I Am Number 4

By Pittacus Lore

We may be walking past you right now.
We are watching as you read this.
We may be in your city, your town.
We are living anonymously.
We are waiting for the day when
We will find each other.
We will make our last stand together if
We win,
We are saved, and
You are saved as well.
If we lose, all is lost.

I've been wanting to read this one even before I found out it was being made into a movie. It was really quite intriguing. It's geared towards the older young adults, and has quite a bit of language- what I call farmer swear words. The story was quite a page-turner. It's all about these 9 alien children that were sent to earth in order to survive that they might someday save their planet, which was attacked by these bad aliens called Mogadorians. There is a charm cast on them that they cannot be killed unless they are killed in order of their number. One was killed 6 years ago, Two was killed 3 years later, and Three has just died. Number Four is a young boy 15 years old that has lived a life moving from place to place whenever he and his gaurdian feel he is in danger. Now the danger is even worse, because now he can be killed, because he is next. Anywho, the story is great and fast paced. It's a book that teens will really like if they've been into the popular stuff like Twilight, City of Bones, Hunger Games, etc. Only this one is aliens. Sweet. My opinion of this book is there is too much making out (some people like it, I'm not one of them) and there are instances where I was sitting there thinking, 'dude, if I was in his situation I would be outta there in a flash, forget the hot chick.' There was a lot in the plot that I thought, wow I wish he would've given a better reason for Number Four staying than that he's crushing on this girl. Boring. But like I said, it's a page-turner and a fun read if you don't mind a little language. There are scenes of brain-explosions and gore at the end. That stuff doesn't bother me, but it was a little nasty. If you've read Daniel X you would probably like this book...or if you like aliens that remind me of superman. :)

P.S. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'll let you know how it stacks up next to the book when it comes to a Red Box nearby.