Maxium Ride III Blog Tour

Not all YA is for girls.  I know, I find this hard to believe myself, since I write girl books, and well, I *am* a girl. Consequently, most of the YA books I read are written by girls for girls. When people ask me for a book recommendation for a tween or teen girl, I have a list. But, when they ask me about boys, I struggle. Harry Potter, sure, Gordon Korman, and Dave Barry & Carl Hiassen's YA offerings . . . and my brain gets fuzzy. So, I was very interested to see what James Patterson offers the YA world. Thanks to Mother Talk, I got my chance with Maximum Ride III: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. This is the third  installment in Patterson's Maximum Ride series of YA fantasy books and does indeed fill a gap in the YA market.

I've read a few of Patterson's adult books, and I'm not a fan. At all. But, I frequently recommend him to my male students who almost universally love him. My girlness is a hindrance to my ever being able to understand the male mind, let alone target the male audience. But, apparently, I also don't understand all girls either--there's a ton of girls who love the Maximum Ride series.

They love Maximum Ride, Patterson's tough girl heroine, and her flock of genetically enhanced bird kids. The bird kids are on the run from some really evil corporate/adult/lab types. Think Pretender but with wings. In fact, I kept having flashbacks to that series while reading the book, because the similarities are fairly striking. And, like the Pretender, there are all sorts of logic gaps and story holes. The "rules" for the Bird Kid universe bend when the plot asks them to, which while very polite is a pet peeve of mine. Need money? They've got money. Need them to be broke? Just wait five pages. Another pet peeve? The book bounces between multiple third person POV's and Max's first person POV. This kept jarring me out of the story.

However, the book is faced paced enough that an engaged reader (or perhaps one who has read the first two books) can forgive the lapses. And, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not the target audience. This books fills a need in YA literature--books for kids who play violent games, watch action movies, and talk/think in sound bites. Jaded though they may be, these kids (and their parents) need books. I'd recommend this series to parents looking to pacify blood-thirsty tween boys who will relish all the battle scenes.  In fact, I could see it working well on a car trip as an audio book or read-aloud.

But, if you either are a girl or have a girl who likes her books pink and fluffy, you're probably going to have a really tough time getting into this book. Patterson simply doesn't do the emotional lives of his female protagonists (or his male ones for that matter). If you've read Patterson's adult works and been alarmed at his slightly misogynistic bent, I'm happy to report that he handles Max much more deftly.  However, when he makes an effort to add "romance" or familial angst to the action, the scenes crackle like dry cardboard. Max might as well be a robotic android--she and the other kids don't seem to have more emotional depth than some of the robotic creatures they fight.

Patterson also doesn't do detail, hence the plot holes. But, his propensity for three  page chapters works really well as a YA.  The other kids in the flock--Fang, Izzy, Gassy, Nudge, and Angel--tended to blend together. Perhaps over the course of the first two books, they emerge as more distinct characters, but I never got a clear picture of what Max looked like, mannerisms, etc, let alone any of the supporting cast. I did like the fact that Fang has a blog, but I agree with others who have noted that the blog feels forced and like an afterthought in the plot. Fang's entries don't feel true to his narrative voice at all and seem very adult-authored. But, both the blog and the website for the book are great destinations for kids and keep them thinking about the characters.

YA shelves are filled with pink books though, so these are very minor quibbles. And *I* certainly have no trouble finding things to read. What the genre lacks is action books that don't star magical beings, and fast-paced books that appeal to a sophisticated YA audience w/o resorting to sex/drugs/bad language/criminal behavior. This book delivers on both accounts. This is an ideal book to appeal to non-readers. All of my nit-picks about plot/details/emotions really don't matter in the grand scheme of things. This series has the potential to lure kids away from their games and movies, and that's a really neat thing. I hope to see more intelligent YA books that appeal to the gamer generation. If violence is a concern, I might mention that when recommending Maximum Ride,  but it will definitely go on my list for tween boys.   

Now, what do you think? Is there a difference between "girl books" and "boy books"? Should good YA appeal equally to both genders? If you've read the book, do think its geared more for boys? What other recommendations do you have of books that appeal to tween boys?

Comments

[LB]

Hi. I'v read all the Maximum Ride books. Yes I'm a girl. Personally, I believe that it is an amazing series for both boys and girls. I thought it as a girl book at first but I like the action. Usually, I'm a "pink" girl but this book was so awesome. I love to read books but I like the "twisted" way Patterson writes. I was so intrigued that I finished all four books in less that two days. When I read his books about Max, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, and Angle, I feel the world around me dissolve. I am sucked into the book. I can't hear or see anything but what the characters are saying. It takes a good writer to be able to do that. I will probably be reading his books until I am out of teen years and into the rest of my life. From the amount of books I'm reading, Patterson has to keep up with his writing.

[julie hardman]

hello i am girl.and i smart one at that. and i got suckered into the Max
books last summer. i love them . but then i love anything muntant.i love Max and that inner voice that speaks, i wish the books would never end this is lame i know