I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (My first read of 2011)

Okay, so I'm a little late with my first book review of the year, but there were birthday parties and the flu involved and blah blah, you don't want my excuses. Better late than never right? And I've already read book two, so that review should come shortly too.

The Book Is: I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore.

I Rated It: 3 out of 5 Stars

The Summary From Goodreads is: 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.


My Overall thoughts: In a word? Fun. Who doesn't love kids with superpowers and aliens trying to take over the world? I am a total sci-fi nerd and loved the subject of this book. I was actually intrigued by the title alone and the brief summary completely sold me. As soon as I saw it I knew I'd have to read it, that's how much I loved the concept. And in that respect, the book did not disappoint. The plot was so creative and fun and done very well. I loved the pacing of the book and the story structure. I loved watching John come into his powers and loved learning about the alien races and his history. I also loved the suspense element of this book. That's what kept me turning page after page and made me not want to put it down until I knew how it ended.


The thing that kept me from absolutely loving this book was the writing itself. It was very streamline with not really much voice or personality. It made everything feel sort of blan, characters included. The characters all seem very one dimensional. As a book this was a little disappointing, but what that means, is that I can really look forward to the movie now. To me the book read like a glorified screenplay which means I doubt I'll be disappointed in the upcoming film. With such a strong plot and awesome action sequences it should be a lot of fun, and with these characters, the actors will have a lot of room to develop them without having to meet a ton of expectation. Like say the way Rob Pattinson had to live up to Edward Cullen or whoever plays Katniss will have to live up to Suzanne Collins's legacy. For the characters in I Am Number Four, that shouldn't be as difficult and should make watching the movie enjoyable. 


I recommend reading this book if you're looking for a quick, fun, read and love superpowers! And I'll let you know my thoughts on the movie vs. the book after I've seen it. The movie releases February 18th and I'm making some of my friends read the book so that they'll go see the movie with me. Here's the trailer in case you're wondering, And I'm very curious to see how Alex Pettyfer does since so many people have said he'd make the perfect Peeta. (lol I'm a natural skeptic and I worry that no one will be good enough to be Katniss and Peeta. Hopefully I can be proved wrong.)

What do you think? Peeta? Not Peeta? 


Tweet