Review: I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Goodreads Overview:

John Smith seems like an ordinary teenager, living a normal life with his guardian Henri in Paradise, Ohio. But for John, keeping a low profile is essential, because he is not an ordinary teenager. He’s an alien from the planet Lorien, and he’s on the run. A group of evil aliens from the planet Mogadore, who destroyed his world, are hunting anyone who escaped.

Nine Loric children were sent to Earth to live in hiding until they grew up and developed their Legacies, powers that would help them fight back—and help them save us. Three of them are now dead. John is Number Four, and he knows he’s next….

Michael Bay, director of Transformers, raved: “Number Four is a hero for this generation.” This epic story is perfect for fans of action-packed science fiction like The 5th Wave series by Rick Yancey, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.

Review:

I picked up a copy of this book a while ago from my local Little Free Library. It has been sitting in my TBR pile, without so much as a second glace, until my son needed a choice book to read for his freshman English class. I googled books for boys his age and this was in the top five. He enjoyed Ender's Game, so I decided this would be a great choice for us both to read.

When John was around five his planet, Lorien, was attacked by aliens from the planet Mogadore. The elders were able to evacuate nine children with gifted powers, known as the Garde, along with their Cepans or guardians. John's Cepan, Henri, is responsible for protecting him and teaching him how to use his powers as they develop. At the time of the evacuation, the elders put a spell on the children that prevents the Mogadorians from killing them out of order. They must find and kill number 1, then 2, etc. If they try to kill one before it is his/her time, any damage directed at the child will revert back to the Mogadorian who attacked.

At the beginning of this book, John is now fifteen and becomes aware that Number 3 has been killed... and he is next. John and Henri are constantly on the run and hiding in small remote locations. This time around, they decide to settle in Paradise, Ohio. I have lived in Ohio my entire life, so I found several of the references to local cities etc. to be highly entertaining. At one point Henri makes a road trip to Athens, which is where I went to college. I absolutely loved the detailed description of the drive into town, the football stadium, the basketball arena, and what Court Street is like.

Henri is always telling John to blend in and go unnoticed. In theory that is a great idea, but is almost impossible to accomplish when he is the perpetual new kid in school. As his "legacies" or powers begin to develop, it becomes even more difficult. Another one of Henri's rules is to not become attached to anyone because they never know when they will have to leave and start over. John is a pretty outgoing individual, so he struggled with this rule as well. For once in his life he has a girlfriend, Sarah. The only problem, Sarah's ex-boyfriend is a star football player who now has it out for him. He also becomes best friends with Sam Goode, who is obsessed with aliens and follows a number of conspiracy theory sites, which also draws attention.

This book was action packed and I loved learning about John's legacies as they developed. Now that he and the other Garde have more of their legacies, they are finally able to defend themselves. If they can work together, they may be able to defeat the Mogadorians once and for all. I have no idea how many Mogadorians there are on Earth, but that seems like a daunting task since there are only six Garde remaining. Their entire population on Lorien couldn't put up much of a defense, so their chances seem dismal, but I will be rooting for them.