Maximum Ride Books in Order: How to read James Patterson’s series?

Written by prolific American author James Patterson (Alex Cross), Maximum Ride is a series of young adult fantasy novels-inspired by his previous books When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, but definitely not connected to them. The Maximum Ride books are set in the near future and are about the flock, a group of human-avian hybrids (98% human, 2% bird). They have wings and special powers. On the run from the scientists who created them, the members of the flock follow Maximum Ride (Max) to survive.

How to read the Maximum Ride Series in Order?

The Maximum Ride Series

1. The Angel Experiment – Maximum Ride and her “flock” 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. 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 whack jobs. Her friends brave a journey to save Angel.
2. School’s Out-Forever – After their last wild adventure, the Flock members are taken under the wing of an FBI agent and try to live “normal” lives. But the Erasers return, forcing the Flock to abandon their search and make their escape once again. The voice inside Max’s head keeps telling her that it’s up to her to save the world.
3. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports – The time has arrived for Max and her winged “Flock” to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of “Re-evolution”, a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race . . . and to terminate the rest.

4. The Final Warning – Safe havens for the six highly hunted winged kids have become increasingly hard to find, so the flock takes refuge in Antarctica. In this remote wilderness-whether pursued by corrupt governments, bioengineered bad guys, or the harsh forces of nature-survival of the fittest takes a new twist!
5. Max – Someone–or something–is decimating ships and sea life off Hawaii’s coast, and Max and her flock find themselves sucked into the Navy’s top-secret investigation of the catastrophe. Their objective: Rescue Max’s activist mom from a wicked subterranean enemy.
6. Fang – Angel says that Fang will be the first to die, and Angel is never wrong. Maximum Ride is used to living desperately on the run from evil forces sabotaging her quest to save the world–but nothing has ever come as close to destroying her as this horrifying prophetic message.

7. Angel – Max Ride and her best friends have always had one another’s back. Living on the edge as fugitives, they never had a choice. But now they’re up against a deadly force that’s racing across the globe, and just when they need him the most, Fang is gone. He’s creating his own gang that will replace everyone-including Max.
8. Nevermore – Maximum Ride and her friends stand ready to face the two greatest threats that humankind has ever known, now combining forces in an unbeatable plot to destroy life as we know it once and for all. And this time, the enemy truly can’t be stopped.
9. Maximum Ride Forever – As Maximum Ride boldly navigates a post-apocalyptic world, she and her broken flock are roaming the earth, searching for answers to what happened.

The Maximum Ride: Hawk series

Where is Maximum Ride? Ten years ago a girl with wings fought to save the world. But then she disappeared. Now she’s just a fading legend, remembered only in stories.

1. Hawk – Hawk doesn’t know her real name. She doesn’t know who her family was, or where they went. The only thing she remembers is that she was told to wait on a specific street corner, at a specific time, until her parents came back for her. She stays under the radar to survive . . . until a destiny that’s perilously close to Maximum Ride’s forces her to take flight. Someone is coming for her. But it’s not a rescue mission. It’s an execution.
2. City of the Dead – For Hawk, being a hero weighs heavily on her wings. In the City of the Dead, life happens in the shadows. That’s why a war is brewing against an enemy no one can see. Hawk and Maximum Ride never back down from a conflict, or from each other, and they argue more than they agree. But as the dead begin to outnumber the living, a mother’s experience and a daughter’s instinct can make one powerful arsenal.

If you like the Maximum Ride reading order, you may be interested in The Maze Runner, The Giver, The Lunar Chronicles, The Hunger Games.