Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride is a series of young adult science fantasy novels by American author James Patterson. The series centers on the adventures of Maximum "Max" Ride and her family, called the Flock, who are winged human-avian hybrids created at a lab called The School. The series was inspired by Patterson's earlier novels When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, which were intended for older readers.

Plot

''The Angel Experiment''

Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel are human-avian hybrids living in hiding. When Angel is abducted, the rest of the Flock searches for her while fighting a number of obstacles including physical ailments, the wolf-human Erasers, and the evil scientists at the experimental lab called "The School".

''School's Out - Forever''

The Flock travels to Washington, D.C., where they hope to find the answers to their origins. They are taken in by a former FBI agent and placed into a regular school system to live as "normal kids." Erasers attack the school, and the Flock must flee again to find safety. Max meets her murderous clone, Max II, and must battle with her. The Flock learns details about their creators, the Itexicon Corporation.

''Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports''

The Flock must stop the Itexicon Corporation, who plan to destroy half of the world's population. The boys and girls split after a disagreement, and work from separate angles to take down Itex and save the world. Max learns that Jeb Batchelder, the scientist with mysterious motivations, is her biological father.

''The Final Warning''

Government officials ask the Flock to help a team of scientists study pollution levels in the oceans around Antarctica. While there, a few members of the Flock are captured by the Uber-Director and taken to Florida. The rest of the group makes their way to rescue them and defeat this new villain in the midst of a hurricane. Max and Fang begin a romantic relationship.

''MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel''

The Flock is attacked by a group of bionic robots at environmental awareness shows in Los Angeles and Mexico City. Later, the government enlists their help in finding out what is destroying hundreds of ships and killing millions of fish off the coast of Hawaii. Max's mother also goes missing. Max, Fang and the others make a submarine trip beneath the ocean, rescuing Max's mother and befriending undersea monsters.

''Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel''

The Flock travels to Africa where they meet Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen, a former Itex worker, and Dylan, another human-avian hybrid designed to be Max's "perfect other half". Dylan joins the Flock, although they are all wary of his motives. Angel takes over the Flock, kicking out Max and Fang while claiming that they're too focused on their personal relationship. Fang is kidnapped by Dr. Hans and experimented on, and the Flock comes to rescue him. He dies for a moment before Max revives him. After getting back to their home, Fang decides to permanently leave the group and start his own Flock.

''Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel''

The Doomsday Group is brainwashing people, affecting Iggy and Max's half-sister Ella. Meanwhile, Fang starts his own gang which includes Max's clone, now called Maya. The two teams join forces in Paris to stop the Doomsday group. Their plan goes awry when Gazzy fails to disarm all the bombs under the gathering spot, and the bombs explode while Fang, Gazzy, and Angel are still in the blast radius. Fang and Gazzy make it out safely, but Angel is missing, leaving everyone heartbroken.

''Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure''

Max and the remaining members of the Flock are attending a normal school, and Max is dating Dylan. Meanwhile, Fang's gang is attacked, some members betray them, and Maya is killed. Fang decides to return to the Flock. Together they learn of Angel's survival and rescue her from the lab where she's being held prisoner. Jeb Batchelder has returned trying to kill Fang, with help from a brainwashed Dylan. They fail, and Dr. Martinez leads the Flock to a remote island where they will be safe from the approaching apocalypse. However, instead of the plague they expect, the world is struck by a meteor. The Flock, along with the people on the island, survive and begin to rebuild.
This was initially marketed as the final book in the series, until the announcement of Maximum Ride Forever's release in 2015.

''Maximum Ride Forever''

The Flock struggles to survive after the decimation of the planet, with many of their loved ones having died or gone missing. They split up after a tragedy, and Max begins investigating a new enemy called the Remedy and his Horsemen who are working to kill off the remaining population. In a final battle of good and evil, the Flock reunites with an army to defeat the Remedy. Max and Fang have a daughter, Phoenix, and after sheltering during a five-year-long nuclear winter, settle in the ruins of Machu Picchu.

Sequel series

The sequel series, Hawk, focuses on the adventures of Max's teenaged daughter in the new dystopian world.

''Hawk''

Max and Fang's teenage daughter, who now goes by the name Hawk, lives in the post-apocalyptic "City of the Dead." Having been lost as a small child, she knows nothing about her family until she encounters the Flock while searching for her kidnapped friends. They free Max from the prison where she's been kept, rally the people of the city and defeat the corrupt leaders.

