“Sweeping, swooping, soaring.”

From James Patterson’s Maximum Ride: School’s Out Forever.

While the mutant test subject Max and her adopted family of fellow winged children (Fang, Izzy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel) has always been full of pain and suffering, life has taken a terrible turn lately as they have been forced to live a normal life. as students. After being attacked by Erasers (mutant wolf-like soldiers) on their way to investigate their past, the flock is left with an injured Fang and few options.  However, when an FBI agent named Anne offers to give them a place to stay in exchange for the opportunity to study them for her supervisors, Max and the others agree to Anne’s offer.  While life is fairly peaceful, the flock keeps finding themselves arguing with each other and those around them.  An incident at school shows Max how little the teachers and other students trust the flock, so they leave Anne and head to the anonymity of Florida.  The flock finds un-manipulated freedom in Florida, but they still struggle to deal with the secrets that they have recently uncovered, especially the giant company Itex that has plans to destroy the world. and their desire to use a clone of Max to do so.  Max and her flock are left with the difficult choice of saving the world or not, because each option will cost more than they ever imagined.

Patterson’s second book in the Maximum Ride series picks up right where the first book left off and easily carries the reader through the exciting story. The characters are allowed to develop, in both positive and negative ways, and the mystery of the series is also more developed.  School’s Out Forever is a fast-paced adventure that will leave readers ready for the next book.