Book Review: I Am Number 4

So this week I get an opportunity to review my first official book club read with the BBC ( Blog Book Club)! If any of you are interested in joining, see my widget on the side bar of my page, anyone and everyone is welcome!

We recently read this book:

Source

Here is the teaser for the book:

In the beginning they were a group of nine. Nine aliens who left their home planet of Lorien when it fell under attack by the evil Mogadorian. Nine aliens who scattered on Earth. Nine aliens who look like ordinary teenagers living ordinary lives, but who have extraordinary, paranormal skills. Nine aliens who might be sitting next to you now.

The Nine had to separate and go into hiding. The Mogadorian caught Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. All of them were killed. John Smith, of Paradise, Ohio, is Number Four. He knows that he is next.

I AM NUMBER FOUR is the thrilling launch of a series about an exceptional group of teens as they struggle to outrun their past, discover their future—and live a normal life on Earth.

I AM NUMBER FOUR.
I AM NEXT

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It's a typical teen scifi/romance along the lines of Twighlight. I thought that the main characters were strong and well developed. The story was compelling, and it was an easy and enjoyable read. If you like quick paced, the book really only took about three days for me to read ( and that's WITH chasing around a 2 year old and an almost 10 month old!)

Really, I only have two complaints with the book. 
            1) The ending was not satisfying. It was long and drawn out, with what I felt was too much emphasis on the "bad guys" when very little of the rest of the book was centered around them. I really wanted to know what was happening to the main characters, not long descriptions of the Mogadorians and their entourage. 
            2) I felt there was a slightly 'green' or 'save the planet' undertone to the whole book, which was a little surprising to me. Now don't get me wrong....I would say I'm a moderate when it comes to belief in all of the 'save the plant' propaganda that is being fed to us right now. I'm not sure I believe in 'global warming', however, I don't think it's a bad thing if people want to recycle, or use electric cars, or whatever it is your conscious feels necessary. I don't like feeling like I'm being 'fed' a hidden agenda however, and it makes me even more nervous when you realize that this is a book geared towards teens, who we all know have impressionable minds. I kind of feel it's up to the parents to teach their children how to treat things, from how to treat your neighbors right down to how to treat our planet. But who knows....perhaps this is a book that can open up the discussion between a teen and their parents.

I also had the opportunity to take my Dad to go see the movie on Saturday, so I'll give a brief review of that here as well!

I actually kind of wish I had seen the movie first! I'm a little bit of a purist when it comes to books being converted to movies, and while I understand it's impossible for some books to be completely translated correctly to screen just because of their sheer length, this book I don't feel is one that needed to be overly edited. The movie changed dynamics between characters, left out whole huge important sections, and really altered the story line from the book, I think, to make it appeal to a larger audience. My Dad loved the movie, and I probably would have if I hadn't read the book first ( that's typically how it goes with me). The ONE thing I did like about the movie over the book however, was the ending. They were able to capture in the movie what they should have done in the book. So bravo for that.


Overall, I give the book:  

Until later!