The Revenge of Seven by Pittacus Lore

Title: The Revenge of Seven

Series: Lorien Legacies #5

Author: Pittacus Lore

Release Date: 26th August 2014

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

The worst was supposed to be over. We were reunited after a decade apart. We were discovering the truth of our past. We were training and getting stronger every day. We were even happy...

We never imagined the Mogodorians could turn one of our own against us. We were fools for trusting Five. And now Eight is lost forever. I would do anything to bring him back, but that's impossible. Instead, I will do whatever it takes to destroy every last one of them.

I've spent my entire life hiding from them, and they've stolen everything away from me. But that stops now. We're going to take the battle to them. We have a new ally who knows their weaknesses. And I finally have the power to fight back.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.

Number Two in England.

Number Three in Kenya.

And Number Eight in Florida.

They killed them all.

I am Number Seven.

I will make them pay.

In A Nutshell:

Plot twists, unlikely allies and old characters return. The battle begins...

My Review:

*** Please note this review contains spoilers. Do not read if you have not read The Fall of Five ***

Here’s a little recap from The Fall of Five…

Following Five’s betrayal, Eight’s death and the attack on the Garde’s penthouse in Chicago, the surviving Loriens and their human friends are in disarray and unable to contact each other.

In Chicago, Four awakes from his sleeping nightmare to find the penthouse under attack. With Sarah, Sam and Malcolm fighting the Mogs, Four makes a decision based on the vision to let the Mogs take Ella to Setrakus Ra, knowing she will not be harmed, while he saves Malcolm and the others. While gathering their chests, Four is almost killed except he is saved by Adam, a ‘good’ Mog who helped Malcolm rescue Sam earlier on. Four agrees to accept his help, although is still wary of him. After Five kills Eight in Florida, Six, Nine and Marina escape Five and the Mogs using Six’s invisibility. However they have to leave Eight’s body behind.

* * * * * *

The Revenge of Seven starts with the Chicago Garde driving to Washington DC while the Garde in Florida try to find their way out of the swamp without Five or the Mogadorians spotting them. With no idea that the penthouse has been destroyed, they focus their anger on Five and try to figure out how to get Eight’s body back before the Mogs can begin experimenting on him.

Meanwhile, Ella is on Setrakus Ra’s spaceship. With no way of getting a message to the Garde and while Setrakus Ra politely attempt’s to convince her of his vision, things quickly turn nasty and Ella is put in danger in a way never expected.

Separated and with no way to communicate with each other, things only get worse for the Garde when the Mogadorians war ships land on earth. And then all hell breaks loose. The final battle has come, and no one is prepared for it so soon.

I don’t think anyone was more surprised than me to discover how much I have loved this series. I usually reject sci-fi books, particularly ones that have aliens, but right from the beginning I have been sucked into the Lorien stories and have stuck with the series all the way through. Admittedly, I kind of hoped everything could continue on as it has been and I wouldn’t have to get involved in reading about alien invasions. But the time has finally come and while I have started to waver a little, I’m still interested to see where the storyline will go, particularly now that we have been left with a few plot twists at the end of The Revenge of Seven and the introduction of unlikely allies. It’s also interesting to see some old characters show up and see how they contribute to the current plot. In any case, I’m sticking with the Lorien Legacies and I hope you will too.

The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore

Title: The Rise of Nine

Author: Pittacus Lore

Series: The Lorien Legacies #3

Release Date: 30th August 2012

My Rating: 5/5

Previous Books: I am Number Four, The Power of Six

Blurb:

Until the day I met John Smith, Number Four, I'd been on the run alone, hiding and fighting to stay alive.

Together, we are much more powerful. But it could only last so long before we had to separate to find the others. . . .

I went to Spain to find Seven, and I found even more, including a tenth member of the Garde who escaped from Lorien alive. Ella is younger than the rest of us, but just as brave. Now we're looking for the others--including John.

But so are they.

They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They caught me in New York--but I escaped. I am Number Six. They want to finish what they started.

But they'll have to fight us first.

In A Nutshell: Awesome, awesome, awesome!

My Review:

The Rise of Nine was truly awesome. Four and Six are back, each accompanied by the new Garde members they tracked down in The Power of Six. There is no rest for the wicked as Six, Marina, Ella and Crayton travel to India in search of Number Eight and encounter rebel fighters in India. Meanwhile, Four and Nine travel across the US, hiding from new enemies and trying to find a way to contact the rest of the Garde.

In the third adrenaline-filled instalment of the Lorien Legacies, the Garde are frustrated to discover that the US Government has stupidly joined forces with the Mogadorians. As lives are lost and new legacies are discovered, the Lorien Garde finally starts to come together, just in time to face the head of the Mogadorians, Setrakus Ra.

New characters, new gadgets, new legacies, new challenges – this series just gets better and better. Book four, rumoured to be titled The Return of Lorien and to be released in August 2013, cannot come soon enough. If it is anything like The Rise of Nine, it will be mind-blowing!

 

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

Title: The Power of Six
Series: The Lorien Legacies #2
Author: Pittacus Lore

Release Date: 23rd August 2011

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me . . . he's one of us.

Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together?

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio—and failed.

I am Number Seven. One of six still alive.
And I'm ready to fight.

