the bird kids are back for their sixth adventure written for teens, and this time they are heading back to their roots. While they are still involved with a global environmental defense group, they are definitely going to be dealing more with genetic experimentation in this tale.

The story starts off with the kids visiting Chad in an attempt to bring attention to the food shortage and other troubles taking place there. While there, they meet Dr. Gunther-Hagen, an extremely wealthy man with an interest in using genetic engineering to protect the human race from the approaching Armageddon. It quickly becomes clear that he puts the mission before his patients.

Out of a need to get away from him, the kids find themselves leaving Chad early and heading back home to Colorado. Once they are there, things turn out to be a little less idyllic than they would expect since they actually had some down time between trying to save the world and stay alive.

The arrival of Dylan, an 8-month-old bird boy who was engineered by Dr. Gunther-Hagen reconnects with the kids at their home really causes some inter-flock feuding, particularly in light of the fact that he presents some romantic competition for Fang in winning the heart of Max. In fact the troubles become so bad that the flock votes to evict Max from her leadership role and she leaves, allowing Angel to become the new leader.

This novel really captures all of the elements that have made the Maximum Ride series so popular. Lots of action and raw teen emotion/drama. There really wasn't too much too the plot since it was really more of the same, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't a fun read. It will be interesting to see where Patterson takes the story forward in future books.