Parents' Guide to

Maximum Ride 2: School's Out -- Forever

By Matt Berman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Adventure continues with same lack of plot.

Book James Patterson Science Fiction 2006
Maximum Ride 2: School's Out -- Forever Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

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age 10+

Based on 5 parent reviews

Miler
Miler Adult
April 28, 2015
age 9+

yes

awesome

This title has:

Too much consumerism
lititzmom
lititzmom Parent of 7 and 9-year-old
May 1, 2011
age 9+
Okay, I have one main reason to like this book (and this series): My 3rd grader loves it! He's a great reader (advanced level) BUT a very picky reader. So he's devoured many series: Chronicles of Narnia, Percy Jackson, Warriors, Paolini's trilogy, etc., BUT he's so annoyingly hard to please and it'll take lots of trial and error to get him into new books.series. He likes action, handles some violence okay, but doesn't want romance or anything "real" scary (i.e., ghosts, aliens, things that he might think true and will loose sleep over at night). For adolescent boys, this series seems to offer all that they want and none of what they don't. And it's made my son happy to loose himself in books again. I know he'll be exposed to great literature in the classroom; for at home reading, this series fills a huge void.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Avian-human hybrid Max and her similarly genetically enhanced Flock are on the run from the evil scientists and their nasty minions, the wolf-human hybrids called Erasers. Including Ari. Yes, he was killed in the last book, but now he's back, with no real explanation, and meaner than ever (daddy issues), now that he and the other Erasers have had wings grafted on their backs. You'd think this would make them more dangerous, but it actually seems to have made them more clumsy.

Max and the Flock engage in plenty of fighting, chases, and escape plans while Ari and the evil scientists do their scheming. Apparently there's a plot to kill off half the people in the world, method unspecified, reasons rather vague. (You know, that's what evil scientists do.)

Meanwhile the Flock get taken in by an apparently nice woman ... until it turns out that she's evil too. And they get to go to a normal school for a while ... until it turns out that the school is evil too. And Iggy finds his parents ... until (wait for it) it turns out they're evil too. Well, not evil -- just bad. And so on.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5):
Kids say (50):

If your kids liked the first Maximum Ride, then they'll like this one too. How can we be so sure? Because it's exactly the same. This series has been compared to a thrill ride, a roller coaster. As with a roller coaster, the reader gets lots of thrills, excitement, scares, tension, and fun -- but it's all artificial, meaningless, and you end up right back where you started, with nothing accomplished. It's an empty thrill.

By the end of the book, the main characters have been attacked, injured, healed, are captured, escape, captured, escape, etc. But they've gotten nowhere. This appears to be a trilogy with no actual narrative arc. Exciting stuff happens, for no discernible reason, and what little actual story there is makes no sense at all. It's a mere contrivance, the struts that hold up the ride -- you're not supposed to pay attention to them. You're just supposed to surrender to the ride. There's something horribly cynical about all this. It's harmless fun, one supposes, but it is possible to write a fun story and still respect the intelligence of your audience.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about this book's lack of plot. What makes this book fun to read, despite the fact that there's little plot? How does it compare with other exciting action/adventure books you've read?

Book Details

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