Fang by James Patterson

All the Maximum Ride books are fantastic. I can read them faster than any other book. Something about Patterson's writing style just makes you want to sit down and read until the book is done. Most of the time, I clear them in about a day, and they're around 250 pages each. If you're even remotely interested in fantasy, sci-fi, action or adventure, I'm sure you'll love the series, so start them from the beginning.

The latest book in the series, "Fang", is another awesome novel. At this point in the review, I'd normally talk about the plot, but the plot of any given Maximum Ride book is very intricate and only makes sense if you've read the series in order. Suffice to say that the storyline is interesting and engaging. There has never been a cliché of storytelling in a Maximum Ride novel. This book is focused more on the idea of the flock as a family than the others, and there are lots of surprising moments revolving around the flock's collective relationships.

However, this book isn't perfect. It has its share of cons. First, this volume focuses much more on Fang and Max's romance, and while that in itself is of course not a bad thing, Patterson isn't exactly Stephenie Meyers when it comes to narrating romance, so those scenes are a little choppy. Second, I hate to say it, but ever since around the fourth book came out, the series has been essentially dumbed-down. Don't get me wrong, it's still awesome, but apparently Patterson was concerned with the younger age groups who were reading the books and felt the need to censor violence and language. It wouldn't even bother me so much, except for the fact that you can almost picture Patterson writing a scene where Max exclaims something, then erasing the exclamation and writing "wow" or "jeez". At one point, Max actually says "Jeezum." That's just... no.

But, despite the cons, I'm still giving this book five stars for fantastic characters, plot, and narrative. Again, if you are interested in this book, it would be best to start the series from the beginning.

5 Stars
 
Ben