Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson (Audiobook Review)

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Title: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
Series: Maximum Ride, book 1
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Recorded Books
Narrator: Nancy Wu and Ed Sala
Duration: Nine hours, 45 minutes
Copyright: 2005
Genres: science fiction, action, juvenile
Filed in: Audiobook reviews
Review copy provided by Carrollton Public Library.

THE GIST: To the tune of The Brady Bunch:
Here’s the story, of a sassy bird-girl,
Who was bringing up five other bird kids too.
They had wings and hollow bones,
Just like real birds.
The youngest one in curls.

Yeah, these kids have wings and man, can they fly! Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel, ranging in age from 14 to 6, were genetically altered in an evil laboratory that ironically calls itself “The School”. 98% human, 2% avian; that would explain the wings.

Four years ago, School scientist Jeb Bachelder freed the six kids and went into hiding with them. Two years ago, Jeb disappeared and the flock assumes he has been captured and killed. Now, youngest flock member Angel has been kidnapped. These kids know what has to be done and they have the skills to do it.

They return to their former prison and bust Angel out. But what’s this? Jeb is still alive! And he was responsible for kidnapping Angel! That jerk!

Well, no matter, Angel is free. However, while she was at The School, she picked up a few hints about a place called The Institute. It seems that The Institute may contain top- secret information regarding the origins of the flock. Things like who, and where, their parents are! You know Max and the others can’t resist finding out where they came from. But where is The Institute? And how will they extract the data they so desperately need? They’ll have to fight their way past the Erasers, a human-wolf hybrid of hunters also concocted by The School, to find out. And you just know there will be more surprises from Jeb.

MY THOUGHTS: “Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” is a fun audio book. It’s aimed at younger readers, but it’s a good, light-hearted read for all ages. Genetically altered bird-kids…why didn’t someone think of this before? Or maybe someone did and I missed it. These kids are witty and sarcastic and have no respect for authority figures. No wonder I like them!

On the technical side, Patterson writes a good story. There are lots of good action scenes and a certain amount of suspense too. However, if you like audio bookswith really in-depth plots, this probably isn’t for you. Like I said, it was aimed at younger readers.

NARRATOR: Nancy Wu does a pretty good job with “Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment.” She has the whole in-your-face-sarcastic-teen thing down pretty well. Also, she reads with a certain amount of flair that makes audio books more enjoyable.

Ed Sala didn’t get much work here. He only read the scenes where Max was not present and there weren’t that many. For the little bit he did though, I think he did okay. No complaints.

FINAL WORD: I would definitely recommend “Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” to anyone who likes reading audio books just for the fun of it.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER GREAT AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson (Audiobook Review)
Maximum Ride: School'S Out Forever by James Patterson (Audiobook Review)
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This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt.
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