Power Of Six The

Posted In: I Am Number Four

Eneida Roderiques says...

3.5 Stars



With his cepan Henri, a chimera, and an envelope of disposal identities, Four has been on the run from the Mogadorians for the better part of ten years. And in that time, they have bounced from state to state hoping to stay alive.



They can't stop running, because if they do, it will spell the end of any hope there will be in defeating their enemy-an enemy that now threatens Earth.Four has to last long enough to come into his legacies, his innate Lorien powers that materialize upon adolescence.



And with those powers, he and the other Lorien survivors on Earth just might be able to fight off the one enemy that destroyed their planet, and has the next one in their sights: Earth.



But Four is tired of running. Once he and Henri hit Paradise, Ohio and things quiet down, Four thinks he might actually have a semi-normal life: high school, friends...attachments. When he starts to dig in, to have roots, he almost forgets that he has a destiny. Could it be that he and Henri have finally found a safe place? Will he be able to stay there long enough to train with his new powers? What about Sara, the girl he has fallen in love with? Can he even dare to have a normal life?



But trouble comes calling after a series of freak accidents, and those who were watching for any Four will have to defend his newfound home, his girlfriend and everything he has now come to believe in against an inescapable enemy. But he won't be alone. Another Lorien has found, him, a girl who has come partially into her legacies....Number Six...and with her help they might actually be able to turn the tide.



I Am Number Four was such a welcome YA genre change...something I have been looking forward to for a while. Being a huge sci-fi fan, I couldn't help but notice the similarities to another YA sci-fi series like Melinda Metz's Roswell High...a similar premise of teen aliens on earth developing their powers trying to stay out of the sights of alien hunters.



I Am Number Four seems a bit sparse by comparison in plot and character interaction. I was expecting more complication, a more densely developed plot than was presented. Compared to other more popular YA series, it seemed a tad tame.



Frey will need to pump the gas pedal a bit, and add some nitro for Power of Six if he doesn't want the series to fizzle. Four has some great promise and overall I enjoyed the read but expected more. Lots more. I will be sure to read The Power of Six when it hits the shelves in 2011 to see if things have improved.



A Fiendishly Bookish Review (and one grumpy cat)

Posted on January 7, 2012

Juliette Kurnik says...

First, my rating is for this 'Movie tie in' edition, not the book proper.

I already had the book and rate it at least 4+ out of 5.

I bought this because I thought the 'movie tie in' would have supplemental material, like the symbols for the Nine and what they mean. It does have the first 2 chapters of the next book, "THE POWER OF SIX" and 'LORIEN' astrological signs - the descriptions of each sign - not an actual sign image.



All in all, disappointing. Looking forward to the movie though.

Posted on January 8, 2012

Dorthea Laroe says...

I Am Number Four may well be a huge sensation when the Dreamworks film of this book is released in 2011 starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron. It may well make a decent teen movie. But it's not a good book. It's cliché, predictable and simplistic. Worse news still, there are apparently another five of these books planned. I won't be reading them.



The concept is very similar to the Twilight series - except here we have an alien rather than a vampire and it's written from his point of view rather than hers. There is the same stereotype mix of school kids - one outsider (alien with superpowers), one cute girl who falls in love with outsider for no apparent reason, one jock who similarly hates outsider for equally no apparent reason and a geek who likes outsider for.... well you've guessed it.



The alien, residing under the name of John Smith (no, really), is from the planet Lorien which has been invaded by the evil Mogadorians. (In one of the many cheap steals, Lorien has been sending representatives to Earth for centuries and are partly responsible for things like the pyramids) Only a handful of Loriens escaped and are now relentlessly pursued by the Mogadorians who, and this is the only clever twist presented here, have to kill the nine child escapees in order as a result of some kind of Loric charm come combination lock. Three are dead and John Smith is the fourth.



It's pretty obvious where this is all going from the first few pages and it gets there in an amiable if predictable way, before completely losing the plot in the big finale that will have most readers rolling their eyes.



Marketed as one of those books that appeal to young adults and adults alike - it may well appeal to young adults but the simplistic writing and predictability ought to put off anyone past the age of about 16. Young adults deserve better fare than this lazy, cliché-ridden book. I suspect marketing will win out over writing quality in the end though and it will probably be what everyone is reading when the film comes out. Certainly the writing is more even than in the Twilight series, but that's not saying a great deal. However, I tired of the constant repetition that is a feature of both series of books and the predictability is laughable. Smith is developing his superpowers (called legacies here) in some kind of alien puberty - he becomes fire resistant. Hmmm wonder if a house is going to catch fire. Worse, Smith cannot tell that there's something strange about his dog. How anyone can be that dumb and be the saviour of their apparently advanced race is a mystery.

