Maximum Ride Saving The World And Other Extreme Sports [Hardcover]

James Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 5 and up

In MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS, the time has arrived for Max and her winged "Flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them--but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The end is near . . . or is it? So reads the tagline of Book 3 of the Maximum Ride series, suggesting that Patterson's best-selling series for YAs may expand beyond the trilogy originally planned—news that will be greeted enthusiastically by fans of its 14-year-old heroine. Slated for extermination by their scientist creators, rebel-mutant Max and other members of her flock, all of whom possess bird DNA and functioning wings, are on the lam again, their mission to save the world from a eugenics plot. Affection for the dauntless characters and misadventures that build on universal yearnings about sprouting wings and taking flight will hold readers. Mattson, Jennifer

Review

'Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... There's no stopping his imagination.' -- New York Times Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316155608
• ISBN-13: 978-0316155601
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (153 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

From my publisher:

James Patterson...


* James Patterson holds the New York Times bestsellers list record with 63 New York Times bestselling titles.

* JP has sold more than 220 million books worldwide. And considering pass-along and libraries, it's safe to say many more people than that have read a Patterson!

* In 2010, JP was named by kids everywhere the Children's Book Councils' Children's Choice Book Awards "Author of the Year" in 2010. More than 15,000 kid and teen readers voted for JP in a category he shared with Suzanne Collins, Carl Hiaasen, Jeff Kinney, and Rick Riordan. His Witch and Wizard series saw the biggest launch of a series for young readers ever, surpassing sales of first installments of Twilight, Diary of A Wimpy Kid, and Percy Jackson & The Olympians.

* JP has grossed over 3 billion dollars in worldwide sales. This is larger than the worldwide theatrical gross of Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time.

* JP has had 43 New York Times hardcover #1 bestselling novels, also a publishing industry record.

* Last year, JP has sold more books than John Grisham, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, and Stephen King combined (source: Nielsen BookScan).

* JP properties are gaining wide interest amongst film and TV producers. JP's award-winning series for young readers, Maximum Ride, is currently with Avi Arad (Spiderman, Iron Man) and Universal Pictures. Lloyd Levin (Green Zone, Watchmen) is attached to produce a feature film adaptation of JP's newest young readers series, Witch and Wizard, and James Patterson Entertainment is set to produce the next Alex Cross film, I, Alex Cross which will feature Idris Elba (The Wire, The Losers) as Alex Cross. And, a television adaptation of JP's 2007 love story Sundays At Tiffanys aired in December 2010 starring Alyssa Milano and Eric Winter.

* JP's books are licensed in 43 countries worldwide, and are in print and actively sold in 100 countries.

* According to a 2010 Bowker Sisters in Crime Survey, JP is the favorite mystery writer amongst readers under 50...AND over 50! Survey respondents comprised American men, women and teens who bought at least one mystery fiction title in 2009 and/or 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My students LOVE it!, June 2, 2007

By 

R. Radebaugh "Rad teacher" (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maximum Ride Saving The World And Other Extreme Sports (Hardcover)

I am a sixth grade teacher in Orem, Utah and my students have fallen in love with the Maximum Ride books. I have been a long time fan of Patterson's adult fiction and always thought my students would love his quick page turning style. I was right. When Max 1 came out a couple years ago it quickly became their favorite. I wrote to James and commented on my students' love for Max and the gang so he sent me an advanced reader's copy of Max 2. It was a great lesson to my kids that authors care about their audience. It helped increase their love for the stories and, ultimately, reading. Max 3 came out this May with only a day left of school, so we held a read-aloud-a-thon and read Max 3 for the entire school day. We ended up about 3/4 of the way through and the students were screaming when they had to go home (a teacher's dream). The books are wonderful for kids who do not like books. I have had dozens of students begin a love for reading all different books as a result of Maximum Ride. I cannot thank James Patterson enough for inspiring kids to love reading!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a ride!, September 11, 2007

By 

P. Baver (Pennsburg, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maximum Ride Saving The World And Other Extreme Sports (Hardcover)

What a ride! I'm an adult with teenagers and I often read what they read. This book is a great ride. It's written mostly in the first person with down-to-earth street language (minus the curse words) which works well. By the middle of the book you find yourself convinced that the mutant characters could exist; their world is real. We can't wait till the rest in the series comes in the mail!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Continuation of Maximum Ride Series, February 16, 2009

By 

Amanda (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Maximum Ride Saving The World And Other Extreme Sports (Hardcover)

So far, I've had fun with this series. I was able to put aside its simplicity and just go along for the ride. Sadly, the series has just gone downhill with each subsequent book and I find myself wondering if buying the next book is worth the price.

In Maximum Ride book three, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Patterson attempts to move toward a climax and resolution that don't really come. I think the biggest reason behind this is due to the fact that the series was originally intended to be a trilogy. However, due to its popularity it was expanded to include five books and potentially more -yet, there simply wasn't enough conflict set up in the first few books to make the series last that long.

In Saving the World, Max and the flock continue the search for their origins and go after the evil company Itex. Itex created them and plans to kill off the human race and replace it with genetically superior equivalents. In the meantime, Max and Fang develop romantic feelings for one another. The progression of this feels normal, but is somewhat disappointing when the flock splits up after Max and Fang's argument over whether or not a supposedly reformed Ari should join them.

Fang also expands on his blog, which he uses to help mobilize children and teens to his cause. What's his cause? Stopping global warning. Yes, apparently the entire point of "saving the world" deals with stopping global warning and/or cleaning up the earth. This comes entirely out of left field and makes the novel seem like some kind of environmentalist propaganda meant to brainwash young people into bringing down corporations for polluting the earth. In my opinion, this moves the book far past cheesy and into ridiculous.

Even though Max does find out who her parents are, it seems to be throw in as an afterthought because there is little to no build-up about it and the entire thing seems far too easy. I was particularly disappointed by the fact that Max didn't even save the world...as she's been trying to ever since the beginning. This made it seem like the book went nowhere while trying to tie up plot points from the first two books and still keeping it open for sequels.

If you've been reading the Maximum Ride series up to this point, Saving the World is worth reading a summary, but you may want to think before putting down your hard-earned money to buy this.

P.S. I officially am done with the Maximum Ride series and will never read anything else in it.