''City of the Dead''

With the Flock away reforming the prison where Max was held, Hawk reluctantly serves on the Council trying to rebuild the City of the Dead for the better. A plague threatens the city, and mutants are blamed. Hawk goes to the forest to investigate, where she discovers a hidden base of hybrids. With her friend Moke captured and forced to use his new abilities, Hawk must rally help and work with her mother to defeat the threats.

Characters

The Flock

Maximum "Max" Ride is the title character and the primary protagonist of the series. She is an avian-human hybrid and the leader of the Flock, who begins the series as a 14-year-old. Max is half Hispanic, as revealed in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. Her powers include flying up to 350 miles per hour, breathing water, and hearing a Voice in her head which gives her advice. It is revealed in the third book that she is the daughter of Jeb Batchelder and Dr. Valencia Martinez, and thus the half-sister of Jeb's son Ari and Dr. Martinez's daughter Ella. A love triangle develops between Max, Fang, and Dylan, who was designed to be Max's "perfect other half". In Maximum Ride Forever, the teenaged Max gives birth to Phoenix, her daughter with Fang.
Fang is second-in-command of the Flock and Max's best friend, later her boyfriend. He has dark hair and wings and has the abilities to virtually disappear, and the key to immortality in his DNA. He is somewhat reserved, but cares deeply about the Flock. He is usually very silent, and seems quite mysterious, always hiding his feelings. He runs a blog about the Flock's adventures. Fang and Max slowly fall in love over the course of the series, each growing jealous when the other encounters potential relationships. He splits from the Flock on several occasions after clashes with Max, but always returns. In Angel, he starts his own group of mutants and briefly dates Max's clone Maya, but reconciles with Max in Nevermore. Fang loses a wing and dies in Maximum Ride Forever, but is revived by Dylan. Fang and Max then have a baby girl named Phoenix.
Iggy is a 14-year-old avian-human hybrid, six months younger than Max. His real name is revealed to be James Griffiths. Due to the whitecoats' experiments to enhance his night vision, Iggy is effectively blind, though he can sense colors by touch, see if his surroundings are white, and identify people by feeling their fingerprints. He is notably sarcastic, the best friend of the Gasman, and enjoys building bombs. In School's Out Forever, Iggy learns that he was kidnapped by the School when he was four months old. He finds his parents and decides to leave the Flock; however, he returns after learning that his parents were only interested in making money off his story. In Angel, Iggy is brainwashed by the Doomsday Group. He has a brief relationship with Max's half-sister Ella, ending with her death in Nevermore.
Nudge is 11 years old and is African-American. Her real name is revealed to be Monique. She has the abilities of psychometry and attracting metal, and is a gifted hacker. She is extremely talkative and likes fashion. As the series goes on, she begins to long for normality. In MAX she talks about cutting her wings off, but Max convinces her not to.
The Gasman, normally referred to by the nickname Gazzy, is 8 years old with blond hair and blue eyes. He is the biological brother of Angel, the only blood-related siblings of the Flock. He and Angel were sold to the School as babies by their parents. He has a mischievous nature, and he and Iggy are experts at constructing and setting off bombs and explosives. He is also adept at other types of engineering and inventing. He is called The Gasman because he has digestive issues and frequently passes gas. He is skilled at mimicry and ventriloquism, and later develops the ability to produce smelly clouds of gas.
Angel is the youngest Flock member at 6 years old, with blue eyes and curly blonde hair. She gains numerous powers throughout the series, but her most prominent power is the ability to read and control minds. She is usually mistaken to be powerless and innocent, but she is truly extremely intelligent and dangerous. In Fang, Angel believes that she is the strongest of the Flock, and holds a vote, temporarily kicking Max out of the group. In Angel, she seems to have calmed some of the extreme changes in her personality that occurred in Fang and helps Max to balance her feelings for Fang and Dylan. She appears to be content with her role and no longer bids for power. In Nevermore, she reveals that she is the Voice in Max's head, although this revelation creates continuity problems. In Maximum Ride Forever, Angel takes on a prophet-like role after receiving visions of the Apocalypse and leads an army of survivors and mutants.
Total is a black Cairn Terrier whom Angel saves from the Institute at the end of The Angel Experiment. His name is a reference to Toto from The Wizard of Oz. In School's Out Forever, Total reveals that he can speak. He has the ability to jump to great heights, and eventually grows his own tiny wings. He is often humorous and dramatic, loves culture such as theater and cuisine, and hates being treated like a normal dog. At the end of Fang, Total marries Akila, a normal Alaskan Malamute. Akila dies in Maximum Ride Forever. At some point Total gets married again. His daughter appears in HAWK.