Storyline - Book 1 - I am Number Four - Number Four, also known as John, has moved from one town to another to escape the alien race that wants him dead. When he was just a child, his home planet was destroyed by the Mogadorians but a small group escaped. Three of the nine original children who are the only hope for their planet's survival are dead, and Four is next. After once again moving to a new town, Four's, or John's, Legacies, powers, finally start arriving. As he learns to control his skills, John must face bullies and alien fanatics while trying not to have his powers discovered. But as his power grows, so does his chances of being found.
Author - Pictus Lore
Age Group - 15 or 16 and up
Positive - The characters are dedicated to one another and try to help each other. The main character mostly listens to his guardian. He also sees another side of the bully, Mark, who also changes his colors. Four once risked his secret for someone he cares about and pretty much all the main characters risked their lives for one another. Four realizes why his guardian moves him around even though he doesn't like it and is sorry for going against him at one point.
Negative - There is a lot of bad language in the book. Much of it is back to back with sections without swearing between the but there is a lot. The main character seems to use excessive amounts of violence (even though he uses it during times when people are in trouble, he seems to keep using it when he doesn't need that much and also uses it to get information from those people he's fighting. Wouldn't it then make him just as bad as the bad guys because he's hurting them for information like they were going to hurt him or someone he cares about?). He strikes out in a lot of anger and rage. Also, he wants revenge on the Mogadorians for what they did to his planet and it seems that is okay. The main teen characters also go to a wild party. The scale tipper for me was when the main character and his girlfriend go into his room, sit on his bed, start kissing, then fall back on it. Nothing happens but something could have if the boy's guardian didn't show up. I don't need to read that stuff and I don't think it is right to put an almost sleep-together scene in a book for teens for that matter (it's why I changed the Age Group from '14 or 15 and up' to '15 or 16 and up'). Sex scenes are not okay, period. (There is more but this section is getting really long and I am beginning to retell the entire book)
Writing - The storyline was a very interesting idea but it wasn't put together very well. There was a lot of short sentences which could have been strung together to make for a more interesting description. The book also seemed to drag to the big climax at the end which got exciting and held my attention for most of it but then it also got a little long. I would like to say that something could have been cut from the story but I just don't know what. But, then again, the dragging problem probably could have been fixed if the short sentences had been worked out and would have made the book more interesting.
Personal Opinion - I'm afraid that this book was not that good. The dragging, short sentences, and everything in the 'Negative' section really kept me from enjoying the book. That and most of the things in the 'Positive' section didn't happen until much later in the book (pretty much after almost all the bad stuff happened) so it seemed Four wasn't learning much or changing. I also think the romantic scene stated above is very inappropriate and should never have been in the book and was unnecessary. If it was just to show how much he cared for the girl and loved her and how much it would hurt if they left, I already got that from other stuff in the book. Anyways, do we want to be teaching teens that it is okay to sleep with someone if you think you are in love with them? The amount of swearing in the book was also not needed. The characters make it seem that revenge was okay against the bad guys which teaches a really bad lesson on how to treat others. Sure, if someone is trying to kill you, you are going to have to fight back, maybe even to the death. But wanting to seek out revenge is just supporting violence and pain in the world. And, as pointed out in a different book by a different author, when does the violence stop? When is it enough? The bad guys are just going to seek revenge so then the good guys are just going to go after them again. Whatever happened to justice? (sorry, getting a little preachy). I probably wont be reading the other books in this series if this is how the others are going to continue.
Links - Learn more about the book and author at:
http://iamnumberfourfans.com/ .
Special Notes - It is now a movie created by DreamWorks. Book 2, Power of Six, comes out this year.
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