“Maximum Ride” is a series by James Patterson that mixes science fiction, fantasy, and action-adventure elements. The story is about a girl named Max Ride. She and her brothers and sisters are hiding because they escaped from the science laboratory place that they call the school. It’s living on their own. Max is the oldest, and she takes care of everybody else.
One day, when they were all out and about the school lab, wolf people came and kidnapped one of the youngest members of their group. Max sets out to go and rescue her due to them being science experiments they do have. They look slightly different from us, and they look like humans.
Only if they have wings can they fly. Books similar to “Maximum Ride” are usually action-packed, offering a thrill ride from start to finish. They feature a quest or mission the protagonists must complete, creating an exciting, goal-driven plot.
5 Books Like Maximum Ride (Urban Fantasy)
Maximum Ride and her other brothers and sisters must save Angel, the youngest member, and infiltrate the school or the science lab where they grew up. They didn’t have parents, so they’re struggling because they are still young.
Max finds out that she has to save the world. It’s that whole ticking time clock where you’re nervous because what she does has to save the world. What if it’s a trap? I am going to discuss five fantasy books similar to Maximum Ride. These books offer richly imagined settings if you love exploring new universes, dimensions, or futuristic worlds. Let’s go!
1. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games)
We have the winner of The Hunger Games, but President Snow is unhappy about it. There are whispers of a rebellion, and Katniss has started a fire she cannot extinguish. The second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, proceeds. Like Maximum Ride, the book keeps you glued to it, and you cannot stop flipping the pages and reading this book.
Last time, there were seventy for Hunger Games. There are seventy-fifth Hunger Games, which will be even more interesting than the first one. A lot of new characters are introduced, and everything is very excellent. If you have read the first book, you want to read the second book. The first book did not have a lot of twists. It had a lot of stuff going on, action, things happening. But this second book has many twists and mysteries.
Who wins The Hunger Games? The lead character would win because there wouldn’t be a second book if she had died. Katniss and Peeta have won and are back, but things are not the same for Katniss anymore. She doesn’t have a good relationship with Gale, Peeta is not talking to her, and everything has changed. Then there is that hanging sword on her head because President Snow is unhappy. After all, she has somehow started a fire that she cannot stop now and contributed to creating a rebellion against the Capitol.
Author: Suzanne Collins
Average Rating: 4.7/5
Category: Survival Fantasy Stories, Action & Adventure Fiction
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
2. Stormbreaker (Alex Rider)
This action thriller is popular among young adults and is the first book of the Alex Rider series. 13 more books go with it. Stormbreaker is about a 14-year-old boy named Alex Rider, raised by his uncle Ian Rider because his parents died in a car accident when he was born.
Alex has always been very close to his uncle. Ian Rider is a man who works at a bank called the Royal and General. The book starts with Alex waking up to a doorbell ringing at 3 AM, and it turns out his uncle died in a car accident because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
Alex couldn’t believe this because it was so uncharacteristic of his meticulous uncle. Later, Alex meets many men at his uncle’s funeral who say they worked at the bank with Ian Rider. Alex realizes how much he doesn’t know about his uncle. His whole life was a mystery the entire time he was living. Suspicion rises as Alex sees a man who supposedly worked at his uncle’s bank carrying a gun with him. The story is set in England, and England, only high-ranked officials and police officers can carry guns, and this man was a banker.
As Alex finds out that all of Ian Ryder’s things have disappeared, Events take a turn. Who could have stolen them after all this drama? Alex wants to go and find out what happened to his uncle by himself. So he goes to this car junkyard, where he finds his uncle’s car, and that is when Alex finds the shocking truth. His uncle didn’t die in a car crash because all over the car, there were bullets.
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Average Rating: 4.6/5
Category: Fantasy Action & Adventure Mysteries
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
3. City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments)
This is the second book in The Mortal Instruments series. It’s not so much focused on Clary. It’s focused on every character within the story. Also, in this book, the world is much more fleshed out, so you learn more about the world and its complexity. Also, the story’s overall tone takes a darker shift, similar to Maximum Ride.
This book introduces Maryse, Max, Alex, and Isabel’s mother, and Jason’s mother. She kicks Jace out of the institute, but then you find out her real motives and how she was trying to protect him because the Inquisitor was coming, and it was best for him not to be there. Jace ends up getting himself in trouble anyway by mouthing off to the Inquisitor and getting sent off to the Silent City.
The whole section with Jace being in the cell was slightly terrifying. It wasn’t the scariest thing in the world, but it was still scary. We get a glimpse of Valentine, who has killed off these silent brothers, which was brutal. So, later on, we have this whole scene in the fairy court. There’s no way that Simon will die in this book because he’s in the rest of the books.
We have Simon and Maya, whom Valentine has captured, and then Valentine kills Simon! So then we have Jace come and save the day, and he has Simon feed on him, which is weird. At the end of this book, we almost find something out about Jay from the Inquisitor.
Author: Cassandra Clare
Average Rating: 4.7/5
Category: Action & Adventure Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
4. Four: The Transfer (Divergent)
The Transfer is the first of four short stories being told from a biased point of view, and they’re being released as e-books only. It focuses on Tobias before he joins the Dauntless. The story starts before the choosing ceremony and ends when he first enters the dauntless compound.
In this, we get to see more of Tobias’s thoughts than we do in Divergent, and we get to see snippets of Marcus and Tobias in his relationship. It shows many of Tobias as the vulnerability we don’t always see in Divergent. Also, it shows how his life was back in Abnegation when he was still under Marcus’s roof and how he had to suffer through all of the abuse from his father.
You will see a little bit of Tobias and Evelyn’s relationship; Evelyn is Tobias’s mother. The story is touching because you see so much of Tobias’s vulnerability and how he thinks about certain things. Also, it’s refreshing, insightful, and addicting, like Maximum Ride.
Author: Veronica Roth
Average Rating: 4.5/5
Category: Science Fiction & Dystopian Romance
Available: Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
5. Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices)
We’re in the eighteen hundreds of Victorian England and Clare’s world like the shadow hunters. We are introduced to a girl named Tessa, who is unrelated to anybody. She arrives in London from America looking for her brother. Her aunt has died. Supposedly, her brother is sending her here.
Then, she is quickly kidnapped by two warlocks, and we discover that Tessa isn’t human like she thought. Nobody knows what she is, but she is a shapeshifter. Even though Tessa grew up believing she was a human at the beginning of this book, Will daringly rescues her.
As the book goes on, we see something else underneath the surface. What is going on here? Tessa, Will, and Jem form a love triangle. You will love the mystery and the love triangle. The other side of that love triangle is Jim. He’s adorable, and he plays the violin. Tessa is looking for her brother. She wants to find him. She takes an active role in learning about who the Shadowhunters are. If you like Maximum Ride, you will love it.
Author: Cassandra Clare
Average Rating: 4.7/5
Category: European Historical Fiction & Fantasy
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
Last Words
How far would you go to survive? What sacrifices are acceptable for the greater good? Books like “Maximum Ride” explore these complex questions. They also cover ethical dilemmas, questioning the morality of scientific experiments, societal norms, or government authority.
More Fantasy Books:
Children’s Fantasy Books Like The Phantom Tollbooth
Young Adult Fantasy Books Like The False Prince
Superheroes Fantasy Books Like Renegades
Fantasy Adventure Books Like Gregor The Overlander
Epic Fantasy Books Like The Beginning After The End
High Fantasy Books Like Caraval
Fantasy Books Like Michael Vey
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