Maximum Ride Books in Order: Complete Series & Hawk Sequels

The Maximum Ride books in order follow Max and the Flock, a group of children who were genetically engineered with avian DNA and can fly. Their search for freedom quickly grows into a larger fight against the people who created them and the forces trying to control their abilities.

James Patterson wrote the original series, followed by the Hawk sequel books with Gabrielle Charbonnet and Mindy McGinnis. The story has also been adapted into manga, Marvel comics, and a movie.

For Patterson’s other series, standalones, children’s books, and collaborations, see my James Patterson books in order guide.

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Maximum Ride Books in Order
Maximum Ride Manga
Maximum Ride Marvel Comics
Maximum Ride Movie
About Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride Books in Order

I recommend reading the novels in publication order. The Flock’s relationships, discoveries, and enemies carry from one book to the next, and the chronological order matches the publication order.

Main Maximum Ride Series

The Angel Experiment (2005)
School’s Out–Forever (2006)
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (2007)
The Final Warning (2008)
Max (2009)
Fang (2010)
Angel (2011)
Nevermore (2012)
Maximum Ride Forever (2015)

Maximum Ride: Hawk Books

The Hawk books take place after Maximum Ride Forever and follow the next generation. They can be understood on their own, but they reveal what happened to Max, Fang, and the world after the original series. I’d save them until you’ve finished the main books.

Hawk with Gabrielle Charbonnet (2020)
City of the Dead with Mindy McGinnis (2021)

When the Wind Blows Inspiration Novels

Patterson explored winged children before Maximum Ride in When the Wind Blows and its sequel, The Lake House. Those adult thrillers helped inspire the later young adult series, but they take place in a separate continuity. Their Max and the School are not the same characters or institution found in Maximum Ride.

When the Wind Blows (1998)
The Lake House (2003)

Maximum Ride Manga

NaRae Lee adapted and illustrated the Maximum Ride manga. These volumes retell the prose novels rather than adding separate adventures, so readers don’t need them to continue the main story.

The manga covers the early part of the series and ends with material from Max. It does not adapt the full original novel sequence or the Hawk books.

Maximum Ride Marvel Comics

Marvel also adapted Maximum Ride as three five-issue comic miniseries. The collected editions below contain the complete Marvel run, so there’s no need to track down the individual issues unless you prefer single comics.

Max Ride: First Flight (2015) (Collects issues #1–5)
Max Ride: Ultimate Flight (2016) (Collects issues #1–5)
Max Ride: Final Flight (2017) (Collects issues #1–5)

First Flight was written by Marguerite Bennett with art by Alex Sanchez. Jody Houser wrote Ultimate Flight and Final Flight, with art by R.B. Silva and Marco Failla.

Maximum Ride Movie

The 2016 Maximum Ride movie stars Allie Marie Evans as Max and Patrick Johnson as Fang. Jay Martin directed the film.

The movie adapts part of The Angel Experiment, beginning with Angel’s abduction and the Flock’s rescue mission. It condenses the story, changes several details, and stops before completing the full novel. The film did not continue into a sequel series.

About Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride, usually called Max, leads a Flock made up of Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. They were raised as genetic experiments at a laboratory known as the School before escaping and building a life together.

The books combine science fiction, action, and dystopian adventure. Max spends much of the series protecting the younger members of the Flock while trying to understand why they were created and what the people behind the experiments expect her to do.

The original story concludes with Maximum Ride Forever. The Hawk books then return to the same world years later and shift the focus to Max and Fang’s daughter.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more science fiction authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Science Fiction Books in Order index.