Posted on January 8, 2012

Socorro Tadeo says...

PJVs QUICKIE POV:

Crazy as it is, this book I AM NUMBER FOUR shot onto the best-sellers list from no-where. I saw the movie trailer before I saw the book trailer...which in itself is odd - how does one get a movie deal before they have their book released. I knew the author must be juicy. So interest piqued I downloaded it as my 1 Audible credit and listened to it non-stop while I worked. I was so not disappointed. This book was charming in it's delivery, interesting in its world-building and the climatic conclusion was heart-stopping in it's intensity. I'm almost tempted to go out and purchase the book so I can compare it to the audio book.



REVIEW:

The main character and narrator calls himself Number Four. He is an alien, sent as a child from a planet that was over run by the most vilest and destructive of alien races. He and a few others are the only ones left from the Lorien race and on Earth hiding from killers of their race. A charm was put on the remaining Loriens, a charm that protects them from the evil race aliens hunting them. They can only be killed in order. Number three has just been killed... he is number four. And while he has his whole race riding on his shoulders and killers hunting his every move, Four is only a teenage boy and all he desperately wants is to just live.



I was very impressed with this novel. The voice of Four was innocent enough to be believable but mature enough to understand the weight that was on his shoulders. I thought his reactions were very on par for a teenage boy in this situation. I really liked Four. I also really enjoyed Henri and Sam, which were very well written side characters.



The story was fast-paced where it needed to be and slow-and-steady when you couldn't take the intensity any more. The climatic ending was almost over-whelming. I can not wait for the second in this series.



Things that were a bit iffy to me, some of which is a critique on the reader. I thought it was hilarious when he did female voices and kept picturing Sara as a transvestite. I don't think I've noticed anything like this before in an audio book, so I think it must have been off for me. Also, speaking of Sara, I wasn't too enraptured with her, she was just too perfect. Understandable because the narrator was Four and he was desperately in love with her - so of course she is going to look a perfect.



I was also reminded constantly that this story is very similar to the Superman story-line. Kal-el (Superman) was rocketed by his father to Earth just moments before it's destruction as was Four. Where it differs was Four's planet is invaded by an evil race of aliens and they are hunting him down on Earth - where Superman was not being hunted by evil aliens, but his own evil people of his race.



I'm being super picky though, and I'm only mentioning these things because they niggle at my mind and if I don't write them --- who else will I tell them to??



RECOMMENDATIONS:

Boys and Girls, adults and teens -- this is a cross gender, cross age book that should be enjoyed by a wide range of readers. Fans of the Percy Jackson series, Superman comics or the great Scott Westerfeld should enjoy!



I am disappointed by the comments that were received on the blog about the author of this book and his fiction factory...I might have rethought my purchase if I would have known though.

Posted on January 9, 2012

Marvel Mazer says...

What a pleasant surprise, I liked this book! I didn't think I would, since I'm not fond of "end of the world" scenarios, but thought I'd give it a chance because the storyline intrigued me.Set in the present day, the book tells the tale of a small group of nine young gifted aliens and their "keepers" who were sent to Earth to escape from the evil aliens who waged war and total destruction of life on their home planet. While this may sound familiar (Superman, anyone?) the primary differences are quickly made apparent.These nine children all have different "legacies", or powers, that do not manifest until they reach a certain age, they come with guardians to help protect them, and the enemy has followed them to Earth, with plans to take over our planet, too, (another familiar theme, to Star Trek fans this sound like "The Borg") as soon as they kill the nine children.The primary story follows just "Number Four", aka Daniel Jones, aka John Smith and his guardian, Henri, with references to the others made along the way.The interaction between John and Henri as John begins to develop both his legacies and his libido are particularly good.John manifests typical teen angst and is very believable as a young man trying to find his way in life while nature is reminding him not only how very alike he is, but also how very different from his friends.



