Alien world

To be honest, I was almost tempted to give this story a five-star review. Yes, I like Young Adult books the best. I like the freshness that this brings. Sci-fi and Young Adult mixed seems like a great combination. This continues from the first in the series, I Am Number Four. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy the characters in this series and the things they learn and struggle against. I did rate this higher than the first as I’m getting into the story now.

Characters

We follow the same main character, John Smith, as the last book. He’s now partnered with Sam Goode and Six and is on the run from the evil Mogadorians. I’m growing into John Smith and his struggle as a teenager. I also like how Six, Sam, and John all mix as a team. They feel at ease and natural to me (as natural as teenage aliens could be). Sarah, John’s “girlfriend”, is not as featured in this book as in I Am Number Four.

We’re introduced to a new character in this book, Marina, who is a younger girl and the seventh alien. I didn’t find her parts in the story as interesting as John’s, but that’s probably because the action was missing from her story. She has her Cêpan Adelina with her (like John in the last book). It’s interesting to see the contrast of life between her and John.

The Mogadorians are ever-present in this book as the last book. They’re described more and we learn more about their life on Planet Earth. As bad guys go, they seem pretty useless against the Loric Garde. I’m excited to see what’s in store for the next in the series.

Themes

There are quite a few themes going on here as two stories are being told. The first theme I’d like to discuss is the theme of love. This appears in nearly every book you’ll ever read, but here we see it from a teenage viewpoint. Firstly, John loves Sarah. We know that from the first book. In The Power of Six, we see John, and Sarah making choices and questioning their love (John especially). Love is not fixed; it’s fluid and ever changing. I mean, do you still love the foods you loved as a kid? I can tell you now that I don’t love McDonald’s anymore.

A second theme is beliefs. We see this in the story with Marina and Adelina. Spoiler ahead. Marina believes in her Legacy and Adelina has lost her belief in the alien race and has turned to God on Earth. Beliefs can change over time with enough influence or if nothing happens as you expect. It can, however, be very hard to change someone’s belief as Marina finds out.

Recommendation

I enjoyed this book and loved every minute of reading it. Hopefully, the next book is as good, and I may continue my high praise. I like that there are so many threads to this story and that we only discover them as Pittacus Lore allows us to. I’m sure if you enjoyed I Am Number Four, you’ll enjoy this. I recommend you give this book a try if you find a copy.

First paid ebook

I know, I’m still a tight ass when it comes to ebooks. Mostly I’m looking for specials or whatever to download them. I still like the feel of physical books so I’ll always go for physical if given the choice (and there is only a couple euros difference between them). But this ebook was too good of a special to resist, so I went ahead and bought it (even though I’ve loaded my Kindle full of free ebooks). I did feel a little ripped off because I thought I was 75% through, but it turns out the last 25% was the chapter from the next book.

Movie first

Full disclosure here, I saw the movie first. I know that spoils books (same way when you see the movie after reading a book). In my defence, I saw the movie years ago, so I could only remember bits and pieces. However, the character looks were already etched into my brain so any description I read would not materialise a new character. I only saw the actors/actresses. It’s a shame, but that’s life.

Too easy

I thought the main character, Four (John Smith), had it too easy in the end. The powers came almost naturally and within a few pages, he mastered everything he needed. I hope I’m not spoiling it for everyone. I also think some of the characters were a little bland (Sarah Hart). I know she’s an ex-cheerleader, but her character didn’t feel real to me. Maybe it’s because we saw her through Four (John Smith), who is in love with her.

Bad guys

We didn’t learn much about the bad guys (except everything about why) in the story. I feel like they could’ve had more of a story to them. Again, with first person perspective, that’s harder to do, but just destroying a bunch of nameless strangers doesn’t add the emotional complexity that this story could’ve used. However, I did feel sad at the very end (but also outraged). I can’t tell you what happens, but you’ll likely guess.

Conclusion

To conclude, if you happen to see the special on the ebook, go for it. I believe this could be a fun series to read along (I’ve not yet bought the next books). But don’t spend too much or you might be a little disappointed. If you’ve got a local library, just go there and loan it out. It won’t take you long to read (it’s not that big of a book). I would’ve rated it higher, but the way the story ended, the chapters at the end of the book from others in the series, and the way it became too easy for Four, made me go with the three stars.