Young Writers Society

I just finished reading this book and I was fairly impressed with it. It's the first James Patterson piece I've ever read.

It's the first in a series of books about six kids; Max, Iggy, Fang, Nudge, The Gasman, and Angel; who were genetically engineered to fly. They were grafted with avian DNA at an early age and grew up in a lab called the School. They escaped from the School with the help of a scientist named Jeb. The story begins when the youngest of the flock, Angel, is captured by the School's "guard dogs," called Erasers, men with the ability to transform into vicious wolf-type animals. The rest of the flock sets out to rescue Angel from the dangerous School before she is hurt and killed. And while they fly-literally- through this adventure, they discover some of who they are and why they were genetically altered.

The book is fairly well-written, the characters are well developed (I learned to hate and pity Ari, the lead Eraser; and cheer on Iggy and the Gasman as they set up a bomb to destroy the Erasers around their home), and the story has really good plots and concepts.

There were a few things I didn't like about the story; for one, the suddenness at which a few events happened. When Angel is captured, they're out berry picking. There's hardly any time to become attached to the characters but I suppose that's the writer's style. Also, there are some factual and geographical errors that bother me. For example, Max, the main character, helps out a girl in danger as she flies over Arizona. Max lands in an area of scrub and cacti, and then runs to help the girl . Then, as Max is fleeing from the boys who were tormenting the girl, she runs through a forest abundant in vegetation. Now, I was born and raised here in Arizona, and I know for a fact that there are no forests abundant with vegetation neighbouring a dry, scrub area. The place first described seems to me to be located somewhere in southern/central Arizona, and the only place once could find a forest close to the one described in the second part of the event would be Flagstaff, in the northern area of the state. This is only one example of several times when something like this occurs in the story.

Beyond that, this is a fantastic tale, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a decent action/adventure story.