The Angel Experiment: A Maximum Ride Novel (Book 1) by James Patterson
In James Patterson's blockbuster series, fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time...like when Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of wack jobs. Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, CA, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare--this one involving fighting off the half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City. Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives. Along the way Max discovers from her old friend and father-figure Jeb--now her betrayed and greatest enemy--that her purpose is save the world--but can she?
This is the first of a 9 book series. Teenage girl Maximum Ride and her "flock"/family, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel are human created genetic mutations with wings. They grew up in a lab, are kidnapped, found, returned to the lab, escape and try to figure out where they fit into the world through it all. There's a movie based on this book which can currently be viewed on Netflix and I mistakenly saw the movie first which made me vastly confused when I read the book because they did NOT do a good adaptation. James Patterson is better known for his adult works so if you've read "When the Wind Blows" and "The Lake House" you might feel confused because this series is a re-worked version of those books but not really. Patterson even has a note in the beginning of each book letting readers know that the idea for the series was spun from those books and although he kept some character names the same along with some of the plot lines this series in fact has NOTHING to do with those books. I wish he could've changed the character names and not kept referring to the lab where the kids were experimented on as a 'school' because it wasn't and making those 2 changes would've ensured no confusion existed between his adult books and this series. I'm reading this series along with my 13 yr old so I can have an actual conversation with him and I'm glad I agreed to because although it's written well for his age range there are some difficult subjects like experimenting on children and if a child is created in a lab and genetically altered what are their rights, are they still considered human children, etc which can be weighty subjects for kids. I'm also glad we got into this series now when there are 9 books because it ends with nearly nothing answered and if I had to wait for the next one I'd be seriously irritated. I don't mind books that end on cliffhangers and often love reading those to build the anticipation for the next but this didn't just end on a cliffhanger, it ended leaving you wondering when everything was going to be explained or if Patterson forgot some chapters
*synopsis and pic from amazon.com