I Finished The Rise of Nine

After reading and finishing the Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore I can fully say that this was a terrific book. It kept you going with different levels of feelings, ranging from tearful sobs to overwhelming joy, and continuous incredible dialogue and the descriptions of the settings were amazingly realistic and easy to picture.  I can definitely say that Pittacus Lore, or whoever he may be, has for sure convinced me to continue reading his books. The Power of Six was a flop, but this book reminded me of why I came to love this series in the first place.

            One incredible moment Mr. Lore generated was the meeting of Four, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten in the New Mexico desert. It was one of the most delightful scenes I have ever read in a book. It was like having all the characters of your favorite action movies together in one film, like The Avengers. It generated the most immense joy when all five of them were reunited because Four and Nine had been traveling in one group while Seven, Eight and Ten were in another. This was the first time they ever got to meet the other members of the Garde since they were toddlers on the ship over from Lorien. To top it off, this scene was a gigantic fight scene with helicopters with missiles and big black cars with machine guns, so it was extremely satisfying to see them all fighting for the first time together.

            However, this book kept me wondering. You never get to meet or even get to know Number Five. He’s been in zero books, gotten no acknowledgement and is the last member of the Garde to be reunited. Who is he? What is he doing? Why hasn’t Pittacus Lore shown him in any of his other books? What is so special about this character? Could he possibly be Pittacus Lore? The last we know of him is that he is swimming across the Atlantic ocean to who knows where. I am intrigued by the mystery of this character. I want to learn more about him and what his purpose is not only with the other Garde members, but why the author has left him out of the first three books.

            I cannot wait for the next I Am Number Four book to come out. I am on the edge of my seat about who Number Five is and I can’t wait for more battle scenes with all the living members of the Garde and for the final downfall of Setrakus Ra. Great book, Pittacus Lore.

            

The Rise of Nine

I’m currently reading the book The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore. While I am only about one hundred pages into the book, I can already tell I like it. I had some second thoughts when this book came out. I didn’t want to read it at first because, while I loved the first book so much, the second book I never finished because I couldn’t stand it. It annoyed me because I wanted the book to be about Number 4, like the first one was, instead this book alternated between Four’s perspective and a girl named Marina in Spain, who you’ve never heard about. Yes, she is one of the Garde, but you don’t want to listen to her story, you want to know about Four’s story because you know him so well and you love his character.

            So I dropped that book. And I didn’t want to go back to the series because it had seriously disappointed me. Finally, after being persuaded to read this book by a friend, I picked it up. While this book is still told in the perspective of both Four and Marina, it’s better because Marina is now with Six, and Six makes Marina’s story a lot more interesting.

            I have some inferences. I think that even though Six, Marina, Ella and Crayton think they’ve found Number Eight, I don’t think he is actually Eight. My suspicion started when Commander Sharma, who works for Eight allegedly, told them outright that this boy was Eight. If he really is a member of the Garde, he would’ve been quieter about this, like the other members. Not only is outright telling them his true identity, without any concern of any Mogadorians nearby, but also what he has done with the people of India. He has thousands of them working under his thumb because they think he is the god Vishnu. He also has the entire Lord’s Resistance Army against him, fighting to rebel. In my opinion, if he really was Eight, this would’ve been way too exposing for the Garde.