Max and his friends have a gift, and possibly a curse. Having been altered to have both human and avian DNA, they can fly. But these biologically altered teens have had to fight to stay free; growing used to their new abilities and their own maturation. Now Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge and Angel have been driven to the wastelands of Antarctica which starts an adventure that could change the fate of the world…

Maximum Ride: The Final Warning is the fourth book in the series written by James Patterson, whose books sell phenomenally well, even better than our own J. K. Rowling. Though this is essentially a book for adolescents, he has published more mature works.

I have to put my hand up here and say that I had never heard of either the author or this series of books, turns out he is one of the most borrowed authors from the library. That said, I don’t usually spend my days reading books for adolescents or crime stories.

As it turns out the book was rather good, though the eco credentials were a little heavy handed, but we are seeing a lot of this, these days - just as well, as the book is printed on Green Peace approved paper.

The story itself is traditional adolescent, wish fulfilment fair, though of the superior kind. This time around the kids are being courted by the government who want to keep an eye on them; they get involved with a bunch of environmental scientists and have to ward off the machinations of the uber-director, who wants to capture the children to flog them to the highest bidder.

So, lots of action and adventure, cleverly concealing an eco agenda. The book is well worth a look for the mid-teen market

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Charles Packer