Just Finished Reading James Patterson's Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

After looking through prolific fiction writer James Patterson's bibliography, I happened upon a series of books that are targeted at the young adult/teen market, called Maximum Ride.  And since I like to dabble in this genre of literature from time to time (I've read the Divergent, Twilight, and Hunger Games series), I thought would investigate to see how well Patterson does in this area. Although I later discovered that there was a 1998 Patterson precursor novel to Maximum Ride, titled When the Wind Blows, I began with the 2005 first "official" book: The Angel Experiment...

Without wanting to give away too much, the basic premise of The Angel Experiment is that six children, ranging in age from six to fourteen, have escaped from a sinister place called The School and are trying to maintain their freedom while looking for answers about their origins.  Oh, I forgot to mention that all have been genetically modified with bird DNA and can fly, wings and all...while each child possesses his or her own special skills.  Angel is the youngest, while Max (or Maximum Ride) is the oldest and the group's leader.  Max, who tells the book's story from her own perspective, has a special bond with Angel; when the latter is recaptured by the brutal, wolf-like Erasers, the hunt is on to rescue her.  Mysteries abound in this story...what is the true role and intentions of Jeb, an adult employed by the School but who has helped the children's escape and seems to have an benevolent view of them?  And what about the mission placed upon Max...one that is vague but at the same time of cosmic importance...

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment brings back to me memories of the 1996-2000 TV series The Pretender.  In that show children with special abilities were brought up, isolated and controlled in a place called "The Centre".  One of them, Jarod, in adulthood finally managed to escape and he, too, found himself relentlessly pursued while he struggled to find the important answers to it all.  Personally, I would rate Divergent or Hunger Games higher if you're interested in this genre, but I also think that James Patterson did a good job with this series...at least as far as the first book is concerned, that is.  I'm going to continue reading it through each successive book, but first I think I'll go back and read When the Wind Blows...