I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

“We were nine
Three are dead
I am Number Four”

John Smith is not who you think he is, but he’s not exactly what you’d expect. You see, he’s an alien. And the only thing that can distinguish him from the humans of earth is his Legacies, supernatural powers that are beginning to appear in him.

Earth is no longer the only planet that can support life. Lorien and Mogadore also support life, but just like Earth is, they wear out the planet; the only difference is that Lorien has discovered a way to preserve and save their planet, and Mogadore.... hasn’t. Mogadore’s resources finally ran out and they invaded Lorien, killing and destroying everything in their path and stripping away the resources of Lorien.

The planet is now reduced to look like any other harsh and inhospitable planet, luckily before the planet was completely destroyed, a ship was launched carrying a total of 19 passengers: 9 Children and their cêpans and the captain.

Now they are on Earth, slowly biding their time until they can return to their home planet and restore it to its original magnificence. Unfortunately, the Mogadorians are also on earth looking for flaws in the Earth’s defence that can help when they need to attack, but they also have another motive, they seek to destroy each and every one of the 9 children. Luckily, before they were launched, the children had a charm bestowed on them which prevents the Mogadorians from killing them... out of order.

On his 21st move, John Smith, relocates to Paradise, Ohio, with his cêpan Henri, hoping to escape the clutches of the Mogadorians. All his life, he’s been on the run, never drawing attention, never starting relationships, because he knows that at the first sign of danger, he and Henri must move out. He didn’t expect Paradise to be any different yet when he first steps into school and meets Sarah Hart; he can’t help but hope that this move will be different, that he can finally settle down and fit in.

But you can’t really fit in when you’re keeping such dangerous secrets, you can’t pretend that everything’s OK and that you’re like everyone else... because you’re not.

They killed Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. John is number Four, and he knows that he is next.

Well there is nothing else to say, it’s completely and utterly AMAZING!! Yep, that’s right it’s easily made a spot as one of my favourite books of all time!!! I was hooked from the very first page which read:

“The events in this book are real.
Names and places have been changed to protect the Lorien Six, who remain in hiding.
Take this as your first warning.
Other civilizations exist.
Some of them seek to destroy you.”

It really draws you in doesn’t it? The pages kept on turning!!! Obviously not-so-intelligent movie directors ( I may possibly tell you about my dislike for movie directors/makers soon on a later blog post) also agreed with me also and it’s already been made into a film starring Alex Pettyfer as John. Just to go off topic, I don’t purposely read books that are to be made into films or even watch films that star Alex Pettyfer, he just shows up! It’s so creepy :P

Anyway, to get back to topic, the character John is pretty awesome, to put it mildly. John just in general is strong willed and determined. And when his legacies begin developing you just can’t put the book down. From the very beginning, the first chapter you already realise that John’s part in the book is going to affect the book immensely, and as the book progresses you just realise by how much. I just can’t get over how awesome his legacies are, though compared to others it may not seem as effective. IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!! Just read it and realise its awesomeness. Hahaha. Apart from that the other characters are all very unique and amazing, you just don’t realise what they can really do until you draw near to the ending of the book.

Now onto another topic: the ending. I won’t say much so no spoilers or anything... just let me say that it’s nothing that you would expect. The book’s plot twists and turns so much my head is still spinning.

Overall a simply amazing book!!! I CAN’T WAIT for the next: The power of Six, coming out on August 23, 2011.