Reviews

Ich bin Nummer Vier by Pittacus Lore, Irmela Brender

lulu_reads_and_drinks_tea's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

anaffpereira's review against another edition

3.0

This feels like the beginning of a very interesting saga! I can’t wait to read the next book, especially because I feel like some ideas should be more developed (e.g. Lorien’s history).

But I must say that the “goodies” and the “baddies” were a little basic. Are we supposed to believe that every inhabitant of the planet Lorien was good-hearted, brave and respectful towards Nature? While all Mogadorians are blood-seeking scums? This seems too black and white, but since we only get to know the Loric and the Mogadorians through John’s point of view, I guess this is all a little bit biased?

As far as the human characters are concerned, I actually enjoyed Sam, Sarah, and Mark. At first they seemed like a trope (the nerd, the cheerleader, the jock), but as the plot developed they all showed different sides of themselves, becoming something other than a cliché.

As for the romance between Sarah and John… Well… TMI. It was way too lovey-dovey and sweet.

milyhope's review against another edition

5.0

I loved it! But it made me cry, can't wait to read the next book.

Me encantó, pero me hizo llorar, no puedo esperar para leer el próximo.

eesh25's review against another edition

2.0

I know that me calling this book "dull-ass" was a little harsh but, in my opinion, it deserves the title. I mean, for a novel with such a catchy two-line synopsis (look to the cover), you want action and excitement. Did we get that? Hell, no.

The protagonist, John Smith (I hate that name for some reason), is an alien. He is, in fact, a special kind of alien called Garde who develop powers called Legacies. But only nine of them escaped the planet's destruction, to earth. And now they're being hunted by Mogadorians, the alien race that invaded their planet. The nine can only be killed in order. The first three are dead, and John is Number Four.

And his personality is even more cardboard that the Four from the Divergent, the movie one. Yup, it's that bad. And most of it is due to the writing.

Basically, the writing sucks. The dialogues are poorly written. There is no intrigue or urgency to it. There's a shit load of telling and absolutely zero showing. Some scenes are semi-decent, while others feel like they've been written by a fifth grader. It's dull and has about as much emotion as a rubber duck. The only thing that kept me going was that it was boring and not incomprehensible, though the actions scenes came pretty damn close.

On the bright side, I liked the story about the aliens. I liked finding out more about the Lorien planet and what happened to it. The powers were cool. Everything 'alien' was good. It's actually the reason I'm planning to continue reading the series.

Another thing that wasn't good: the romance. I feel like I've been complaining about romances a lot, but is it really my fault that so many authors do a shoddy job of it? And this one was particularly bad because there wasn't any. Seriously, there was not one moment of romance or chemistry between John and Sarah. Their meet-cute was anything but cute. She's a gorgeous ex-cheerleader with a jackass of an ex, who John liked because she's gorgeous and who liked John because... he's the protagonist?

The authors (Pittacus Lore is a collective name for two authors) didn't give two shits about actually building a romance. They just threw it in there because it seems to be a requirement in YA fiction. And mostly, I don't mind the romances, like them even, but not his time. I mean, they didn't even put any effort into it.

And what made it worse was that it had zero relevance to the plot. Hell, Sarah, who didn't even get a personality, didn't have any relevance. You could've removed her entirely and things would have gone on without a hitch. Hands down one of the crappiest romances I've ever read, since the authors didn't even seem to care about it. They actually didn't seem to care about anything, if you take into account the amount of cliché, or convenient, parts. I feel like this was just an easy money-maker.

Overall... I've got nothing else to say. I'll read the sequel (maybe in a couple of month, maybe later). As for this book, read it if you feel like it.

lena_squyres's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

mogie's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. However, the romance, which usually sucks me in no matter how corny or gushy it may be, limited my estimation of John. I was more annoyed with him than I should have been. Apart from that, I thought the action scenes were great and I was kept interested with the mysterious backgrounds of the characters. Their histories are what make the present action and plot to the story so important. This book didn't give much away in regards to that, but The Power of Six, the next book in the Lorien Legacies, seems to take care of that.

reader4evr's review against another edition

4.0

Although it took me a little longer to finish this, I really liked this book. It had action, mystery, romance, good characters etc. I think that is tough to have all in the 1st book of a series but this book covered it all. I think boys will be able to relate to Number Four even though he is an alien. Also, I have to say I want Bernie Kosar as my pet!

I am very excited about the moving coming out in a couple weeks. Hopefully they don't change to much though.

Sad ending to the first book but I can't wait to read book 2!

ladywolf03's review against another edition

adventurous

5.0

josephschmitt's review against another edition

3.5

Fun and quick read. Characters are kinda bland though 

robyn_bramwell's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5