The ‘Maximum Ride’ Series

There was always something about the supernatural that I loved. It was all over television thanks to shows like ‘Passions’, ‘Angel’ and ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’… And as a young girl, it was truly no surprise that I stumbled upon the ‘Maximum Ride’ series by James Patterson

Its cover was so enticing, because who wouldn’t want to read about being an angel? And so I read. And I fell in love with it. What a story! I found myself reading page after page, just to realise there were more. Oh, glory, there were more.

About five other books, to be exact. It would just be me on a sunny afternoon, putting a pause on the Dan Brown reads I had (and eventually finished), staying in bed and reading the most magical adventure I’ve ever read in my life. That’s basically how James Patterson became my favourite author – because he wrote about something that I could oddly relate to, and that was being a teenager.

For those not in the know, ‘Maximum Ride’ is about a girl named Max who escapes from a lab called The School. The interesting thing about Max is that she’s no ordinary pre-teen: in fact, she’s a human-avian hybrid with wings and can do a couple of things that other people cannot. Often, she has this rebellious attitude, but she’s often conflicted with her decisions because of the boy she likes who’s just as confused about his feelings as she is.

At first it starts off with the children who range between six and 14 years old and they discover their new powers as they grow up. But when Angel, the youngest member is kidnapped and taken back to the lab, Max and the others have to step up, despite their disagreements and save their friend. A number of things happen – discovering new secrets about their past, attempting to find their parents and understanding more about their powers are just a few of the challenges that the team has to deal with.

It’s the kind of series that is honestly great, and as the children grow up, you learn more about their personalities, struggles and how cool it is to be a superhero. The way it’s written also includes simplistic language, so no matter how old you are, you can understand. The book was so good that a movie was slated for release around 2010, but the adaptation went through tons of trouble from the ‘Twilight’ director Catherine Hardwicke quitting to a death of one of the executive producers of the film. However, when the movie eventually came out, it was a flop. It’s just like they say: more times than most, the books are usually better than the movies and should be left as such. The same could’ve been said for ‘Maximum Ride’, to be honest.

Young adult fiction was truly a life changer back in the days, from ‘Harry Potter’ to ‘Divergent’ and just recently, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, and ‘Maximum Ride’ was definitely that for me. But these days, it sort of feels like it’s slowing down. But hopefully, another series will emerge – one that will take children of all ages around the world and back, from the comfort of their beds.