I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Title: I Am Number Four (Lorien Legacies #1)

Author: Pittacus Lore

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: August 3, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

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, train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found 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.

I’ll be honest, I picked up I Am Number Four for the simple reason that it was being made into a movie before the books had even come out. The story also looked interesting but I had never really been one for alien stories. Now that I’ve read the book I can honestly say that some aliens aren’t actually all that bad, like the ones in this book for example. The story was fast paced and really took me on an adventure that I wasn’t to expecting to enjoy this much, I had a really hard time putting the book down.

Four has never lived in the same place very long. Every time Henri finds something suspicious in the move, they pack up, leave and find a new place to live. Until they have to do it all over again. Now in Ohio Four, going by the name of John Smith, tries as much as he can to have a normal life. A normal life that includes a friend named Sam, an enemy called Mark, and of course a girlfriend called Sarah. All that on top of the threat coming from the Mogadorians, the race that made it so John and Henri had to leave their own planet. But will wanting a normal life so badly result in John’s death?

John was a really interesting character. He just wants so badly to fit in and not get noticed except something always happens that ends up making him stand out. It’s not his fault, weird things just always seem to happen to him when there’s a crowd around him. I really like John and I found myself falling for him on more than one occasion, for once I wasn’t going for the bad boy. I was reading and just hoping that things would all work out for him. He just came across as a genuinely good guy.

Sam and Mark both really surprised me. I had Sam pegged totally pegged as the stereotypical science fiction geek but as it turns out he was more than that. As for Mark I had originally written him off as a majorly jealous jerk but he really came through for John in the end, which I was very far from expecting. As for Henri, he was a great father for John, they may not have been related put the two just seemed to fit together. Henri was also the character who got me to cry, something I wasn’t expecting to do while reading a book about aliens.

Like Henri, Sarah seemed like a perfect fit for John. She was a great character though sometimes she did come across as a little cliché but it could easily be overlooked. The only thing that really bugged me was how easily she accepted that John was an alien when he told her. Other than that, I really wanted them to work out. They just both seemed so happy together and John was finally getting the normalcy he wanted and you could just tell he cared a lot for Sarah.

The story was fast paced, full of adventure with twists where you least expected them. You can easily tell why the movie rights to the book were auctioned off before the book even came out. If the book took me on a journey that I never wanted to leave, I can’t wait to see what the movie will do. The only downside to the movie already having been made was that I could only picture John as Alex Pettyfer and Sarah as Diana Agron. I like being able to picture what the characters look like for myself but these two come pretty close to the image I would have had of Sarah and John.

Overall, I Am Number Four was a fantastic read that took me on an incredible journey. The fast paced action just made me want to read on until there was nothing left to read and even then I wanted more. I can’t wait to see what happens next!