Growing up, one of my all-time favourite books series was James Patterson‘s Maximum Ride series. Originally, it was meant to be a trilogy, but due in part to its commercial success and in part to the fact that I am convinced Patterson has never ended a series before five books, the series was first doubled, then tripled in its planned length.
I read all nine books. I loved them. . . until I didn’t.
The concept of the series is a teen coming-of-age sci-fi ‘thriller’, about a bunch of genetically modified kids (ranging in age from 6-14 at the start of the series) with wings and special powers running from the ones who made them while trying to discover who they and who their biological families are. The entire premise is utterly intriguing and the writing pulls the reader into this complex, evolving landscape of twists, turns, violence, and love, all from the perspective of the titular character, Maximum “Max” Ride. She is the leader of their rag-tag group of mutants, dubbed “The Flock”, and tries her best to raise them despite going through all of the same issues as them.
The first three books (The Angel Experiment, School’s Out Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports) culminate with a final battle that leaves the main antagonist dead. Great. Normal. Expected. The problem is that the series didn’t actually end there, and instead of simply creating new antagonists (which he did occasionally) and leaving the sleeping hounds where they lie, Patterson brought the villain, Ari, back to life. And then killed him again when it was time to wrap up the series. Then brought him back to life in the extension. It was a never ending cycle of increasingly far-fetched excuses as to how this character never seemed to just die already. At some point the resurrections lost all surprise factor. Then, in order to keep the series going Patterson kept introducing new characters, specifically male romantic leads. . . despite the fact the story already had a romantic lead. All this did was frustrate the reader as the dynamics become too drawn out, and eventually it just made the characters seem less relatable and more annoying. In that vein, Patterson also reached a point in which he just kept making the youngest and most lovable character more and more powerful, and less and less likeable. Similarly, in the quest of new plot points he changed some of the characters’ personalities, for the worse. Finally, it reached the point where the last book, Maximum Ride Forever, is a convoluted mess of a dystopian novel with the worlds most unsatisfying ending. It frankly ruined the whole series, but I won’t spoil it here for those who may be reading it or interested in reading it despite my warnings.
Despite my burning disappointment over the way Maximum Ride turned out, I gave Patterson another chance and decided to try his Witch and Wizard series. Once again, the premise was intriguing. Once again, it was supposed to be a trilogy. Once again, everything went to hell when he got greedy and tried to keep it going.
After ruining another series I had grown to love and had high expectations for, I came to a few conclusions: One, I would never read another James Patterson novel. Two, I hate love-triangles (but that is another conversation). And three, maybe the reason James Patterson has so many series that never seem to end is because he is a great author with a massive incapability to write endings. So instead of gathering all his loose ends at once and creating a finality, Patterson simply ends it, realises how much he left unresolved, continues, and repeats the cycle ad nauseam. Now, I fully acknowledge that I have not read enough James Patterson books to state this with any authority or certainty. I also acknowledge that my opinion was formed entirely out of spite and bitterness. That is why it is a conspiracy theory, not an exposé. But if you are still interested in reading any of the books I have in spite of (or because of) my warnings, you can find them here as both novels and manga. Or if you would prefer to watch the film adaptation of Maximum Ride you can find the trailer here.
This is a really interesting way to think about the way James Patterson ends his books (or doesn’t). I remember reading a few of the Maximum Ride series books on the recommendation of a cousin a few years ago. I’m not exactly sure how many I read or at what point I stopped, but I also remember them getting too twisted hard to relate to the first books, so I stopped. It was super rare for me to ever not finish a series of books (I read constantly in middle/early-high school) so that speaks to your point about the purpose of the books being to put out a new book, not to continue the plot in a meaningful way.