Although I'm way beyond being a teen, I do enjoy young adult stories and this is definitely of that genre.It's nice to sometimes read a book where sex is not the primary motivation for everything and present in every chapter.This book has the requisite "love" story, a pretty girl, a human bully, a human nerd, lots of action, great character development and the author does not "talk down" to the reading audience. One warning for the reader however, I was left feeling that there are going to be more of these books coming.Not necessarily a bad thing, if the author can keep it to a set number of books in the series.A trilogy, perhaps.I would not like to see this go on too long as it would become too much like "Star Trek:Voyager", a never ending quest for the unattainable. The ending was satisfactory, even given the probability of more books to come. I would definitely read the next book, should there be one.

Posted on January 9, 2012

Deon Gaudreau says...

I knew nothing about this book or the forthcoming movie, until I read an article on [...] that had a preview of the first couple of chapters.



I was immediately sucked in and had to get this book.



I won't go into the plot since most other reviewers have summarized it on here. I thought this book was utterly engaging. It is marketed as a YA novel, and that it is, but everyone would enjoy this novel. There is the teenage "love story" and "coming of age" that almost every YA novel contains, but others will want to stay around for the action and the Lorien/Magadorian history, powers and mythology that are in this book, and promise to be in future books in this series. And I love the premise of aliens in disguise living amongst humans.



I tore through this book, I read it in about 2 days; I would've been done with it sooner, but I was bothered with this pesky little thing called a job. lol

I was intrigued with John, Henri and The Magadorians. There were so many questions I had that were answered: Why do they want John? What are his "Legacies" and will they develop? And so many that will be answered in future installments: Where are the remaining 5? Will they find each other?Can they band together in time to save themselves and their planet?



I'm very glad that this will be part of a series as I can't wait to see what happens next!! And it promises to be a great movie as well!

Posted on January 9, 2012

Saturnina Dotto says...

I bought this book based on a review that said it had great character development, something missing from a lot of YA books. Nope. Now I wish I'd checked it out of the library. Or maybe just waited for the movie that's coming out in February 2011.

I agree with another reviewer that the book felt like a tie-in product for the movie, a way to make more money by selling both books and tickets. I don't get the feeling "I Am Number Four" was written because an author had a really great story he loved and wanted to tell. More likely, it was written to hype an upcoming movie.

I still don't know a whole lot about the main character, John Smith, and even less about his love interest, Sarah Hart. (Heck, I don't even know what John looks like.)

In the beginning, I was really pleased to read a first person book from a teenage guy's POV that actually sounded like a guy. But I was expecting more dramatic near misses with John and his pursuers, and there weren't many. There wasn't much tension at all, really. John's number is up, he's being stalked by otherworldly killers, and still I never felt too concerned about him. John wasn't overly worried either. He was mostly concerned about staying in Paradise, Ohio, in large part so he could be with Sarah...who we know absolutely nothing about. Sure, she's blonde, she has blue eyes, and she likes photography. And in a matter of days, John is ready to stop running from the Mogadorians who are killing off the Legacies in numerical order, put down roots to be near her and endanger his life and the life of his mentor Henri (called a Cepan). I needed more to buy into a love that strong...more interaction, more conversations, more something between John and Sarah.

There were a few scenes that served only to move the plot along and weren't really organic to the story. Example: We're told John can run faster than a car. So why did he and his best friend, Sam (who just happens to be an alien enthusiast with a missing dad he believes was abducted) drive to another town to investigate Henri's disappearance? Why would John involve Sam at all in what he thinks will be a dangerous mission? After all, John's got superhuman strength and other powers, so he doesn't need help getting Henri back. It seemed Sam went along only so he could end up in danger (naturally) and John would have to use his awesome alien strength and levitating ability to rescue him, thus revealing to his friend in a dramatic way that he is not a human.

Some of the dialogue and wording were awkward and took me out of the story. Teenagers don't say "perhaps" at the beginning of sentences, or at least the ones I know don't. What does it mean if someone looks at you "through the tops of her eyes"? And one of the authors --Pittacus Lore is a pseudonym for James Frey and Jobie Hughes-- is a big fan of the word "segue" because it showed up often enough to be noticeable. And my last word gripe: "Vertiginous" isn't a common word, and this wasn't a book with a lot of difficult vocabulary, so when this bad boy popped up during a key battle scene, I had to stop and figure out what it meant. Speaking of the big battle, it went on far too long, like a lot of action sequences in movies tend to do.

