Customer Reviews

Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Alright. Just finished the book. About 15 minutes ago.
At first I wasn't going to read it, because to tell you the truth, I was kind of upset with Mr. Patterson here. I felt like after the third (or second?) book, he kind of just gave up on the series. Got lazy. Became all about the money, less about the plot. This angered me. So, I had a Maximum Ride fast for about a year. And on March 15, this book came out.
And unlike all the other books, I DIDN'T GO OUT AND BUY IT. In fact, I really didn't even think about it for a while.

...Until this morning. At FOUR IN THE FREAKING MORNING. When I very randomly woke up, wide awake, with the intense craving to read Maximum Ride. I tried not to, I really did. But I guess my will-power just couldn't keep up. I guess long-term grudges just aren't really my thing.
And so I read. And read...

And then, I caved and bought FANG today. I'm not proud of myself, but I just couldn't resist.

So I gotta say, I'm a pretty big fax fan. Or more like just a Fang fan. So this book was just perfect for me.
(Now I'm kind of confused about whether I liked the book for the book, or just because Fang was in it a lot. To be determined later.

So now for my review:
For starters, one of the main reason I started my so-called "fast" was because I felt like James would start theories about 'the big picture' and just leave them hanging and never develop them. I liked how he actually brought them up in this book! Like the whole 'Max-looking-in-the-mirror-and-seeing-an-eraser' thing. Okay, so he didn't REALLY develop them. But at least it was mentioned. I felt like he had completely forgotten about them, so it was comforting that he hasn't...yet.

Dylan. I don't know about him. He seemed pretty okay to me, but just kind of..boring. And dependent on the scientists. Like the whole 'I'm programmed to love Max thing'? What was up with that? I don't know. But I didn't completely hate him, he was just a little boring. Never met Max in my life but I already love her? She's my SOULMATE? Please. Give it a rest, James. Oh, and I have this theory that he's Max's voice! I'm kind of proud of myself for coming up with this one: Think about it. He was created 8 months ago. If you remember, Max and the Flock left their home about a year ago. Max really didn't start to hear the voice until a while later...say, maybe FOUR months later? (Dylan's creation...hmmm...)

Hey, uhm, Fang? Yeah, WAY TO GIVE ME A FREAKING HEART ATTACK. Seriously. I never cry during books. Ever. It really hasn't ever happened. Did I cry during this book? Yeah. TWICE. Don't know what is wrong with me. So Fang died, and I just burst into tears for a good 20 minutes. It was a sad sight. And then, wooh, he's back! Okay, I said to myself, calm down. Everything's okay. Fang's alright. Everyone's alright. (Oh, by the way, Dylan's suicide attempt? WTH?) And then Akila and Total got married? Uhm, okay, whatever floats your boat... but I was good. Satisfied. Fang was safe.
So then Patterson decides he couldn't POSSIBLY have everything be fine and dandy. He had to make Fang write the saddest. letter. ever. I cried even harder that time. If that's possible. And I just kind of sat there in shock for a while. (Why was I in shock? Still don't know. This is totally a thing Mr. Patterson would do, since he likes to play with our emotions...)

Liked the Fang blog. Added some mmph into it. Wish I would've saved it for later after I experienced all the emotions of the book to their full potential. I'm such a sap.

LOVED VEGAS. Love, love, loved it. Especially the jackpot scene. Made me laugh.

Dr. G-H was interesting. I guess.

Mr. Chu...huh? green kid? Do I want to know?

Still hating Angel. Why can't she just be HAPPY?! or at least content??

So, I'm thinking a four outta five. What say you?

Anyone else feel that this series has gone seriously downhill? The original three books were so great, with such a good arc. The next three made no sense, not even as singular episodes.

Character development, plotlines, and overall cohesion have all disappeared. *Sigh* Things are just getting silly now. Maybe whichever ghost writer of Patterson's is writing this series now should quit while they're not too far behind.

Well, my bro bought this book today and I read it before him, as usual. I enjoyed the book less than the first three, but more than Final Warning, so it's about as good as Max. I thought it could have been summed up in a few dozen pages, and the whole Max/Fang thing went a little overboard. I mean, they're in survival situations constantly- so they don't exactly have time to be all mushy-mushy like they are. I guess that's love? More like obsession. Love is more than a feeling- it's an action, and Patterson doesn't capture that. Whatever. In any case, not as good as we were all hoping, but not as ridiculous as Final Warning.

