I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Rating: 4 out of 5

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 500 KB
Print Length: 368 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 141330864
Publisher: ePenguin (August 26, 2010)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B003YUC0MY

Age: Teen

First Sentence: "The door starts shaking."

John Smith is just your average teenager. Average as long as you don't notice the fact he is actually an alien. John is from the planet Lorien, which he fled as a child with nine other children, as it was being destroyed by another alien race called the Mogadorians. John with his keeper Henri now live a life on the run, constantly hiding, always running, waiting for the day his powers will arrive. Then they can fight back.

The first three of the nine children are dead, and now the Mogadorians are after John who is number four. The numbers and their order are important but I wont reveal why here. This eventually leads to John having to fight for his life, and some great action scenes.

I was confused though as to why the Mogadorians were so gun-ho on killing the children? they destroyed the planet, and killed their race off. Are nine children and their keepers really such a big threat? But perhaps all will be revealed in the next books.

There is a thread of romance which is not over powering to the story. I have some suspicions about the girl John is in love with, after what was said in the book but I wont give anything away. On love, there is a strong bond between John and Henri which is more like father and son, it is not surprising as Henri has raised John from when he was a young boy.

The book is surprisingly emotional. Edge of your seat action one minute, touching and tender moment the next. I was expecting the action but the tender moments that made me almost shed a tear.

The "world" created is an interesting one. The author puts a lot of thought and detail into Lorien society. However I find the contrasts interesting (as well as the message of the book). Lorien is a world that was nearly destroyed by pollution, war, and progress but changed their lifestyle. They renounced and gave up their wicked ways becoming a harmonious and peaceful race. The Mogadorians however kept going on their wicked ways and destroyed their planet. They then moved on to Lorien and destroyed it.

Now this to me is where the message (maybe I am reading to much into it?) gets confusing on one hand the book says war, pollution modern ways are BAD. The Mogadorians who still do it and don't care are evil. But then the Lorien get their butts kicked and are annihilated by the Mogadorians because they were too peaceful and didn't see it coming. So war is good? because then you can kick baddy alien butt?

Clearly this book is the start of a series so there were a few loose ends left at the end of the book. I saw somewhere there are six books planned. Not sure how true that is but I am going to guess each book will follow the remaining aliens and their quest to survive.

The author of the book is a character from the book. The actual author is Jobie Hughs who wrote it in collaboration with James Frey.

Overall this was a great book. I look forward to the other books in the series.