This wasn't a terrible book, just one that needed better editing and to be thought out a little more. There are some questions left open that I'd like to know the answer to...What exactly is in The Chest? What happened to Sam's dad? What became of the other Lorien ship John remembers from his flashbacks? Will we meet the remaining Legacies?(Number Six showing up was a nice little twist, and I'd like to know more about her.)What is John's greatest Legacy going to be? I'd like to know the answers, so the book did keep me interested...but I might just wait for the movies instead of reading future books.

Posted on January 13, 2012

Kymberly Kayler says...

I was intrigued by the premise of this story - 9 aliens on the run, only capable of being attacked in a certain order? Hm. A lot of possibilities are there! Unfortunately, the author - or authors, I should say - is incapable of pulling it off. The characterizations are flat, the writing is flat...EVERYTHING is flat.



I Am Number Four is about John Smith (not his real name), who moves to a small Ohio town with Henri, his guardian. John is an alien who escaped destruction on his world by fleeing to ours. Unfortunately, he and Henri aren't the only aliens on Earth, as the evil Mogadorians have also come here to hunt them down. John and Henri try to keep a step ahead of the Mogadorians, but it's not easy...



The writing for this book is incredibly dull and lifeless. It reads like something that was meant to be a movie. The problem is that movies and books are two very different mediums, and what works well in one doesn't always work so well in the other. I feel like James Frey and Jobie Hughes (aka Pittacus Lore) got ahead of themselves in writing for a movie-type audience.



As far as the characters go - John and Henri have your stereotypical mentor-student relationship. As such, it wasn't a huge surprise when Henri ended up dying, because the mentor ALWAYS dies in this sort of story. Talk about your regular cliche. And Sarah is your run-of-the-mill love interest. She's just perfect and sweet and kind and awesome...in short, a very boring character to read about.



The one positive I can say is that, despite the flat writing, the book did move along pretty quickly because a lot happened. Still, don't waste your money - borrow it from the library instead. Or at least get a used copy!

Posted on January 17, 2012

Ladonna Maholmes says...

Wow, this book has a great concept.Nine children come to earth from a war ravaged planet, the last of their people, and they are seeking to hide amongst us until they come of age so they can come into their 'legacies' and kick some bad-guy fanny.The driving essence of the plot is thatthe kids are being hunted one-by-one by the bad guys who can only kill them in numeric order. And our hero, John, is #4 and #3 just got snuffed.



The fact that there's already a movie shooting didn't hurt my expectations either.I was smiling cheerfully until I got four chapters into the book.Then it occurred to me that The Movie probably came first and that the book was just something thrown together by people who aren't all that familiar with how good YA (young adult) literature is these days.



Good idea or not, "I am Number Four" has flat characters and utter predictability.There's also almost no descriptive writing -- like you'd find in a movie script.Not that you need much help to envision 'Mark' the smalltown, football star/bully who is jealous that John is now dating his beautiful ex-cheerleader girlfriend.(And yes, she's very blonde, smart, and has a beautiful eyes.)



"I notice a girl taking pictures, moving easily from one group to the next.She's shockingly beautiful with straight blond hair past her shoulders, ivory skin, high cheekbones, and soft blue eyes.Everyone seems to know her and says hello to her, and no one objects to her taking their pictures.



"She sees me, smiles and waves.I wonder why and turn to see if someone is behind me....



"'Don't be shy.'

"'I'm not.Just trying to protect you lens.My face might break it."





THE SKINNY:::

I read a lot of YA,MG (Middle-grade) and kidlit, and this book doesn't compare well to "Hunger Games", Percy Jackson, or Mo Willems.



Except for the plentiful scenes with kissing and the one (two?) moments when something interesting might have happened had-they-not-been-interrupted, this book would be perfect for Older Elementary aged kids[AR 4.0] and Middle-schoolers looking for a fun read.



Personally, I think YA'ers would be better off reading "Split" or "Mockingjay" or re-reading something they loved.



Middle-graders would better be directed to Gary Paulsen, "The Red Pyramid", or "Smells Like Dog".Something with adventure or humor or both if they are looking for a lighter read.



Reading level - 4th Grade



Pam T~

mom and blogger

Posted on January 17, 2012

Carlotta Auteri says...

I was so exicted to find this book after my friend mentioned how there was this cool new movie coming out. It sounded exciting and right up my alley. However, upon reading this book I discovered this is not the case. The concept has so much potential but Pittacus Lore does not deliver. It was suspenseful so that I had to keep reading but was truly written poorly in my opinion. I absolutely hated the ending because it was so cliched. I will still read the sequel, however, I have low expectations for it.

Posted on January 22, 2012