Nevermore: A response.

You know, I've come to love Max. I've seen her in her best moments and her worst. I've watched her suffer from the evil that chases her and her flock, love, loss, and growing up. I'll admit, I expected the last book to be not as well written, but it was the perfect ending to Maximum Ride, the girl supposed to save the world.

Max has lost Angel in France, and she believes that she is dead. The flock tries to build their life back, going to school and finding love in Dylan. Dylan is Max's perfect other half, but he competes with Fang, who left the flock to find answers and protect Max.

Angel is a special girl. She can read minds, breathe underwater, change her appearance, and she has visions of the apocalypse, which Max is supposed to prevent. It's already begun though, and groups like the 99% want to eliminate the humans and keep the planet for the enhanced, which includes people like Max.

Fang is also working to stop groups like the 99%. He develops a relationship with Maya, Max's clone. When he left Max, he was brokenhearted. He had recruited Maya because she was an asset because of her fighting and flying skills, but this might not have been the best decision. He claimed in later books that he wasn't replacing Max with Max, but in the long run, he did.

His head told him that what he was doing was wrong, and it is. Maya may be slightly different from Max, but it feels like he is using Maya to forget Max.

Fang is eventually betrayed by his flock, and Maya dies to protect Fang from Ari, a wolf hybrid that was originally Max's half brother. The scientists want Fang for some reason. Back with Max, Dylan is told to find and turn in Fang into the scientists or Max's life would be in danger. Meanwhile, Angels eyes are going to be operated on. She is temporarily blinded, and she finds out Jeb played a part in this. Jeb has been good and bad, personally, I think he has his own interests. He expects Angel to still love him.

Jeb really needs to decide whether he loves science and the flock more. If he working to stop horrible things from happening by being a scientist, he isn't doing a very good job. Jeb needs to stop being wishy washy and focus on one thing. By now he should realize that the flock doesn't forgive people easily, and Jeb has done some unforgivable things like not stopping the operation on Angel's eyes. He also explains his plan. He created another Ari in order to capture Fang and kill him to protect him from his other option, which is a life of “living hell”. Fang's DNA had something extraordinary.

Soon, with the apocalypse getting closer and closer, more Americans are in support of the 99% plan. What they don't know is that they are supporting their deaths. I'm not a fan of this, and it seems a bit unrealistic here. I'm not quite sure that an average American would support brutality and violence. According to the book, a homeless amputee was stoned. People don't generally support that. However, it was a time of desperation, but are people really that desperate?

Max and Dylan go on their first date, which falls into Max's created destiny. This is so unlike Max! I understand that Dylan is trying his best, and I respect him for it, but Max is not one to go with the flow. She's more of a rebel. It might be part of growing up though, and realizing that you should give people a chance and let go of the past. When Max was slightly younger, she might have verbally abused Dylan if he asked her out. When you read the books, Max has done a lot of growing in a short period of time, giving her more skills like patience to help her save the world.

But then Ari pays them a visit. He tells Max about Maya and reminds Dylan of his mission to help eliminate Fang. Max finds out that Fang's life is in danger, and she is naturally horrified. While possibly having leftover feelings for Fang, Fang is part of her flock, and as she puts it “Mama Bear protects her cubs”.

Fang realizes to go back to Max. He needs her, and they compliment each other. They are soul mates, and he realizes leaving was a bad decision. I can't believe now he realizes this. If the flock had just stuck together, a lot of drama would have been avoided. There would be though, a stand off between him and Dylan. What he doesn't know is that scientists are hunting for him, and Dylan has agreed to help them in order to protect Max.

Angel is still at the lab, watching Fang in her visions. I feel horrible for Angel, she's younger than 8! She knows things that a girl of her age shouldn't, and her knowledge burdens her. She later reveals that she is Max's voice. She used the Voice because she didn't know what to do. She had to unload part of the burden. No girl should have a childhood like Angel. Nobody deserves to be abused, operated on, and carry the burden of her knowledge.

The apocalypse is about to happen, and every member of the flock gets a message. Nudge is tasked with keeping track of the present for the future. Iggy and Gazzy are told to protect Max at all costs. Max is told to harden her heart, become the fearless leader she once was, and brace herself for the end. Dylan has to completely win Max's heart.

Max needs to be fearless and start thinking with her head again, not her heart, which is extremely vulnerable because of Fang and Dylan. Thinking with your head is being smart, thinking with your heart won't save the world. If her heart breaks, then she'll be so preoccupied that she won't be able to save the world.

It's good that Max was told to harden to heart because Fang comes back. Instantly she falls for Fang again, but she knows that she had something with Dylan, and she's guilty. She shouldn't detail what happened with Dylan, but it wasn't wrong or shameful. Fang left her, she was all within her rights to kiss and date Dylan. The question for her is who to love, and this decision is going to heart one winged boy and gnaw at her heart.

Fang has a blog, and a follower of his has found Angel. The flock immediately flies to California to rescue her.

Meanwhile, the 99% plan begins in the lab. Angel is left to die, clamped onto a table, with smoke. She believes that she is going to die. Could you imagine that? She's 8. The flock arrives to a smoking building, ready to save Angel. In the lab, people lay dead everywhere. People who wanted to die this way. They even filled the lab with gas to ensure death, locking the doors. This is what the 99% plan was all about. Total extinction. I don't even want to imagine when the world is this desperate.

They find Angel, her wings clipped(which prevents her from flying) and her perfect vision reduced to a blur.

Fang picks this moment to talk about them, but Max doesn't want to hear it. She's hardening her heart and she doesn't need more things to deal with. She calls herself a new Max, even she knows that she's grown up and matured. She lets Fang back in though, but Dylan is furious. He goes crazy, destroying cars and endangering lives. Dylan, this is not the way to win over Max! She's all for saving people, not hurting them. You can't fight fire with fire, and that’s what Dylan thinks will work.

Max and Fang go to stop Dylan, but they are greeted by Ari and his army. They are ready to kill Fang, and we finally learn why. Fang's DNA holds the key to immortality, but he himself is not immortal. Jeb wants to kill Fang to prevent him from living an endless nightmare as a body in a vegetative state so live experiments can be performed on him forever. I surprisingly agree with Jeb. Fang is almost his son, he doesn't want Fang to live a life of pain and misery. It brings a whole new meaning to “putting someone out of their misery”.

After they defeat Ari's army, Dylan turns on Fang to complete his mission. Max pleads with her heart to save Fang, and Dylan found that his love for Max was bigger than anything, even the planet. Max would be heartbroken if Fang died.

Maximum Ride is about many things, including growing up and sticking with your family, blood related and the people you've always known. It's about leadership and sacrifices, several them have been made by Max and the flock. Another saying that I can think of is when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Max is given several lemons throughout the series, but she learns to deal with it and make lemonade. We could all learn something from that.