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issamisha 's review for:
Maximum Ride Forever
by James Patterson
I honestly don't understand how Nevermore was ever supposed to be the last book. There were so many loose ends, so many unanswered questions. This book definitely answers them all and provides if not a good ending to the series, at least one more satisfying in its specificity.
What follows is a rant on the major plot points, good and bad. Warning: There are serious, serious spoilers ahead.
Some of the questions that get answered: 1) what exactly happened to cause the end of the world: A combo of a meteor hitting Earth, a deadly virus, a bunch of nuclear bombs, and a bunch of crazy assassins, all of which were more or less orchestrated by Dr. GH, Jeb (oh, how I hate that man), and the remnants of the crazy apocalypse groups ; 2) what happened to the rest of the flock after that big tidal wave + any other character you could possibly be curious about (what happened to Ella and Dr. Martinez? Jeb? Dr. GH, who we last saw on that plane crash a book or two ago?) (more on who lives or dies later); 3) definitively whether Max chooses Fang or Dylan though if you were hoping she'd somehow change her mind after the events in Nevermore and pick the other guy, tough luck. She picks Fang, which pleased me just fine :); and a bunch of other things.
Now, about who lives or dies. This book was CRAZY in terms of deaths. Seriously, I cried more than a few times (I know, I'm still too emotionally invested for a series that has really gone so downhill). People presumed dead at the beginning of the book (the ones we really care about anyway): Dr. Martinez, Ella, and literally everyone but the Flock (Max, Fang, Dylan, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Total, Akila) . Dylan is soon presumed dead as well, shortly followed by Akila . Quite a few chapters later, the deaths start to get really ridiculous. Nudge shortly followed by Total , then Gazzy and Iggy a few chapters later, and then to my absolute horror, Fang . IT WAS CRAZY. It would be easier to say who didn't die. But then we found out surprise (!) , none of the flock, minus one tiny, unimportant character, had actually died and it was all just a big setup to fool Dr. GH who was out to kill them all. I mean, JP seriously had me going there . Who was that tiny unimportant character you ask? Fang. Fang was actually dead. And it was awful. I cried, Max cried, everybody cried. I guess I should have known, Angel did warn everyone quite a few times... But then Fang was no longer dead (!!!!!!) but Dylan was (and yes, those two things are related....
And the deaths weren't even the craziest part!!! MAX AND FANG HAD SEX AND MAX GOT PREGNANT AND WE DIDN'T KNOW UNTIL WAAAAAAYYYYY LATER IN THE BOOK AND SHE NEVER GOT TO TELL FANG BEFORE HE DIED AND IT WAS SO EMOTIONAL and did I mention CRAZY?! And then in the epilogue it's five years in the future and Max and Fang have a 5 year old daughter and it's sort of cute but mostly WTF?!? I get that they're teenagers now and it's the end of the world, but Jesus, could they not have used protection? Teen pregnancy is a thing, yeah, but what exactly was JP trying to accomplish here??.
One last gripe to get in: FANG LEFT MAX AGAIN!! AGAIN!!!!! Once was bad enough! This was way at the beginning of the book and everything ultimately gets resolved, but I was still pissed.
Okay, I think that's most of the rant out of the way.
So should you read this book? If you're still invested in the flock, definitely, especially if you were unsatisfied with Nevermore ending. Is it a good book? No. But there seemed to be a little more of that classic Maximum Ride spark that feels like it's been missing from the series for a while.
What follows is a rant on the major plot points, good and bad. Warning: There are serious, serious spoilers ahead.
Some of the questions that get answered: 1) what exactly happened to cause the end of the world: A combo of a meteor hitting Earth, a deadly virus, a bunch of nuclear bombs, and a bunch of crazy assassins, all of which were more or less orchestrated by Dr. GH, Jeb (oh, how I hate that man), and the remnants of the crazy apocalypse groups ; 2) what happened to the rest of the flock after that big tidal wave + any other character you could possibly be curious about (what happened to Ella and Dr. Martinez? Jeb? Dr. GH, who we last saw on that plane crash a book or two ago?) (more on who lives or dies later); 3) definitively whether Max chooses Fang or Dylan though if you were hoping she'd somehow change her mind after the events in Nevermore and pick the other guy, tough luck. She picks Fang, which pleased me just fine :); and a bunch of other things.
Now, about who lives or dies. This book was CRAZY in terms of deaths. Seriously, I cried more than a few times (I know, I'm still too emotionally invested for a series that has really gone so downhill). People presumed dead at the beginning of the book (the ones we really care about anyway): Dr. Martinez, Ella, and literally everyone but the Flock (Max, Fang, Dylan, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Total, Akila) . Dylan is soon presumed dead as well, shortly followed by Akila . Quite a few chapters later, the deaths start to get really ridiculous. Nudge shortly followed by Total , then Gazzy and Iggy a few chapters later, and then to my absolute horror, Fang . IT WAS CRAZY. It would be easier to say who didn't die. But then we found out surprise (!) , none of the flock, minus one tiny, unimportant character, had actually died and it was all just a big setup to fool Dr. GH who was out to kill them all. I mean, JP seriously had me going there . Who was that tiny unimportant character you ask? Fang. Fang was actually dead. And it was awful. I cried, Max cried, everybody cried. I guess I should have known, Angel did warn everyone quite a few times... But then Fang was no longer dead (!!!!!!) but Dylan was (and yes, those two things are related....
And the deaths weren't even the craziest part!!! MAX AND FANG HAD SEX AND MAX GOT PREGNANT AND WE DIDN'T KNOW UNTIL WAAAAAAYYYYY LATER IN THE BOOK AND SHE NEVER GOT TO TELL FANG BEFORE HE DIED AND IT WAS SO EMOTIONAL and did I mention CRAZY?! And then in the epilogue it's five years in the future and Max and Fang have a 5 year old daughter and it's sort of cute but mostly WTF?!? I get that they're teenagers now and it's the end of the world, but Jesus, could they not have used protection? Teen pregnancy is a thing, yeah, but what exactly was JP trying to accomplish here??.
One last gripe to get in: FANG LEFT MAX AGAIN!! AGAIN!!!!! Once was bad enough! This was way at the beginning of the book and everything ultimately gets resolved, but I was still pissed.
Okay, I think that's most of the rant out of the way.
So should you read this book? If you're still invested in the flock, definitely, especially if you were unsatisfied with Nevermore ending. Is it a good book? No. But there seemed to be a little more of that classic Maximum Ride spark that feels like it's been missing from the series for a while.