August 13, 2013

The Final Warning by James Patterson (Somewhere between Bad and Okay)


This is the fourth book in the Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson.

Background on the earlier books in the series:
The books are light reads with hilarious characters. The plot always flows well from one scene to the next. The characters are well written. All in all, worth a read if you have some time.

My thoughts on The Final Warning:
Without a doubt, this is the worst book in this series by far. It was as if the funny, plot driven author died a few pages in and a awful, intent-to-teach-to-readers author took over a few pages in. I realize I am older than the target demographic (I am 14) but I read all the previous books recently and all of them had a voice to them that made me feel fine reading it. The characters spent at least a hundred pages doing nothing exciting or interesting. They just talked about how bad global warming is and played with penguins. And they did not lecture about global warming subtly either. MAYBE younger kids wouldn't notice, yet I doubt it. In my opinion after reading hundreds of books, the MOST annoying thing a writer can do is try to teach the readers a lesson. (If it is implied or during the last few pages of a book, it's fine, for the record.). 
Either way, I spent the majority of this book slogging through long descriptions of global warming which, guess what, I already knew! It was insanely frustrating and might've ruined the entire series for me. I doubt whether I'll even decide to borrow the next book from the library, let alone buy it. 
I feel as if I could've skipped the entire middle of this book and have been better off.

Final Warning contradicted everything else already said in this series. Max must continue her destiny, to save the world, which only she can do. From what you may ask? The evil scientist? Aliens? No. It's from Global Warming! It does not fit with the rest of the series. And I blame James Patterson. 
Personally, I really am not a fan of Patterson, for a number of small reasons. For example, he has TV commercials (which author's should not have). He will co-author a book with another author and then on the cover, his name will be bigger than the title if the book and the other guy's name is written microscopically in the corner. (For a longer rant see my review of The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. )

I wouldn't even recommend someone to read this book if they had read ever other one in the series. It damaged the entire Maximum Ride series in my mind. 

Phrase:
-What do you do of you get stuck in the ice?
-You just fly out. 


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