I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four
by Pittacus Lore (pseud.)
Harper, 2010. 440 pgs. Young Adult

First in the Lorien Legacies series, I am Number Four tells the story of a young man with multiple names, changed each time he has to run from the alien Mogadorians who destroyed his planet Lorien and then followed him and nine others to destroy them and to take over the earth. John Smith, as he is currently known, travels with a guardian assigned to protect him and his growing "legacies," superpowers which the nine have to help them defeat the Mogadorians and perhaps eventually to return to Lorien. John and Henri have just arrived in Ohio where John makes a friend and meets a girl whom he comes to love. When John foolishly (but most satisfyingly) unleashes his powers against a bully, Henri wants to leave but John has found a home at last and refuses to go. All goes well for awhile, but when he saves his girlfriend from a burning house, the Mogadorians close in. I am Number Four is good basic sci-fi reading most of the way through but towards the end becomes less an adventure and more a Harlequin romance. The battle scene at the end is filled with really creepy Mogadorians and their giant icky beasts, but is so floridly overwritten it is more laughworthy than fearsome. In the end, John has to run for his life, leaving Sarah behind and setting the stage for more adventures and for the revelation of further legacies and strengths. The story is good; hopefully the writing and editing will gear up in the next installment.