Pittacus Lore

Book Review: The Power of Six

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Power of Six
Lorien Legacies #2
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, I Am Number Four.

John Smith’s attempt to stay out of the hands of the Mogadorians and the FBI is interspersed with the introduction of another of the Garde, number seven out of nine who are meant to be the saviors of their planet Lorien. Where John has been on the move throughout his time on Earth, Seven—known as Marina—has been living in a convent orphanage for years. But she’s not as safe as she seems to be.

I don’t know…I enjoyed the previous book quite a bit. John and Henri’s father-son-like relationship was the heart of the story, and we’re completely missing anything resembling a heart in this one. I already didn’t really care about John’s relationship with Sarah in the previous book, and now I am supposed to care about a love triangle? John is beating himself up over the fact that he’s “supposed to” love only Sarah all his life, because Henri had told him that Loriens love only one person for life. But he (and the author) failed to keep in mind that 16-year-old love isn’t necessarily real love. I get the feeling, though, that the author(s) just assume that YA is supposed to have a love triangle.

Meanwhile, in the sections about Marina, not a whole lot happens. Her Cepan has turned her back on her and Marina’s heritage and Marina is dealing with bullies, both in the form of peers and nuns. Again, it seems like the author(s) just took every trope of YA (in this case, the MC being bullied) and put it all into a story. John’s and Sam’s choices at various points are pretty terrible, which maybe points to them being badly in need of a wise adult, but mostly makes them seem inept. There’s a lot of action, though I’m not a huge fan of major fighting/battle scenes. Overall, this one just didn’t work as well as the first one did for me. Still, I’m interested to see what happens, since there’s clearly an over-arcing plot going on. I just hope the characters get a little wiser.

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Book Review: I Am Number Four

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

I Am Number Four
Lorien Legacies #1
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

John Smith (not his real name) has been on the run most of his life, hiding on Earth from a race of beings that destroyed his home planet, Lorien, and killed almost everyone on it. He and others escaped and came to Earth to bide their time, waiting until they could fight back and try to reclaim their planet. But the Mogadorians are also on Earth and are tracking down John and the other Legacies, whose developing powers will allow them to fight back. They can only kill the Legacies in order. The first three are dead, and John is Number Four.

This is one of those kinds of books that I can understand why some people think it’s trite, but I enjoyed it anyway. Though the book is long, I read it fairly quickly, due to it being action-packed and easy to read. I think what I appreciated most about this story is that the characters are overall pretty well developed, and I really liked the different relationships. “John” and Henri, his non-Legacy protector from Lorien, have a father-son-type bond. They don’t always get along, but they respect and care about each other. Though John moves often enough that he doesn’t generally form lasting relationships, the connections he makes with other teens at his new school adds to the story. I personally didn’t care about the romance, but I figure that’s because I’m an adult, whereas teenagers might enjoy it more.

The world-building in this novel is also intriguing and easy to follow. Though some information is clearly left unexplained, it just left me wanting to continue the series to learn more. And one particular clue that’s given at a few points in the book has a great culmination that I can’t explain without spoiling the moment. I was absorbed in the book all the way through and have already recommended it to my 14-year-old daughter. If you enjoy sci-fi without a lot of complex world-building, especially in the YA range, you should consider reading this book.

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!