Review: The Rise of Nine

The Rise of Nine

Pittacus Lore
Published by: HarperCollins
Released: August 21, 2012

Description from Goodreads:

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.

So apparently this book wasn't suppose to be out until tomorrow. I guess my local Walmart never got the memo because it has been placed on the shelves. Oh well. I got it early! Hope they do the same with The Mark of Athena...

Anyway, I started I am Number Four thinking that it was just an one book thing, something that stood by itself. Nope. Jonnadore lied to me. Power of Six wasn't due out for another year. Yippee. Read Power of Six in a day and then totally forgotten about the books until I ran into this one on Friday when I was supposed to buy my Mom's birthday present. Bad news: I only bought Mom's book and did not get this one. Good news: Mommy bought it for me the next day! LOVE YOU MUM! Long story short, I technically only spent $3 on Mom's birthday present. But anyway, this book was SO SO SO good.

You were never bored. It was completely kick butt and action filled just like the first two. There was never really a dull moment. I even found myself wishing that the Mogs would lay off them for a bit, just to give them a long needed rest. These guys just kept going and I felt so bad for them. They got barely any rest.

You got into the mind of Six. I'm not sure of anybody else, but Six is my favorite character in these books other than Ella. Sure you were still in John's mind and Marina's, but Six is just different from them. She's kick butt and exciting, not untrained like Marina or googly eyed for Sarah like John (Okay. Yeah. That would be weird if she was going after Sarah too). I don't know, I just like her. This is totally random, but she even dyed her hair blonde in the book, making it just like how it was in the movie. I know that's a little detail, but when I read that I kept imagining the actress who played Six. It made my life easier to picture her.

The writing kept you wanting to read. Each chapter switched to somebody else, leaving a cliffhanger at each end. I kept telling myself "Oh I can put the book down to go stalk Twitter for TMI movie updates just after this...WAIT OF SECOND!! SIX?? OMG! NOOOOO!! Must continue reading." Let me tell you, this basically happened after every chapter. You just could not stop reading it.

The author (authors?). I like how Pittacus Lore is the author, but also the big missing leader guy in the books. He's not only the creator of the whole world but a character. It's similar to Rick Riordan pretending to be the "Senior Scribe" at Camp Half Blood. I just like it when authors do stuff like that. Not sure why, I just do. It kind of plays with your mind a little. Like, "Hey. Is this REALLY happening or is it REALLY just fiction? Questions, Questions." And does anybody know if it is one author or multiple? I have heard both and I was just curious!

The ending. It just stopped, like abruptly stopped. I expected it just to go on a little longer or be a cliffhanger like The Power of Six was. It just ended. And now I'm confused. What happened to Sam? Why didn't they save him? Where is he? Who is Number Five? Why isn't he/she there with them? Do they even care that he/she/it is not still with them? Will they meet up with Five? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS! Why do authors do this to me?

So if you haven't read I am Number Four, The Power of Six, or this one, The Rise of Nine, DO SO TODAY! If you are a major sci fi geek like me, you will love these books. They are about aliens trying to save Earth from evil aliens. How much more sci fi can you get with a book? If you have seen the movie, but haven't read the book, why did you do that backwards? You always read the book first. But the movie is good too! So go buy all 3 books and hey, even pick up the movie, these books will not disapoint.

Review by Calypso