"The Final Warning" James Patterson

The novel that I decided to read for this month is called The Final Warning, by James Patterson. This book is the fourth book of a series. It is completely fictional and is not based on any factual content other than landmasses mentioned in the book. For example, the main character and her “flock” travel to Antarctica. I say flock because the book is about six mutant children who were genetically modified before birth to be stronger than humans, smarter, faster, and to have wings. The book is about the life and times of these six children and how other mutants created by the same scientists try to kill the flock. This book starts off where the third one left off. The flock is on the run once again from other mutants called, “flyboys” which are similar to the flock type but are bigger and stronger, but much slower. As the book progresses the flock encounters these flyboys more often and is offered protection by the US Government who will do this in return to study the mutants. After a lifetime of being stuck with needles with numerous tests done on the mutants, they refuse and turn back to the open air and sleeping in parks. The next majour event in the book is when they offered by a group of scientists to aid them in a journey to Antarctica to gather research about global warming. The flock ends up liking this group of scientists and in no time is in Antarctica helping the scientists who are in awe at the flock’s incredible abilities. In the end what the flock leader Max whished not be true happened. The scientists betrayed the flock and while the flock was performing a “mission,” deep inland they were attacked by hundreds of flyboys. The battle was gruesome and in the battle they lost their dog, Total. In the last hundred pages Max and three other flock members save the other two from the capture of the flyboys and all is well as they escape from Antarctica.

Some themes evident throughout the novel are hope, betrayal, and love. All of these themes are expressed in many spots throughout the book and are the main of many themes of this book. Hope is obvious because of the fact that the flock is hopeful that one day they will not be sought out to kill and they hope that they reach that day alive. It is clear that Max is always hopeful that her actions towards leading the flock are for the best. As mentioned in the plot summary, the flock is betrayed many times even by the scientists that seemed to be very friendly who ended up setting a trap for them. Love is the more subtle themes of the two because it is present in the few moments when the flock isn’t in mid-air battles. Love is present between the whole flock. They are practically brothers and sisters as they have lived and grown up together as a team.

As most avid readers know James Patterson writes fantastic books and this one was no exception. These readers know James sucks you in from the first page. He sucks he in to the world of Max and the flock and you never want to leave. I finished the 300-page book in one weekend because of his amazing writing style. James tells the story from the viewpoint of the flock leader Max. This is the first person writing style.

In the book Max acts as a mothering figure towards the rest of the younger members of the flock making sure that everything and everyone is in line. I can relate to this in the way that I have three brothers and sometimes it is my responsibility to put them back into line. I can do this by being a good role model in front of them or by punishing them in some way, which Max shows throughout the novel. She is always scolding one of the members of the flock for one thing or another and always conducting her behaviour in what she thinks is the best way.

As the book was so fictional and did not express reality in any way there are no clear connections between anything I have studied at school or the novel. The only connection I can make is the fact that we are starting physics in Science now and physics is connected to everything. You could connect it to how the mutants fly and how they function on a day-to-day basis. With the nature of fantasy books it is almost impossible to relate to school and that is why it is so difficult to find connections for this book.

Since the book was written by James Patterson making the book better would be pretty impossible for someone to say other than James himself. He is such a fantastic writer that I never put down the book and that is what you want from a book. The only thing I could possible say to improve this novel would be to make it longer. Since the next question sort of ties into this one I’m going to answer it in the same paragraph. As I have said many times this book was fantastic and I would recommend it to people of all ages who enjoy suspense books. Even though it has a fantasized twist it is still appropriate for older readers.

One of the rhetorical devices used in James’ work is a symbol. Symbolism is used to provide meaning to the writing beyond what is actually being described. The plot and action that take place in a story can be thought of as one level, while the symbolism of certain things in the writing act on another level to enhance the story. The one biggest symbol in this book would be the flock’s wings, which symbolize safety. Every time one of the flock members is in trouble or needs to get away from a certain situation their solution has always been to fly. The other device that I found used in the novel was a simile. Similes make literature more vivid and they make the reader feel more connected to the writing, because if you use them well, they will make the writing more interesting and create emotions. The simile I used is when Max is frustrated and flies off the boat heading to Antarctic to take a breath of fresh air. “I stroked hard, down and then up, over and over, rushing into the cold night sky. Seconds later the Wendy K was as small as an ant.” When James says the line about the boat and the ant he is using a simile to enhance the writing making it more vivid.