Saving the World and other Extreme Sports (book review)

Saving the World and other Extreme Sports, by James Patterson, is the third installment in the Maximum Ride series. Max and her friends, Fang, Iggy, the Gasman (or Gazzy), Nudge, and Angel, are six kids who have escaped from a horrible laboratory called the School. Bird DNA was grafted into their bodies when they were infants, so now they have wings and can fly. Max and the "flock" were happy to sit back and relax after their escape, but they soon found out that the School was in league with an organization called Itex, who planned to wipe out almost everyone on Earth and create a new, better "super-race". As it turned out, Max and her friends were the only ones who could stop them.

Now Max and her friends have been captured, and are back at the horrible School once again. And it turns out one of them just might be a traitor. But who? Have Max and her friends finally met their end?

I thought this book was really good. It was action-packed, and the plot was intricately developed. There were a ton of cliffhangers, and it kept me guessing at every turn.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This book is for the Sci-Fi Experience.

Tokyo Mew Mew Books 1 and 2 (book review)

Tokyo Mew Mew, by Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida, is a manga series about five young female superheroes. In the first book, we are introduced to the main character, Ichigo. While she is on a date with the guy of her dreams, she (and four other girls) are involved in a freak accident that merges their DNA with the DNA of five endangered species. These five girls have become the Mew Mews, and their job is to fight evil aliens that are trying to take over the world by infecting Earth's animals with deadly parasites, turning them into rampaging monsters called kirema animas.

Ichigo has been fused with the genes of an iriomote cat. Now, she can turn into an alien-fighting superhero with cat ears and a cat tail whenever she wants! But it's Ichigo's job to find the other four Mew Mews. One is a super-rich snob, named Mint, who wants nothing to do with Ichigo. She has fused with an ultramarine lorakeet. The other is a lonely girl who will take her anger out on Mint and Ichigo when in her Mew Mew form (she merged with a finless porpoise). Could these three ever join together as a team?

In book two, the other characters' identities are revealed. One is Pudding, an acrobatic, friendly girl who loves to make money and whose genes were fused with a golden lion tamarin's. The other is a beautiful model, Zakuro, who is fused with a gray wolf. The problem is, Zakuro wants nothing to do with the rest of the Mew Mews. Can the four girls convince their final partner to join them in time to save the world?

I really enjoyed these books. They went very fast, and they were exciting and engaging. I think I liked the first one better than the second, however. I give the first book 4 out of 5 stars, and the second 3.5 out of 5 stars.

These books were both for the Manga Challenge and for the Sci-Fi Experience.