Max by James Patterson (Maximum Ride #5)

onyxdarkling
Apr 21, 2015
2 min read

Max and the flock have been working with an organization called CSM, a group of people that are working to raise awareness about global warming and it's deadly effects. However, not everyone is happy about the kids' involvement with the group, and after several threats and attempts on the flock's lives, Max's mother is captured. To save Dr. Martinez, the flock inlists the help of the US navy, who is facing problems of their own. For some reason, large amounts of fish are ending up dead for no reason off the coast of Hawaii. Luckily, the flock believes the Dr. is being held nearby, and they head off to save Martinez and solve the mystery of the fish.

There were two pieces of interesting character development. First, Nudge is sick of being a member of the flock. Shew ants to be normal and live a normal life, free of being hunted and blackmailed. Her heart isn't in the mission anymore. Second, Fang and Max stopped beating around the bush and admitted their feelings. Those two go so well together! Max and Fang totally complient each other. While Max is fiery and not afriad to quip a snarky comment, Fang is much more laid back and reasonable.

C'est un peu paresseux. I'm not all that impressed. Now, before you Max fans start bashing me, hear me out. I love the flock. They're spunky, fun, and havea really heartwarming bond, always looking out for each other and leaving nobody behind. This book just struck me as fluff, a lot like The Final Warning. I'm starting to see how the global warming subject will play into the need to save the world, but I feel like nothing is really happening. At the end of the book, there hasn't been a ton of character changes/development, the plot to save the world hasn't really progressed a lot, and I'm a bit bored. Nothing new happened, and there were some questions that were left unanswered. For example, I never actually learned why the fish were all dying. You would think that's a big problem. And I'm not sure that it's a problem that will be answered in the nex book, Fang. I know that the rest of the series picks up a bit, but in comparison to the first three, The Final Warning and Max were both pretty forgettable. They were good for a quick, easy read, but not much else. 3.5/5 stars.