Pittacus Lore: I Am Number Four

In the first book in a series Pittacus Lore lets us know we are not alone out there and their war has traveled to Earth:

Since coming to Earth John and his guardian Henri have been on the run. At any sign of danger or something unusual they have had to move in order to stay safe. John is one of the few left of his kind and their number are falling based upon the marks on his leg. He is number four, the next who will be targeted for death. Soon John hopes to have a fighting chance, his legacies are set to come into power every day, but as is next to be hunted, to be killed, he does not have much time, he is number four.

This is a good book for a teenager or young adult age reader. As an adult reading this book I found it to be quite slow and hard to relate the main character at times as he is going through his teenage troubles. Ah teenage love....I could do without, but at least there was not a love triangle in this book, though I think this has more of the fact to do with the main character being male, but still I appreciate that aspect (I actually wish there were more male based urban fantasy/paranormal books out there for both YA and adult books). There was not much needed in world building as it takes place on Earth, but I think that Lore did a good job in describing Lorien to the readers that was not too sci-fi and which made it easy to understand.

I found that this book was very slow and was more about John trying to be a normal teenager than actually trying to stay alive. The action in this book really does not pick up till the very end when John is really put to the test, but before that it is manly about John and Sarah, how much they like each other and how John never wants to leave this place. I will say that you do feel for John as he now has a girlfriend and friends for the first time and he does seem to blossom in this situation, but you know that it is always temporary because he is the next in line to be killed and he will have to flee eventually.

It was interesting the powers or Legacies, as Lore refers to them, that John develops. This was one of the most interesting parts within the book and it does make me wonder what other legacies John would develop over time. I also liked that they were not typical and all of them for offensive purposes, for example the lights that come out of John's hand (though I'm not 100% sure what the lights are for other than providing lights, but that aspect is usefull if you are in a dark room...). I think that Lore put a lot of effort into trying to be imaginative in the Legacies and it does show when they are described and used. I also loved Bernie, but I'm a sucker for animals and his antics within the book were very cute and I liked the twist about Bernie that was thrown in.

I do not think that this series is for me, as I stated above a good read for a teenager, I just wanted there to be more in this novel and story, maybe a bit darker, less teenage love story. However, I do state this as n adult reading this novel. I will say that the ending was done really well and does leave something that will make you want to continue on in the series for those who enjoyed the book throughout.

Cheers!!!

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