Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Fangirl Reviews: I Am Number Four By Pittacus Lore



In the beginning there were nine of us.  We left when we were almost too young to remember.  Almost.

Nine young prodigies were brought from the planet Lorien, along with their Cepan amidst the backdrop of a war on their planet.  They were graced with the gift of only being able to be killed off by their enemy, The Mogadorians, in their numerical order.  The first three were killed and this book follows the story of Number Four, or as he became known, as of lately, as John Smith.
   I Am Number Four, follows John Smith as he adjusts to life with the legacies that have finally came to him and trying to adjust to life as a teenager in a new town while being hunted down by evil Mogadorians and falling in love with a local blonde girl--all this while trying to hide his real identity.

Page count:  448
Genre:  Young Adult Science Fiction
Similar to:  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Yes, I went there.  But I can't ignore the similar present tense style and that it's a good boy and girl book).
Recommended to:  Boys and girls 12+
Stars:  3.5/5


The Good:

* This book was very fast paced!  You started right away with action and it kept building throughout the story, making you want to just sit on your couch and turn the pages.
*  The ending was just what I wanted!  There weren't any plot holes, only questions that would make me want to read on.  And of course the last 100 pages were EXACTLY what the book was leading up to and didn't leave me disappointed.
*I liked the main character, which can sometimes be hard for me to say.  The author was able to capture the fact that even though John wasn't from this planet, he was still a teenage boy, and managed to capture adolescence and how a teenage boy would deal with everything that comes into play for John.

The Not-so-Good:
*There was ALOT of telling instead of showing in the beginning.  Which isn't always bad, because sometimes the character just has to laugh or smile.  But the last 60-100 pages makes up for that with the descriptions.
*The author name really threw me off.  This book is actually a collaborative project written by two authors, so they just wrote under the name Pittacus Lore.  The author's odd name combined with reading the Prologue (which I'm not a prologue person), really made me not want to read this story for a long time.
*The relationships of the characters weren't as developed as I wanted them to be.  I couldn't understand why John Smith was so in love with this girl that he was willing to risk himself and with the ending scene...well there are a few characters that go out of their way to help that just doesn't make any sense.

All in all, it was worth reading for me and made me even more excited for the movie to come out this February.  My husband is actually just now reading the book and is just as excited as I am after watching the above trailer.

*Note this review was REALLY hard to give without giving out any spoilers, so sorry if it seems vague!
*Note, Note:  I also realize that James Frey had some sort of a fiction sweat shop to write this book, BUT I did not know this till after I had purchased the book and became intrigued by one of the few science fiction stories out there in YA.

4 comments:

  1. I heard it was good but because it's James Frey can't read it or watch the movie.

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  2. For a minute there I thought it was Friday. LOL.
    Great review, Magan!

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  3. Cari: I didn't actually know about the James Frey thing till after I purchased and read it :(

    Kelsey: The Fangirl just wanted to take a jump to Wednesday to do the review since I have a really AWESOME Fangirl Friday this week and didn't want to keep putting reviews on hold.

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  4. I would have read this too until I heard about the James Frey thing, so yeah, I don't blame you. Sadly, I will probably not buy this or see the movie.
    Full Fathom Five creeps me out.

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