Book Review - School's Out Forever

Title: School's Out Forever
Author: James Patterson
Series: Maximum Ride (book 2)
Publisher: Headline
Release Date: 23rd May 2006
ISBN13: 9780755321964

  Synopsis
The heart-stopping quest of six winged kids--led by fourteen-year-old Max--to find their parents and investigate the mind-blowing mystery of their ultimate destiny continues when they're taken under the wing of an FBI agent and attempt, for the first time, to live "normal" lives. But going to school and making friends doesn't stop them from being relentlessly hunted by sinister spies, who lead Max to face her most frightening match yet: a new and better version of herself.

My Review
Again this is a re-read but it was so long ago it was almost like reading it fresh. After the exciting burst of book 1 I moved straight onto book 2 and this one slows the pace down quite a lot. Whereas book 1 was all go, go, go, this one is a lot calmer and focuses more on character development and a bit more back story. 
Max and the Flock are still on the run with no sign of rest, that is until they have to! Events unfold that bring a drastic change to the way they live. Could it really be that they can have a 'normal' family life for a while, and can they ever fit in at school. Not The School this time, no crazy whitecoats here. Only teachers and other students.
The younger members of the flock seem happy, but Max can't seem to settle, she is constantly on edge, just waiting for something to go wrong. After all the Erasers are still out there and so is Jeb.
Max still has the voice in her head, sometimes helping, sometimes just irritating. I've heard rumours about who the voice turns out to be and at some points I think it could work, then at others it just seems ridiculous. I'll see how I feel about it as the series goes on.
There is a fair few action scenes in this book again, fights, scrapes, kidnappings, flying etc, enough to keep you interested and on the edge of your seat, but as I said at the start of the review there is a lot of bits that are slower, the time they are settling in at 'home' and then at the school.   The chapters are so short and the writing flows well enough that you won't get bored but I didn't read it as fast as the first. Still did it in one sitting though which is still a bonus. Will definitely carry on with the series!

My Rating