In A Nutshell:
An excellent sequel to I Am Number Four with plenty of action and suspense. The Power of Six is even better than its predecessor!

My Review:
The Power of Six is edgy, action packed and suspenseful, a fantastic follow-up to I Am Number Four.

When I first started it I was a little disappointed because it begins from the perspective of Number Seven and I assumed that the whole story would be from Seven’s perspective. There is nothing wrong with that except I really wanted to see Four’s story continued. Thankfully the chapters alternate between Four and Seven so we get to stay on Four’s journey but also meet a new member of the Garde.

John/Four’s story picks up after he, Sam and Six fled Paradise, hiding themselves from not only the Mogadorians but also everyone else in America. We follow them as they regroup, heal and start training, with Four mourning Henri and avoiding opening his chest. Four also struggles with his increasing attraction to Six and what it means concerning his feelings for Sarah, and his disloyalty to Sam who also has a major crush on Six.

We are introduced to Number Seven who has been hiding out in a convent in Spain, for the last eleven years, with her Cepan, who has lost all will to be part of what they came for, taking a place with the Sisters. Seven’s anxiety increases as her legacies progress and her fear that the Mogadorians are watching her, something that she finds to be true. She is constantly looking for any news about the rest of the Garde and her hope that her Cepan will ‘wake up’ and get back to their mission.

Throughout the book, two more Garde are located, chests are lost and found, massive battles are fought with heartache, betrayal, joy and pain. And there is a revelation concerning Sam’s father that changes the direction that Sam, Six and Four are heading in.

I’m blown away by the awesomeness of the Gardes abilities and I can only imagine how insanely cool it will be when all the Garde come together in book three or four to fight the Mogadorians.

There were many times while I was reading The Power of Six that it became so tense that I kept jumping ahead on the page to see what was coming. I had to stop myself and keep reading properly!

Thankyou to Penguin Australia for this review copy.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Title: I Am Number Four
Series: The Lorien Legacies Book 1
Author: Pittacus Lore

Release Date: 30th August 2010

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:
Nine teenagers and their guardians are hiding on Earth … protected by a charm that means they can only be killed in numeric order, three are already dead. John Smith is Number Four. And his mortal enemies, the Mogadorians, are hunting him down.

The only way to keep off their radar is to keep moving, never staying in one place for long. Now in the firing line, all he can do is adopt the guise of a student and pray his unusual gifts, his legacies, stay hidden long enough for him to settle into this new community.

But others seem to sense his otherness and when small-town life sucks him into its intrigues, it’s only a matter of time before his true nature is revealed. And that means there’s no space for love, friendship or a future if it means protecting not only himself, but the other five as well...

My Review:
I was a bit hesitant at first when picking this up as my advanced readers copy did not have a blurb, only 'We were nine. Three are dead. I am number four'. Yes this was intriguing but when I went and had a look online, all I could find was that it was an alien sci-fi novel (in fact there is very little information about the book available online). Now aliens and outer space are not my thing. Firstly, I don't think I have ever seen a movie set in space or concerning aliens that I have really enjoyed, same goes for books, so I just don't bother looking at them any more. Yes I prejudge and yes I am sceptical but hey, that's me. Secondly, I can't get the image of a little green man with a big head out of my mind. Needless to say I wasn't highly enthusiastic about the prospect of diving into the book. But, a friend of mine who was reading it, said she was really enjoying it and that I should give it a go. So I did.

As I am sure you have guessed, based on my defensive ramblings (and my rating above), I loved I Am Number Four. First and foremost, it is not set in outer space, from the blurb you will see it is set on Earth, and the aliens are not little green men. Reminiscent of t.v. shows like Heroes, and Michael Grant's series Gone, I Am Number Four is about a group of teenagers, with unnatural abilities who live among normal people with their guardians, hiding from another alien race who want them dead. It is very well written, incredibly suspenseful and exciting. From the first page it is gripping and action-packed as we witness the demise of Number Three.

Our main characters, Henri and Number Four, also known as John, are very likeable and John's frustrations are so easy to relate to. While some of the characters such as Sarah, Sam and Mark are the typical supporting characters, they, and the story, are still somehow unique. I love the character of Sam, John's new best friend, and I think this might be because I have such a soft spot for the geeky but loyal side-kick type character he portrays.

The only thing that is stopping me from giving this book 10/10 is that there were certain reactions to events I found to be unbelievable. Sometimes, the way Henri reacts to the way John behaves is not how I image Henri should react. The same goes for some of Sarah, Sam and Mark's reactions. I'm sorry this is cryptic! As much as I would love to talk about certain things that happen within the pages, I refuse to post spoilers (but please feel free to email me).

This is one of those books that is getting a lot of pre-release hype online and already a movie adaptation is in the works, currently being filmed starring Alex Pettyfer as Number Four. The author Pittacus Lore, which is a pseudonym, is perhaps one of the worst kept secrets. Aside from the fact you will find a reference to the name Pittacus Lore inside the book, it is also the writing team of James Frey (best know for A Million Little Pieces), although he is yet to confirm or deny this, and newcomer Jobie Hughes.

I am so glad I finally picked up this book and am highly excited that there are to be six books in the series. As I have said in previous posts, the only downside to getting advanced readers copies is that I now have to wait even longer for the sequel to come out. Bring it on!

For another review, that explains the storyline in more detail, click here.