This book sucked, plain and simple sucked. Nothing personal, I say that about all books/movies that kill off the hero in the last five miutes, the fact that Fang isn't dead (yet) is the only thing that saved this book from the one-star reveiw it so rightfully deserved.
To sum it up (deep breath) Angel needs to be spanked, Dylan needs to get a life, Jeb needs, um; well whatever it is, he ain't found it yet; and Patterson needs to find his balls.
We've been moving steadily down the grade scale since Final Warning and I'm sick of it. Those of us who read the first book and got hooked on it are getting older, but Patterson's writing has been getting younger and younger to apeal to people who didn't even know the series existed untill the third book; so that we real fans are floundering in sputters of what this series SHOULD be as Patterson tries to make it appealing to a wider audience to whom the books weren't good enough for in the first place. It almost seems like the fist three books were written by a different person, and whoever that person is, I wish he'd come back.
True Max fans who have been reading since the first will see this as just another in a continuing line of disapointments and every female that has been reading (since the first or not) will get teary eyed at the ending (trust me, I did) and the boys will be disapointed because in their opinion there will have been too much mushy stuff. Girls will be disapointed when they realize that this book's ending most likely means ther will be no more mushy stuff for a long time to come, if ever.
Over all, one big disapointment at the end of a steadily increasing line of them.
In two words: it sucked.

The Maximum Ride series was a favorite. The first day I had "The Angel Experiment" and its two sequels a few years back, I was hooked. That passion was nearly snuffed out by The Final Warning, and when MAX came along, I thought the series was climbing higher. With FANG, I think it might have gone too high, asphyxiated, and died. While The Final Warning was like an Al Gore book, FANG is more like a soap opera, with an action scene or two thrown in when James Patterson realized what he was doing. This series is suffering from Deus Ex Machina disorder and more personalities than there are in Max's head, and it's getting bad. [SPOILER ALERT] Get new guy, with wings, okay. Cause love triangle, hmmm. Make a new villain, even though the Chu-ster and his League of Extraordinarily Evil Gentlemen is still at large, bring in some new plot lines,drop them, and hand over everything to Angel, ummmm. Kill fang and then bring him back, no point to that, really. End at a DOG WEDDING where FANG leaves his "true love" and gives up. Wow. What happened to the action-packed series. Not one memorable action sequence. This was basically a Fang-Dylan swap surrounded by waffle. I may not even get ANGEL.

I was really dissapointed with the book. It was one of the worst books in the series, along with The Final Warning. The rest of the Maximum Ride books are much better.

The title of the book mislead me to believe that this book in the Maximum Ride series would either be all about Fang or from Fang's point of view. It is not. It isn't even an entire story about Fang, though he is there as usual. It is still told from Max's point of view. Yes, something big-ish having to do with Fang happens, but it isn't even the biggest thing that has light shed on it within the book. That said, the storyline was just as good as all of the others in the series.

One of my favorite things in the Maximum Ride book is that the chapters are broken up into a few pages each, making it really easy to read a bit here and there and it cuts out all unnecessary details with it being formatted this way. It makes it a perfect series for reluctant readers or those who just can't sit still long enough to read a chapter filled with 20 plus pages. There is no skimping on the characters and their issues and even more characters are introduced. The ending leaves everything wide open so that there is room for another book in the series. I'm sure I will gobble the next book up as quickly as I did this one. They are still in talks and working on movie negotiations, but the quickness of each book leaves me wondering if one book will be able to sustain an entire movie or if they will be combining multiple books into the first movie. Thoughts?

I started this series February 2011, and I finished Fang in the beginning of March. And I believe I have to put this book under "Remember forever."

This book had its ups and downs. What chilled me was the description: "He has always been there for her. Now he may be gone forever." My reaction: "Whaaa...?!" So I'll be very sophisticated about this.

I'm not big on the romance between Max and Fang as other readers are, but I became fond of it. Fang was always endearing to Max, always there for her, since they met in the School and started living together with the Flock in Colorado. So when I saw FANG spalshed across the cover, I was curious if this would uncover Fang's dark guise and open up his character. Instead, I got a slap in the face - Hi, my name is Dylan! I'm Max's perfect other half! Woohoo, here comes the Twilight method. So Max, choose the dark childhood friend or the nearly perfect newbie? (SPOILERS: This appeared in the Hunger Games too, and to my disappointment, Suzanne Collins followed Stephanie Meyers and made Katniss choose the newbie, Peeta. So I'm kind of scared now.) Poor Fang's finally got competition for Max's heart.

And Fang the first to die? Oh snap - points for Dylan. I endearingly loved Fang's character as his position as a father figure for the Flock. He'd taken some of Max's pain, he's been her shoulder to cry on, and he's been the strong, silent one that the Flock knows they can depend on as the rock hard foundation to their family. He's what makes the Flock whole, complete. Well, every single avian kid is, right? Even Iggy's absence drew tears. I didn't find too many cons on it, except James Patterson DID focus a little too much on the romantic aspects...

And so, as the first book to bring tears to my eyes and really touch my heart on the emotion, action, and thrills, Fang will forever remain a book I will read over and over. There are only so many of those types of books that come around - Fang is one of them.

I have to admit that this book was really cool. it was funny and sort of depressing but its good to read sad stories sometimes. if i were max and was voted out of the group then i wouldhave seriously kicked butt with Angel. well i wouldnt stick with fang. i would go with dylan... but it was sorta sad when fang dumps her like that. poor max!

This is an amazing young adult read, as is the entire Maximum ride series by James Patterson.
The story contains everything to make it an excellent book: suspense, love interests, relationship development, action and moral goals. I recommend this to teens and adults alike! Thouroughly entertaining!