Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride:  the series by James Patterson.
Maximum Ride is no ordinary fourteen-year-old girl.  For starters, she is basically homeless and has to take care of five other kids and their two dogs.  Next, she's on the run from things (and people) who want her dead.  It also might be crucial to mention that she's only 98% human.  Her other 2% is avian, so she and her unlikely family all have wings. 
      This results in a lot of life and death situations, not to mention a lot of confusion and publicity.  On the run from various villains and multitudes of their mindless minions Max must figure out who she trusts, who she doesn't, how she'll escape, how she'll deal with a growing crush on one of her team members, how she's going to deal with a six-year-old who thinks she can rule the world, and how she'll save the world.  Sound like a lot to you?  Well, to Maximum Ride, warrior extraordinaire, leader supreme, and the go-to person if you want spilled blood and a lot of attitude, it's just another ordinary day.

Do you like fast paced books?  Do you like sarcasm, wit, and violence in abundance?  Then I think you've found your happy place, or happy books, at least.  These books also speak of empowerment to the children:  there are only a few adults that hold crucial roles, and only one of those adults can actually be considered a good guy.  Another overriding theme of the book is that grown-ups polluted the world and messed it up big-time, and it's up to these next generations to save it.  And Max is the stereotypical superhero--she can fly, she's strong, she has a pithy comeback to everything, and she shows no mercy to her foes, a courtesy that extends even to some of her family. 
      The chapters are only a few pages long, sometimes resulting in as many as 144 chapters in a book (The Angel Experiment), and sometimes the writing can get a bit headache-y.  You jump from the view point of one character to another without any warning, and you hardly get a page of piece before a new demonized-robot jumps out at you from the margins.  Though, when the romance comes, it comes fast and hard and without any warning. 
       The books are in order as follows:  The Angel Experiment, School's Out -- Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, The Final Warning, Max, Fang, Angel, and Nevermore, which is set to come out August 6, 2012.  Sure, you can read these books out of order, but you have to have a great memory for the sequence of events.  They'll catch you up, periodically, but there are some crucial facts that you have to remember to get everything.  Also, reading the last ones first might ruin some twists in the plot lines.  Just, so, you know . . . You don't make the same mistakes I did.

This is the fan website:  http://www.max-dan-wiz.com/   Mainly blogs and stuff put up by other fans, and a chat room, but there are some sneak peaks and blogs 'written' by the characters in the book, as well as some videos.  It's fine.