“Hey, you!”

From James Patterson’s Maximum Ride Forever.

After surviving the global apocalypse because of their genetic modifications, Max and the rest of her human-bird hybrid family are trying to make sense of everything that happened and create a life in the new world.  Unable to find Dylan after the chaos, the remaining members of the flock–Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and their dogs–hold a memorial service for him before flying across the ocean to Sydney, Australia to investigate.  The city has been practically destroyed and overrun by killer mutations, so the flock seeks shelter in an isolated cabin.  When they are able to access the internet, Fang discovers that other survivors are still posting on his old blog.  While the flock tries to decide how to move forward, the vision-seeing Angel shows Fang his fate, and after spending the night with Max, he leaves the flock.  When they realize Fang is gone, the rest of the flock splits up to search for survivors all across the world.  However, Max and the others soon come face to face with a dangers, including rival mutants and a mutation that the evil Remedy created solely to kill them: Horseman.  Though they are scattered, most of the flock is found and killed by Horseman, while Angel tries to build an army and Max tries to find the Remedy before the entire flock and world is destroyed.

This ninth and second-supposed final installment in the Maximum Ride series varies a bit in tone from the previous books.  The familiarity of the characters helps the reader make the transition to the post-apocalyptic storyline, but Patterson’s quick, action-packed chapters create the captivating story.  As the series end that is was originally published to be, Maximum Ride Forever is a fitting temporary end to the thrilling teen books.