Book review: I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Up until now I've never thought about using my blog to do book reviews. Time to change that. I know the book has been out for a little while, but I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore is the most recent book I've read. I picked up the book after seeing the movie--because I'm one of those people who like to compare books to their movie counterparts. I've tried to eliminate spoilers, but there are a few things that I felt needed to be mentioned in the review, so consider this my spoiler warning.

I Am Number Four is a science fiction novel geared towards young adults and is presented as having been written by a minor character in the novel, Pittacus Lore, a Lorien elder who is mentioned a few times in the novel, but never makes an appearance. The novel was actually written by Jobie Hughes and James Frey (yes, the Million Little Pieces/Oprah scandal James Frey). This is the first book in a planned series focusing on nine alien children and their guardians who are in hiding on Earth. The children of the planet Lorien are part of the Garde, a portion of the Lorien population that have inherent super powers, called Legacies, that will manifest when they're older. Their guardians are called Cepan and are not gifted with any special powers.

The novel takes place eleven years after a race called the Mogadorians attacked the planet Lorien and ravaged it for its resources. The nine children and their guardians were placed on a ship and sent to hide on Earth until their Legacies could develop and they could be trained in how to use them. There is no explanation for why these particular children were picked or if there was any specific reason for assigning each the number that they received. And that's hopefully something that will be addressed in future books. The Mogadorians know there were survivors sent to Earth and have followed them here to hunt them down. The not really explained numbering system comes in to play here in the form of a plot device charm placed on the children--which forces the Mogadorians to only be able to kill the children in numerical order. The why they continue to hunt the Loriens is something that needs more explanation for me. The Mogadorians are presented as a race who've devastated their own world and its resources (which I'm sure some will interpret as a warning for what we're doing to our own world), this led them to plunder Lorien. It was the next closest of the few inhabited planets there are and their first choice for more resources. That part makes sense. But if they're simply interested in taking resources and moving on, why invest so much energy in to tracking the Loriens on Earth to finish them off? Earth is the next closest planet so it's a logical assumption that they would come here next to do the same thing to us. If continuing the hunt the surviving Loriens here is their way of preventing us from knowing what lies ahead, it's a wasted effort. They study the worlds before attacking to best plan their attack and they would know that humanity would be pretty skeptical of anyone claiming to be an alien and warning us that we might come under attack by other aliens. Most humans would blow them off as crazy. And even if they waited until the children were able to manifest powers that no human has, the Earth is still not technologically advanced enough to take on a foe like the Mogadorians. Especially given the evidence of how advanced the Lorien people were and that they were still defeated in short order. I'm hoping the motivation for the Mogadorians continued hunt will be better explained in a future book.  

I Am Number Four focuses on John Smith, the fourth of the nine children, and his guardian Henri. It begins with the death of  Number Three, the youngest of the children sent to Earth, and then John's reaction to the death. As each one is killed a scar burns itself into the leg of the survivors alerting them to another death. This also signals to Henri that it's time to move again. The duo have moved through the US as father and son and after Number Three's death, Henri selects Paradise, Ohio as their next destination. Their goal is to assimilate in to life there but keep a healthy bit of distance in hopes of not being discovered as aliens, with the added bonus of not making any attachments that would make it difficult to just pick up and move. Of course, it wouldn't be good conflict for a story if things stayed that easy. And the small town of Paradise, OH becomes the place where John and Henri chose to make their stand against the Mogadorians. This is the point were I can't keep from comparing the book to the movie. The John Smith of the movie comes off as a whiny, angsty, rebellious teen, who I really want to reach through the screen and smack upside the head. The John Smith of the novel makes more sense and feels more realistic to me. This is a kid who's lived his life on the run and while he longs to have a normal life (which he's able to do somewhat in Paradise), he's also very aware of the importance of his survival. The rebelliousness he shows in the book, fits with his character. This is a young man who's maturing emotionally along with the development of his powers and feels confident enough to speak up about the direction his life is taking. It's a perfect example of character development.

The novel being geared for the young adult market is a fairly quick and easy read. It's good, fun, escapist science fiction--light on the science and heavy on the fiction. This is a first person narrative from a teenager's point of view, which helps eliminate getting tied down with technical jargon, but also prevents some of the points that need to be expanded on from happening. John Smith doesn't know the real motivations of the Mogadorians, he doesn't know why he and the others were sent to Earth exactly and he can't be sure if others didn't survive as well--and therefore the reader can't know either.  It works overall, but for someone like me who always wants to know how and why exactly, it creates annoying gaps.  For example, the novel indicates that everyone who remained on Lorien was killed and that the planet is now uninhabitable due to Mogadorian attack and subsequent plundering. But then during John's training, Henri alludes to their one day returning to Lorien to reclaim it. Was this just something to help keep the kids from losing hope? Or is there something these kids can do to fix their home world? And if the planet really is uninhabitable, why not just tell the kids that--they already know that everyone they loved is gone. Why not be honest and prepare them for preventing the same thing from befalling their new home? None of this is enough to turn me off the series, I'm going to keep my own hope alive that future books will explain the gaps.