I am Number Four

I am Number Four, Pittacus Lore

Mr 12 recently discovered this exciting and engaging series.

The premise is that as the Planet Lorien was destroyed by Mogadorian invaders, a few select children were sent to Earth to live undercover until they gained their special powers (legacies) which would enable them to overpower the Mogadorians and return to Lorien.  Each child, numbered One to Nine, has a guardian, who is responsible for their care and training as they mature and gain their legacies.  So far, Numbers One, Two and Three have been found and killed, so now the focus turns to finding Number Four.

John Smith (Four) has spent his life moving throughout country towns in the US, with Henri (his guardian), trying to remain undetected. For the first time he starts making friends and begins to wonder if his life can be like everyone else’s.  Clearly, though when you are an alien hunted by other super-powered aliens, your teenage life is far from normal!

It’s action packed and interesting. There are some very similar allusions to the Percy Jackson series, which is about Greek gods still active on earth and their semi-god children.

So far 5 books in the series have been written, I have read I am Number Four, The Power of Six and The Rise of Nine.  At that point I decided to stop, as Mr 12 made it clear both The Fall of Five and The Revenge of Seven finish on cliff-hangers, and the next ones have not yet been released.  He is keen to read the final books, of which we suspect there will need to be at least two.    It’s also fair to say that each book gets more complex as more of the teenagers are found and drawn into the story line.  I could keep up with 3 different fonts for different characters, much more than that and I might begin to struggle! Mr 12 also gives a clear warning: do not read the back cover of any of the subsequent books until you have finished the previous ones, or key storylines are given away!

It is pretty clear in the later books that the author Pittacus Lore (a pseudonym revealed online to be James Frey) is anti-religion, but that can be an interesting talking point.  Also, I kept wondering what is going to happen with all these teenagers who appear to be falling in love with each other.  At the moment, it’s all pretty chaste, and I hope it remains that way.

I am enjoying my regular exposure to youth fiction these days.