Hawk - A book review

 I picked up the book Hawk (the Hawk Series, technically), which is a continuation of the Maximum Ride series. I loved the Maximum Ride series, lived and breathed it as a kid. I looked up reviews before I opened my audiobook, though, and discovered it had mixed reviews from both lovers of the series and people who didn't grow up with the series. Today I make up my own mind on whether I continue. Onward!

Courtesy of pangobooks.com

Plot-wise, we start with Hawk's narration. She was a kid left at a street corner and she continues to return there. The setting is brutal, a loud noise playing occasionally and an obnoxious governor running a city called "the city of the dead". It was called that because a disease wiped it out and people took the free space (as long as you were okay with throwing a body out of it before you moved in). We see incredible levels of violence in this city, as well. Gangs are everywhere. Gangs run everything. From there we meet all the weird kids at the children's home beside the prison. 

Going to Max's side of things, we find out Maximum Ride has been imprisoned. Because it involves some spoilers, I'm stopping here. It gets real interesting and we find out more of where Fang is in part 1, but that's all I'll say. No more plot descriptions from here. Read it yourself. 

Overall Thoughts

I gave it at least two hours before deciding to continue or stop. I heard it had gore warnings, so I wanted to test the waters first. I could handle two hours of it, thus I continued. I will say it has more descriptions of puddles of blood and dripping blood than I desire to hear. Keep that in mind. I think you should know that this is more like reading The Hunger Games. I also read that series and liked it. 

Hawk starts slow, then picks up pace. It keeps your attention once she leaves the street corner. I will also say that you should listen to the audiobook past 1 hour to get into the main plot. I would suggest reading at least ten percent of this book before you decide to close or continue it. After the two hours, I was totally into it. It took a second for the plot to stop introducing Hawk and get on with it. 

Most Maximum Ride is fighting, and labs, and survival. You should know this before you pick it up. Don't expect a tame book. It should be a given that our characters are in a dystopian world. If you want a tame, cozy novel, you have come to the wrong place. Expect violence and fighting. Expect blood. Expect running from the government. This is a dystopian novel. Don't forget that. Expect cussing, too. Know that when you open it. Young adults or older are the target audience, but parents should read it first and judge for themselves what is appropriate. 

Three hours in, we've found the flock. I was delighted to find them alive and reasonably well. Our perspective flip-flops between Max and Hawk. With this in mind, we go from the streets, to the prison life, to the streets. Eventually, we have a prison break situation and a lab breakout situation. This is pretty standard for most of the series. The flock, Fang, and Max are all adults, much like the fanbase for the series. 

The middle/end was the best. I'd say the pacing was a little bit off in the beginning, but sped up and became mostly action later. 4 stars for me. I'm particularly happy I own the next book. It's worth your time to read it, but will say one thing; I would absolutely start the series from the beginning. Don't start here. You'll miss history and lore you need to completely understand the flock and when Phoenix was born. Please get caught up on the whole series before picking this up. It has so much more appeal when you know who the flock are and what they've done before this. Maximum Ride - Book Series In Order

Why I Switched Up Book Form

I started reading as an audiobook, an audiobook on my laptop and an MP3 player that couldn't connect to my earbuds. This made the book inconvenient to read (despite my enjoyment of the book). I found myself reaching for the Grisham instead of turning on the audiobook Hawk. I library-loaned a physical copy of hawk 3 hours into the 8 hour (ish) audiobook. Until that came, I focused in on the Grisham I had gotten halfway through. After that, I took on the rest of the Hawk. 

Courtesy of reddit.com

I think readers like me forget that the form of the book matters. Make the book you want to read or try convenient to read—or you won't reach for it. I also read faster in physical books. Narrators read slower than I do. While some books (The Nightswim, for example) are best in audio, there are some that are more appealing in physical form. This one had a good narrator (excellent one, in fact). I just had to make it more convenient to read so the review would be posted faster. I have so many books I want to read this year and I want to read the shorter books at a quicker pace. It's amazing what changing the form of a book can do for your reading speed. I got into the book right away and devoured it quickly after receiving the library copy.

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Jack Thomas is running from a past case. He's hiding in Wrenville. Is his past case catching up with him? 

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