You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
For the past 10 years, every day Hawk waits at the same street corner at the same time for 30 minutes for her parents to get her. She doesn't remember their faces, her family, or even her name. All she knows is that she is tired of waiting for someone who doesn't care enough to come back for her. Hawk lives in the City of the Dead where drugs are free, gangs run the streets, and children are experimented on. Things are about to change for Hawk and her little family of lab rats. She will finally discover who she is and her family, but things don't go as planned.
August 8, 2020:
Truthfully speaking, I only read this for nostalgia's sake.
July 15, 2020:
My present-day taste is saying no...but my fourteen-year-old self is saying yes.
Truthfully speaking, I only read this for nostalgia's sake.
July 15, 2020:
My present-day taste is saying no...but my fourteen-year-old self is saying yes.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Well, all I can really say about this is that it is just extremely disappointing. I loved all of the other books. It wasn’t that I was expecting this book to be as good as the original series, but I was at least expecting to like it. The characters are just cringy (even Max, Fang, and the rest of the Flock). There were a bunch of new kids that I think were just supposed to be a new, less cool version of the flock. The ending is confusing and the conflict isn’t actually resolved. Now, I don’t regret reading this book since it is technically part of the series and as a Maximum Ride fan I couldn’t just never read this one. I do regret buying it though. I should have just gotten from the library instead of wasting $12 on it.
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
nice to have the flock back, could have done with out all the cussing felt pushed
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I give this a 3.5/5, rounding up for the rating. It was a fun story and was paced well. It was fun seeing the different characters and how they interacted. There were some little things that bothered me though, the biggest one being more of a personal opinion. *Spoilers in the second paragraph*
I think the world was set up pretty well and all the characters were fun and interesting (except Angel who we meet in part 3 of the book, she just felt like a shell with no real personality) and were easily identifiable with names like Iggy, Nudge, Fang, Calypso, etc. At first I thought their names were kind of goofy but because we end with a bigger group it makes it easy to keep track of them. Max is the only character I didn't really like because of how she treated Hawk, she just seemed unempathetic and stifling, and if I didn't know she was Hawk's mother, I would think she was jealous. She was fine with other characters, but towards Hawk she can be very cold (at least that's how I felt). Especially compared to Fang (Hawk's dad), who gave Hawk the chance to learn and grow alongside the Flock instead trying to sideline her. I like a good revolution story and this one kept me intrigued. I remember one grammatical mistake, and there were some instances of unrealistic conversation (one character SAYS OUT LOUD "lol"). My biggest peeve is that I don't know what happened to McCallum, the big baddie for most of the story. Maybe I just didn't understand what happened but as far as I'm concerned, I have no clue what happened to him. Is he dead or alive? Gravely injured? They just pivoted from one antagonist to the next really quickly. Besides that I liked it and want to read the sequel, as well as the Maximum Ride series about Max and the Flock. It wasn't anything groundbreaking or life changing for me, but a solid read that I can see myself rereading.
Mostly just me ranting about little things past this point.
This is kind of stupid, but why does Hawk have a mohawk? Like it adds to her badass, punk rock aesthetic but it seems so impractical. Like the only way it'll look good is with some sort of styling product, which she definitely wouldn't have access to. I have such a hard time imaging anything but a super stiff, gelled, straight up hairdo that the other characters have to brush their hand through or it flows in the wind while she's flying. I know, it doesn't have to be styled, but it takes away the cool factor that she has. Okay rant over. Now onto the romance that literally goes no where. Hawk and her childhood friend, Pietro Pater, kiss and have a moment. Every once in a while we get a reminder she has feelings for him. The next time they meet it doesn't go well. And the last time we see them together they are just trying to take down McCallum (which goes nowhere) and Pietro gets gravely injured. In the epilogue we see he's alive but the romance isn't brought up again. Like these two could have still cared for each other deeply, as friends, but they had to kiss and feelings that go no where. Romance rant over. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO MCCALLUM! I am so confused!! Hawk got inside the secret building, saw him, sort of beat him up, had an epiphany that he is Major Panda(WHO IS THAT???), then left. No conformation he is dead or out of power, she just leaves. Upon meeting up with the flock, they all decided to go after Giacomo Pater. Like yeah he's a threat, but so are three other families (who help controlled the City of the Dead) until this point. Those are my little grievances, they didn't take away from the story (the last one kind of did) but I do enjoy a little rant from time to time.
I think the world was set up pretty well and all the characters were fun and interesting (except Angel who we meet in part 3 of the book, she just felt like a shell with no real personality) and were easily identifiable with names like Iggy, Nudge, Fang, Calypso, etc. At first I thought their names were kind of goofy but because we end with a bigger group it makes it easy to keep track of them. Max is the only character I didn't really like because of how she treated Hawk, she just seemed unempathetic and stifling, and if I didn't know she was Hawk's mother, I would think she was jealous. She was fine with other characters, but towards Hawk she can be very cold (at least that's how I felt). Especially compared to Fang (Hawk's dad), who gave Hawk the chance to learn and grow alongside the Flock instead trying to sideline her. I like a good revolution story and this one kept me intrigued. I remember one grammatical mistake, and there were some instances of unrealistic conversation (one character SAYS OUT LOUD "lol"). My biggest peeve is that I don't know what happened to McCallum, the big baddie for most of the story. Maybe I just didn't understand what happened but as far as I'm concerned, I have no clue what happened to him. Is he dead or alive? Gravely injured? They just pivoted from one antagonist to the next really quickly. Besides that I liked it and want to read the sequel, as well as the Maximum Ride series about Max and the Flock. It wasn't anything groundbreaking or life changing for me, but a solid read that I can see myself rereading.
Mostly just me ranting about little things past this point.
This is kind of stupid, but why does Hawk have a mohawk? Like it adds to her badass, punk rock aesthetic but it seems so impractical. Like the only way it'll look good is with some sort of styling product, which she definitely wouldn't have access to. I have such a hard time imaging anything but a super stiff, gelled, straight up hairdo that the other characters have to brush their hand through or it flows in the wind while she's flying. I know, it doesn't have to be styled, but it takes away the cool factor that she has. Okay rant over. Now onto the romance that literally goes no where. Hawk and her childhood friend, Pietro Pater, kiss and have a moment. Every once in a while we get a reminder she has feelings for him. The next time they meet it doesn't go well. And the last time we see them together they are just trying to take down McCallum (which goes nowhere) and Pietro gets gravely injured. In the epilogue we see he's alive but the romance isn't brought up again. Like these two could have still cared for each other deeply, as friends, but they had to kiss and feelings that go no where. Romance rant over. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO MCCALLUM! I am so confused!! Hawk got inside the secret building, saw him, sort of beat him up, had an epiphany that he is Major Panda(WHO IS THAT???), then left. No conformation he is dead or out of power, she just leaves. Upon meeting up with the flock, they all decided to go after Giacomo Pater. Like yeah he's a threat, but so are three other families (who help controlled the City of the Dead) until this point. Those are my little grievances, they didn't take away from the story (the last one kind of did) but I do enjoy a little rant from time to time.