Review by Booklist Review
For the uninitiated, I Am Number Four (2010), The Power of Six (2011), The Rise of Nine (2012), and the six related novellas may sound like a superfun math series. Fans, though, know just what to expect by now: insanely brave teens, uberevil Mogadorian alien invaders, various mystical gadgets, a dash of romantic tension, and lots and lots of explosions. This time out, the mysterious flying Five has been located, and he's a rather peculiar Lorien can he be trusted? There is a good deal of training with magical powers here, some running around searching for the magical Phoenix Stones, and a fairly refreshing change of pace via chapters from the point of view of regular old human Sam. So how is the series holding up as readable fiction? Well, all right, if it's your cup of tea, though diminishing returns have been the name of the game since the highly enjoyable first volume. By now, though, the series is a James Patterson-style franchise, and with plenty of numbered teens yet to be killed, expect it to keep on bashing along.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Character complexity and world-building expand in book four of the aliens-roaming-Earth saga. Sam reunites with his father and the Garde, who also connect with their final member, Five. But the seven living Garde only remain together briefly, before splitting up again and being betrayed by one of their own. This volume's conclusion leaves many unresolved questions, particularly about mysterious Ella, number ten. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
"Lore" (aka James Frey) moves his ponderous, jumbled science-fiction epic forward an inch by dropping a traitor into the band of superpowered refugees charged with saving Earth from evil aliens. The tale has already become so complicated that even confirmed series fans may welcome the long, sluggish stretches of hanging out, fretting, flirting, bickering and undisguised recaps. These are packed in between the paltry number of violent but widely spaced encounters with brutish Mogadorian invaders. Here, the already indigestibly large cast of teenage Loriens and their human helpers gains three and loses one as two chancy new allies, multiple gems with mystical properties, prophetic visions of terrifying doom, ravening monsters, mysterious scars and hints of new powers arrive to add more flimsy trinkets to the literary flea market. Confusingly, three of the Loriens switch off as first-person narrators but are given (whether from authorial inertia or incompetence) indistinguishable voices. Following the climactic denouement, the young heroes end up more or less where they were in the previous episode: split up and on the run. Sample chapters, not labeled as such, from three spinoff novellas are appended. Likely headed for the best-seller lists--but not on its merits. (Science fiction. 12-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
