Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

See main article: Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment is a fantasy / science fiction novel written byJames Patterson for young adults. It is about genetically engineered children who have wings.

Plot

The main character of the series, Max, is the leader of a 'flock' of six children: her, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, The Gasman, and Angel. The only ones who are related by blood are The Gasman and Angel, who are brother and sister. The flock escaped from 'The School'; a place where scientists, or whitecoats, illegally experiment on human children for reasons unknown. The only successful experiments are the flock, who have avian (bird) DNA, and Erasers, who have lupine (wolf) DNA, and work for The School. Erasers look like normal humans, but can transform into wolf-men with fur, fangs, and claws. The kids all have wings and are able to fly, but some of them have unique powers as well. The Gasman can imitate any voice or sound and Angel can read people's minds. Iggy is blind, but because of this, his other senses have been sharpened. The flock escaped The School by being smuggled out by Jeb Batchelder, a whitecoat who felt sorry for the children. They had lived together for a while, but two years before the start of the book, he disappeared, and Max took over the role as leader.

The book begins with Angel being captured by Erasers and taken back to The School. One of the Erasers, Ari, was Jeb's son. He was once human, and had always been bitter about being left out by the flock while they were still at The School. After they escaped, however, he had been the first to become an Eraser after birth. Max, Fang, and Nudge go to rescue her, but Max makes Iggy and The Gasman stay home. On the way to The School, Max stops to help a little girl who was being bullied. However, it resulted in her being shot in the shoulder and wing, meaning she couldn't catch up with Fang and Nudge. She finds the little girl, Ella, and is invited into her house. Her mom, who is a doctor, helps to treat her wound. When they notice her wings, they still accept her. However, when Ella's mom does her X-rays, she notices a chip in Max's forearm that she says cannot be removed. After a couple of days, Max recovers and goes to catch up to the others.

Meanwhile, Iggy and The Gasman have been fending off Eraser attacks on the house and decided to try to catch up with the others and do so just before Max. Afterwards, they all head to The School. After everyone but Iggy and The Gasman are captured, it is discovered that Jeb Batchelder is still alive and is working for the whitecoats again, and probably was the entire time. He also tells Max that she was created to save the world. However, the flock is soon recued by Iggy and The Gasman, and they leave The School with Angel.

While heading East, Max experiences excruciating pain from her head that causes her to pass out. After Max recovers, Angel remembers that she heard someone think about the address of another place like The School that has information about the flock: The Institute, New York. She also reveals that they had human parents. The School had told Nudge's parents that she had died, Iggy's mom died when he was born, Angel and The Gasman's parents gave them to the school willingly, and Fang's parents were also told that he was dead. Angel didn't hear any thoughts about Max.

Max soon experiences the brain attack again, this time accompanied by visions of seemingly random landscapes and people. However, she soon recovers again and they finally reach New York. After entering the subway system, Max has another brain attack, and a kid comes by and tells them to stop screwing with his Mac. When he shows them what is on it are the same visions Max has been having. Also, Max starts hearing a Voice inside her head that seems to be giving her clues about what to do and where to go next, and Angel learns how to control people with her mind.

The flock finds the address of The Institute, but there is nothing but other companies inside. And, after having their wings seen at a restaurant, the flock leaves New York and goes to the ocean, where Angel realizes that she can breathe underwater. But, they are soon discovered by Erasers and have to return to New York to escape.

When Max's Voice says that there is a pot of gold under every rainbow, Max figures out that they have to enter The Institute through the sewers. They find the door in the sewers and go inside. They find computers that require a password, and Nudge realizes that she can pick up memories from objects and finds the password. On the computer, Max finds a list of the flock's real names, the names of their parents, and the names of locations, and prints it out. They see that all of the locations are close to Washington D.C. Afterwards, they start to leave, when they find dozens of mutants locked up in cages. The flock releases them and begins to escape.

However, Ari tries to stop them, and Max is forced to kill him. As they the flock flies away, they hear Jeb scream, "You killed your own brother!" Afterwards, Angel reveals that she took a dog from one of the cages in The Institute, naming him Total. In the end, the flock starts to head towards Washington D.C.