When the Wind Blows (series)

The When the Wind Blows duology is a pair of adult science fiction thrillers by James Patterson. The books follow Frannie O'Neill, a kindhearted veterinarian who encounters Maximum or "Max," a young girl with wings, created by cruel scientists. The books were released in 1998 and 2003. James Patterson revisited similar ideas in the young adult series Maximum Ride, beginning in 2007. However, the stories are not connected, and they are not prequels or sequels.

Patterson includes a foreword in the young adult books, explaining that "The idea for the Maximum Ride series comes from earlier books of mine called When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, which also feature a character named Max who escapes from a quite despicable School. Most of the similarities end there. Max and the other kids in the Maximum Ride books are not the same Max and kids featured in those two books. Nor do Frannie and Kit play any part in the series. I hope you enjoy the ride anyway."

In the author's note to When the Wind Blows, Patterson thanks Maxine Paetro for her involvement in research, writing and editing the book. In the dedication of The Lake House, Patterson writes, "This is for the other Max, Maxine Paetro, who has been involved with the bird children from the beginning." Paetro is credited as Patterson's co-writer on other series such as the Women's Murder Club.

Books

• When the Wind Blows
• The Lake House

Characters

• “Max,” or Maximum. Her subject name is Tinkerbell. She’s 11 years old, with long blond hair and green eyes, stands four feet nine inches tall, and has a nine-foot wingspan. Her hawklike wings are white, with silver and blue markings. She has an IQ of 149. She escaped from the School through an open door and went on the run until she was found by Frannie. She displays a liking for chocolate chip cookies and acts as a mom to the rest of the flock. In the sequel, while trying to adjust to life with her parents Art and Terry Marshall, she turns twelve years old. At school, while harassed herself, she constantly saves Matthew from bullies. When hitmen from the Hospital attack her new home, she bands together with the rest of the flock and searches for Kit and Frannie. She and Oz fall in love and at the end of the book, she becomes a mother to twins named Ozymandias Jr. and Frances Jane.
• Matthew: Max’s loving and protective nine-year-old brother, codenamed Peter Pan. His wings are off-white with silver and navy blue markings. In the sequel, he has problems with bullies, as he refuses to fight back. Max saves him, and he becomes more of a fighter.
• “Oz,” or Ozymandias: In the first book, Oz is a talkative seven-year-old, stocky, with dark brown hair and feathers. However, in the second book he is the next-oldest after Max, and has feelings for her. He has brown hair and brown or green eyes, dark brown wings, and a scar across his right eyebrow. Although in the first book he is said to look about seven, in the second book he is said to be not much younger than Max, and is revealed to have feelings for her. He regularly tattoos himself. He is killed by Hitmen working for the Hospital, and Max avenges him. His biological parents are Anthea and Mike Taranto; his father died of cancer before they could meet. Anthea is a little too fond of attention, and hires Oz a Hollywood agent and an entertainment lawyer.
• “Ic,” or Icarus: a blind member of the flock with long ash-blond hair. The rest of the flock helps him to fly by communicating via chirps and whistles. He can be goofy and sarcastic, and a brief mention is made of his flatulence. He has a talent for languages, singing, mimicking, and piano. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stern, have him appear on the show Touched by an Angel.
• Peter and Wendy: four-year-old twins of Chinese descent, with bowl haircuts, both geniuses. They seem to be very close. Wendy’s favorite toy is a Garfield the Cat doll. After they start living with their biological parents, Joe and Anne Chen, they begin appearing in advertisements for Wingdingers cereal, and they hate it.
• Frannie O’Neill: a veterinarian who helps rescue the children from the School and falls in love with Kit. Her husband, Dr. David Mekin, was associated with the School but found out too much and was murdered three years before the story begins. Her small animal hospital, the Inn-Patient, is located in the tiny town of Bear Bluff, Colorado. In the sequel, she enters a custody battle for the flock and eventually wins. Her character corresponds to that of Dr. Martinez in the young adult series.
• Kit Harrison: an FBI agent who works with Frannie and becomes a father figure to the flock. His wife and children are deceased. He has a reputation for believing conspiracy theories.
• Adam: a blue-eyed, blond child, age four, who was also experimented on by the School; a genius with a life expectancy of 200 years. He was the same age as Peter and Wendy and was their best friend. The flock believed that he and his sister Eve were “put to sleep,” but in reality they were adopted by Frannie’s friends Carl and Gillian Puris – actually School scientists Dr. Anthony Peyser and Dr. Susan Parkhill. Frannie knew Adam by the name Michael. When the flock is being held captive in Gillian’s house, he helps Kit and Frannie escape to find them. He and his parents die in a car crash when they attempt to escape.
• Eve: Adam’s sister, who was also supposed to have been put to sleep. Although her parents and brother died, she survived and was taken to a top secret army base in North Carolina.
• Dr. Anthony Peyser: Creator of the School. In order to kidnap children to use as test subjects, he works at an in-vitro clinic where he tells mothers that their newborns are dead.
• Dr. Ethan Kane: affable villain of The Lake House, who runs an organization known as the Hospital.

Similarities 

• There is a group of six avian-human hybrid children, referred to as the Flock, created and experimented on at a facility referred to as "the School." The oldest and the leader is a girl named Max, short for Maximum, and they are aided by a kindly veterinarian.
• Max is the only character to have the same name and personality in both series, but other characters are similar. Like Fang, Oz falls in love with Max and eventually has children with her. Like Iggy, Icarus or "Ic" is blind due to experiments meant to give him night vision.
• Both series begin set in Colorado.
• Both series begin with a scene of Max fleeing from her pursuers through the woods.
• The first book features an auction similar to the one in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports.

Differences

• In Maximum Ride, the kids range from 6 to 14, while in the original series they range from 4 to 12.
• The kids' wings are mostly white and blue, while in the Maximum Ride series they vary in color.
• In the Maximum Ride series, human-avian hybrids have air sacs in addition to lungs, as well as fast heartbeats, altered stomachs, bones, and nuclei in their blood. They have advanced senses and don't weigh much. However, aside from their wings, which are easily hidden, they look identical to humans. The Flock in the original novels have all of these characteristics but are more birdlike. They have broad shoulders anda deep ribcage to aid in flying, with pectoral muscles attaching to an oversized breastbone called the pectoral crest. They are very flexible, and have hollow bones and slightly webbed fingers and toes that act like rudders during flight. They also have feathers along the backs of their disproportionately long legs. Their wings are attached to their arms. They mature faster than humans and are oviparous, meaning that their children hatch from eggs.
• In the adult books, the bird children have increased strength and other abilities. In the Maximum Ride series, the Flock has outright superpowers such as telepathy.