Max: A Maximum Ride Novel - Audio Book Review

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Title: Max: A Maximum Ride Novel
Series: Maximum Ride, book 7
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Hachette Audio Books
Narrator: Jill Apple
Duration: 5 hours, 44 minutes
Copyright: 2009
Genres: science fiction, action, juvenile
Filed in: Audiobook reviews

THE GIST: In “The Final Warning: A Maximum Ride Novel", Max and the flock visited Antarctica with a group of scientists to study the effects of global warming. Now, Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have decided that they want to help save the planet. That’s why they’re working for an activist group known as the Coalition to Stop the Madness, or CSM for short. CSM visits cities that are heavily polluted. Max and the flock perform a little precision flying to draw a crowd, then CSM officials deliver a speech about the effects of pollution. Sounds like a pretty good deal, but somebody doesn’t seem to think so.

Everywhere the bird-kids go, they keep getting attacked by deadly robots. These robots, dubbed Machine Geeks, or M-Geeks for short, by Max, are much more advanced and dangerous than the ones previously used by the Uber-director. The mastermind behind the robots finally reveals himself when he kidnaps Max. Mister Chu informs Max that she must stop working for CSM, or pay the price! Maximum Ride doesn’t give in that easily, however, and she keeps right on doing what she does best: kicking butt!

It seems that Mister Chu wasn’t bluffing, however, when Max’s mom, Doctor Martinez, turns up missing. Based on clues obtained from a ransom video, the government determines that Doctor Martinez is being held in a submarine off the coast of Hawaii. Now, the bird-kids must team up with the United States Navy to rescue Max's mom, and in the process they stumble onto Mister Chu’s dirty little secret, and why he wants to stop CSM’s environmental efforts.

MY THOUGHTS: “Max: A Maximum Ride Novel” is the fifth audio book in James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series. In this story, Patterson continues the campaign to save the environment that he began in the previous audio book “The Final Warning: A Maximum Ride Novel.” “Max” was a little more exciting than "The Final Warning", and a lot funnier! Patterson's wit and humour shine through more in this audio book than the previous Maximum Ride novels. All in all, this was a fun read.

NARRATOR: Jill Apple is the third Maximum Ride narrator. In "Max: A Maximum Ride Novel", Jill's pace seemed a little quick to me in the beginning, but I got used to it after a while. It wasn’t a major problem, but I wish she would have slowed down just a teensy bit. Overall, she delivered a good performance; she used a variety of voices, and she had just the right sarcastic tone for Max’s voice.

THE PUBLISHER: Hachette Audio Books, pronounced ah-shet, is a new one on me. I thought maybe it was a division of Books on Tape, but after a little research it looks like Hachette is a separate entity.

At any rate, Hachette enhanced “Max: A Maximum Ride Novel” with music and sound effects. The sound effects were pretty cool: gunshots, breaking glass, or a bullet whizzing across your head from left to right, all nicely integrated into the music. I normally enjoy music in an audio book as well, but for “Max: A Maximum Ride Novel” they used some very jarring techno-dance kind of music that I found distracting. The music didn’t play during much of the audio book, however, so it wasn’t a big problem. I found the overall audio book experience to be favorable.

FINAL WORD: “Max: A Maximum Ride Novel” was a fun book to read. If you haven’t read the first four audio books in the series, I think you could still enjoy this; the story is not a continuation.

TRY THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
“When the Wind Blows” by James Patterson
“The Lake House” by James Patterson
“Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” by James Patterson
“Maximum Ride: School’s Out Forever" by James Patterson
“Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports” by James Patterson
“The Final Warning: A Maximum Ride Novel” by James Patterson
“Max: A Maximum Ride Novel” by James Patterson
“Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel” by James Patterson


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This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audio book.
Audio book review by Steven Brandt
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