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| I Am Number Four (Lorien Legacies #1) by Pittacus Lore |
"In the beginning they were a group of nine. Nine aliens who left their home planet of Lorien when it fell under attack by the evil Mogadorian. Nine aliens who scattered on Earth. Nine aliens who look like ordinary teenagers living ordinary lives, but who have extraordinary, paranormal skills. Nine aliens who might be sitting next to you now.
The Nine had to separate and go into hiding. The Mogadorian caught Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. All of them were killed. John Smith, of Paradise, Ohio, is Number Four. He knows that he is next.
I Am Number Four is the thrilling launch of a series about an exceptional group of teens as they struggle to outrun their past, discover their future—and live a normal life on Earth.
I AM NUMBER FOUR.
I AM NEXT."
Rating:
I’ve seen this book getting raved up on the Internet but didn’t bother to read it since aliens aren’t my cup of tea. But when I saw the movie trailer, I immediately became intrigued.
I Am Number Four was entertaining to read, but was too slow for me. All the action and fighting came at about chapter twenty-eight and this book has thirty-four chapters. Yet, I can’t deny that it got me hooked. Notwithstanding the platitude of “aliens coming to earth and living like us”, the concept was interesting enough.
The characters are okay. Four (I like calling him Four rather than John), aka John Smith, doesn’t sound alien. I couldn’t blame him probably because he’s spent more years on Earth rather than on Lorien. Aside from that, there are times he sounded like a girl. He has this oogly-googly feeling whenever he’s around Sarah. Perhaps he’s just too love-struck but the narration of his feelings seems to better fit a girl’s voice. I like Henri and Sam because they seem to be those who are close to being characters with real personalities. But I do question how Sam got his hands on a gun, I mean he’s a geek for goodness sake; it doesn’t seem to fit in. Sarah, Four’s girlfriend, is underdeveloped. She doesn’t have a solid personality. I also still question what the hell was she doing when the fire at Mark’s (her ex) house during a party happened. No one even questioned it, it’s as if the author put her there just to make a superhero act for Four. The only character that I love from among them is Bernie Kosar!!! He’s adorable! I just love dogs!
Well, that’s about all I can think of with this book. Oh! One more thing, I don’t know if it was done on purpose as a major cliffhanger or it was just unfledged but I feel like Four’s Legacies were wimpy compared to Six’s . At first I thought it was because Four is still discovering his other Legacies but up at the end he seemed to have nothing but light, fire-resistance, telekinesis and animal-speaking powers while Six has dominant powers like invisibility and elemental-control. I waited to see what else he could develop but sadly the book ended. I guess since there’s a 2nd book it means I’ll have my questions answered there.
Anyway, in spite of the flaws I saw, I enjoyed reading it and it still got me hooked to it, and by the end, I was almost in tears for knowing that Four and Sarah had to part ways.
