Yes, at last long last, it’s a book review post, of Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. I’m not sure there have been any since Noah was born. Not that I haven’t been reading, I just haven’t been writing about what I’ve been reading.

My first thought, when the opportunity to do this review for Mother Talk came up, was a mix of interest and skepticism. I can be a book snob, and James Patterson hasn’t been an author on my list. Plus, the book is Part 3 of a series that I haven’t read. Isn’t that just wrong? On the other hand, a free YA sci-fi book with a fabulous-sounding heroine? Well, that is my cuppa tea.

First the full disclosure part: Mother-Talk gave me the book, and they’re giving me a $20 Amazon gift certificate for doing this review. I think you know that my opinion can’t be bought, but especially not that cheap.

Now the meat: I really enjoyed this book! I was pleasantly surprised by how much.

The writing has a nice witty edge to it, making fun of readers like me at the beginning of Chapter 2, when the narrator Max comments:

Those of you who picked up this book cold, even though it’s clearly part three of a series, well get with the program, people! I can’t take two days to get you all caught up on everything!

Heh. The rest of the (short) chapter introduces all of the main characters whom I would have known had I read the first two books, and points the reader in the direction of character Fang’s blog. (Other characters have started posting too, but in this book, Fang is the only one.) Kinda gimmicky, but it drew me into the story and left me thinking about reading the first two books.

The basic plotline goes like this: 6 science experiment kids, who were genetically engineered to have wings, and their talking dog, have escaped from their evil corporate creators.

Of course the evil scientists are hunting for them, and they also have a dastardly plot to reduce the population of Earth by some ridiculous amount like 50% — I’ve spent 5 precious minutes of Noah’s nap looking it up unsuccessfully — and Max is determined to stop them.

How can 6 bird-kids and a talking dog do that? The old fashioned way: grassroots organizing!

YES, you heard me right, these sci-fi action heroes use their blog to communicate with kids and sympathetic adults all over the world, and convince the kids especially to take action locally to stop this evil multinational corporate and corrupt government plot.

In fact, I hope that the legions of teen fans not only enjoy the action-adventure and the budding romance elements of Maximum Ride 3 — I hope they imagine themselves making the kind of difference that ordinary kids all over the world make in the book.

Our bird-kid protagonists may not be average kids, but they know that they can’t save the world all by themselves. Instead of either giving up, or asking someone else to do it, they organize and inspire others to join the fight.

It isn’t just in books that ordinary people blogging can make a huge difference with a global impact — look at the amazing success two Moms, Cooper & Emily, had with the Been There Clearinghouse, which connected people in need with people who wanted help, after Hurricane Katrina. Or Melissa Poe, who started Kids FACE (For A Cleaner Environment) at age 9, and has seen it grow to a organization with more than 300,000 members in 15 countries — who have planted more than a million trees.

So yeah, I liked the book. I liked the message as well as the curl up and get lost in the adventure. But you should probably start with book one, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment.