2: I Am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore (2010 Paperback)

I guess it would have been clever of me to hold off on reading this for a week or two so I could post it as number 4 on my list.  However, the cover and title had attracted me for some time—I picked it up and put it down in the TeenLit section of at least two bookstores before I finally purchased it—so it’s no surprise that I decided to jump in once I finally had it in my possession.  What’s a bit more surprising is how compelling I found it; in fact, I read the majority in only two settings.

The premise of the book is that there are nine young aliens living on earth—each with his or her own guardian—hiding out from another race of aliens who destroyed their home planet, biding their time until they come into their Legacies (superpowers) and can return home to fight the bad guys and restore their planet to health.  The Lorien aliens living among us humans mean no harm—in fact, they have been involved in advancing the human race throughout Earth’s history—and, if anything, we have a common enemy in the Mogadorians.  After all, having depleted the natural resources on their own plant, the Mogodorians overran Lorien because it was the closest planet able to sustain life.  The next closest?  Earth.

The book begins with the murder of a young boy and his guardian in rural Kenya, whereafter the reader is introduced to the story’s narrator: a 15-year old Lorien boy.  We soon learn that the Kenyan boy was Number 3, and the Lorien living in America is Number 4.  The numbers represent the order in which the Lorien refugees must be killed—the result of a charm cast by an Elder as they left Lorien in an effort to increase their chance at survival.  It’s been 10 years since the kids and their guardians arrived on Earth and scattered to the far corners, and the Mogodorians are beginning to panic; they want to ensure the total elimination of the Lorien race, and they also want to keep Earthlings ignorant of their plans for the planet.  Add the fact that these Lorien kids are entering puberty—when their Legacies begin to manifest and they will be able to take the battle to the Mogodorians—and you have a game of cat and mouse being played on a large scale.

John Smith (the name the narrator has most recently taken) and guardian Henri move to Paradise, Ohio—one of dozens of moves made over time in an effort to elude the notice of their hunters.  As the new kid in high school, he immediately catches the attention of the quarterback, the quarterback’s beautiful ex-girlfriend, and an alien-conspiracy nerd.  While the teen storyline/romance is typical, the contrast of good and bad alien, an interesting planetary backstory, and some decent writing make this teen book a good read.  It claims to be the first of three in the Lorian Legacies trilogy, and there is already a motion picture in plans for this first volume.  I’ll likely be checking out the movie and the next two books as they are published.  Stay tuned.