I am Number Four
Author: Pitticus Lore
Publish Date: August 2010
Publisher: Harper Collins
Nine
of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we
are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of
having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the
superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.
Our
plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them.
But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running.
Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in.
we have lived among you without you knowing.
But
they know
They
caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number
Two in England.
And
Number Three in Kenya.
They
killed them all.
I
am Number Four.
I
am next.
(From GoodReads)
I agree that in a small town there’s nowhere to
hide and blending in is crucial. I don’t think it gets any smaller then
Paradise, OH. Paradise is a small, rural backwater town that you expect in the
fields of Ohio or the plains of Kansas, or the Southern plantation towns of
Georgia. In reality it’s a dying culture but Mr. Lore exploits it to the max. The
people of Paradise are what you expect from small town busybodies. Some are
okay, and others are an annoyance that I really wished for death early in the
book.
Number Four is a decent kid. In reality he doesn’t
want a war, he just wants life, but we can’t pick and chose our destinies. The
name changing thing he has to do must be really annoying as well as the
continual moving around. We don’t ever get to find out his Loric name which, I think
would be cool to go by or at least know. (Hint, hint.) The best thing to say about
John is that he tries. He really does. He listens, for the most part, to Henri,
his guardian, and when he doesn’t listen he has a viable reason not to. He has
a code of honor, which makes him a really likeable person.
Opposite to him there is Sarah. My personal
opinion is “I don’t like her”. She’s the daughter of a real estate agent and an
ex cheerleader, reformed bad girl. I don’t buy one minute of it. She’s standard
hero’s girlfriend material, but there’s something about her that feels off.
Like she’s too nice, too good, too everything.
The plot is a mix of problems blending in with
the new society and hiding from the enemy. As well as learning the Legacies as
they appear in between everything else. It makes for a lot of work to do in a
short amount of time. Thereof there’s always something happening. Whether good
or bad is debatable but something is always going on.
The mere fact that something is always happening
makes the book a pleasant read. It’s sucks the reader in as one problem ends
another starts nearly within the same page. Even through periods of rest, there
is always action occurring. I would definitely recommend the book to read for
those that like their daily dose of aliens.
My Rating:
PS: I have not seen the movie.
