I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Summary:

John Smith, so he is called today, isn’t from Earth. He is from Lorien. He is one of nine aliens from that planet who have legacies (powers) along with their guardians who have come to hide on Earth. They are hiding from those who destroyed Lorien, the Mogadorians. Now those Mogadorians are looking for them, to kill them. But the Mogadorians have bigger plans, to destroy Earth. They suck up the resources using them thoughtlessly. The nine are being hunted down one at a time. They are separated for their own perfection. As long as they are apart, they can only be killed in numerical order. John knows that the first three have already been killed because they are connected and he has a burning mark on his ankle for each dead Lorien. The problem is that John in number four. They are after him. John tries to blend in but it isn’t easy as he meets Sarah and makes his first best friend, Sam. Can he find the strength to leave them, to hide from those that are hunting him? Or will his staying put be the end of him and his planets best chance to be restored?

My thoughts:

I wish I could like this book, I really do. I like the premise. It’s an interesting twist on paranormal books. I liked the sci-fi aspects of it. I liked the legacies that come over time. I even liked John. He was venerable and very much a teenager but he also drives me crazy. He is irrational and flighty. I hated how right in the middle of the action, he went off on these pondering rampages. I guess that what I really didn’t like was the writing. John only did what the author told him to. But so much of it wasn’t John. It’s like the character isn’t allowed to progress as he should. He was forced.

The other character that made me nuts was Sarah. She is so two-dimensional. The interaction between her and John is so superficial that I don’t know how they fall in love. So much is summarized instead of experienced.

I did like Sam and I even came to like Mark. I also liked John’s guardian. All of them were full dynamic characters. They were only supporting characters though and not enough to keep the story rich and full. The writing was just too choppy and not developed. The book could have been good. It just needed some more work. Too bad.

The end of the book should have broken my heart but it didn’t. I was just glad it was finally over. So much of the story should have compelled me forward but it took me forever to get through the last half of the book. I think I’ll skip the sequel.

Enjoy the read!