I Am Number Four, by: Pittacus Lore

Blurb

       Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books--but we are real.
       Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.
       But they know.
       They caught Number One in Malaysia.
       Number Two in England.
       And Number Three in Kenya.
       They killed them all.
       I am Number Four.
       I am next.

       I Am Number Four (78%) was a book I had on my TBR shelf for a long time. I had heard mixed things about it, and didn't have any reason to pick it up. Recently, I was in the mood for something other than the summer-y contemporary books I have been reading, so I thought I would give this book a go. I have to say, I am glad I picked it up, but I'm still not sure about continuing on with the series.
       At the beginning of the book, the story really grabs hold of you with the vague recount of Number Three as he is hunted down in Kenya. It is a very gripping way to start off the book, and I really liked that Lore didn't just start it off with only Number Four. The story then moves on to meet Number Four and his guardian, Henri. They move around the country to avoid being hunted down like One through Three. They end up moving to Paradise, Ohio, which is a small, secluded town in the middle of nowhere. Number Four takes up the name of John Smith, and I Am Number Four follows his adventures through his sophomore year in high school.
       I really relate to John because he was enduring his sophomore year, and I am about to enter my sophomore year. I also enjoyed how we discovered John's Lorien history along with him. Lore did a great job using John to explain his background.
       Now, there are a few reasons that make me question whether or not I would like to read the rest of the series. The biggest one is the way John could be a little inconsistent at times. Something would happen in his life, and he would be really sad about it. The sulking would occur for about half a page, he would get furious for the rest of the page, and then go back to sulking again. I didn't quite understand if Lore was trying to prove a point, but it felt very unnecessary. 

Review

Movie Review

       The movie version of I Am Number Four (68%) was on the okay side of things rather than the really good side. I had a true appreciation for it, since it followed the book pretty well. There were a few minor differences that didn't end up being too big of a deal, and there were a couple of pretty major differences that I thought really mattered, but ultimately they weren't a huge change.
       One of the big things that really bothered me was the fact that they cast Four so much older than he was supposed to be. (He was very cute, I'll give him that.) It really threw me off for the whole feeling of the story. Four is supposed to be young and naive, and grow little by little throughout the story. In the movie it's like, "Here's a boy who looks like he's in his twenties playing a sophomore in high school who acts like a senior in college." I Am Number Four is supposed to be a coming of age story, and the movie didn't highlight that at all.
       I also didn't like the fact that there was hardly any backstory. There is a cheesy voice-over in the beginning from Four, but I didn't feel like it was too informative. At the very end of the movie, Four says (in a voice-over) that his planet is Lorien, but Earth is his home, and I had a moment of, "Did they ever mention the planet name before?..."
       Overall, I had an appreciation for this movie since I read the book, but it wasn't anything special.

       What did you think of I Am Number Four and its movie? Let me know in the comments below!

“When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope.” 
― Pittacus Lore, I Am Number Four