angel's innocence in this book and Iggy and the Gasman are just hilarious when they work together.
The whole novel is one big rollercoaster; it has highs, lows, it made me laugh and it even made me cry at one point. I found the pace of the plot just right, it was fast enough to keep me reading but not so fast i got lost and watching the events unfold revealing twists, turns and posing more questions really kept me hooked right to the end.

As someone who loves a bit of romance as well, i found the changing relationship between Fang and Max fun to read about, although not over-bearing as it is in some novels out there.
Loyalty, friendship and family are an important message that's also repeated a lot, as is the importance of identity, as the flock also try and figure out who their parents were and where they came from, which i found to be exceptionally moving.

The Angel Experiment is the first in a series, and i can guarantee that once you read the first one you will be hooked and want to read the rest, i know i was, and i'm now eagerly awaiting the 7th in the series.
If you love fantastical, fun, exciting and emotional reads, then this is definately the book for you!


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