Author: Pittacus Lore
Pages: 440
Publisher: HarperCollins
My rating: 5 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.86 stars
Published: August 3, 2010
Description:
We may be walking past you right now.
We are watching as you read this.
We may be in your city, your town.
We are living anonymously.
We are waiting for the day when
We will find each other.
We will make our last stand together—if
We win,
We are saved, and
You are saved as well.
If we lose, all is lost.
I'll be honest... I picked this book up because I wanted to read it before the movie came out months ago. And I did. And, honestly, if you're like me and need to read the books before seeing the movies, don't worry about it with this one. Here's a brief description of what I was thinking when I got out of the theater: oh my gosh. The hubs is never going to let me pick a movie to see again! And, believe it or not, my husband thought the movie was really, really good. I was a little surprised, but I'd just finished the book the day we went to see the movie, so I had it fresh in my mind. I'm starting to rethink the whole "read the book before seeing the movie" idea. I'm wondering if it really has any merrit, especially if they're going to be botching them like they did this one. *Forewarning: this is going to be kind of a book vs. movie review instead of just book review*
I loved how in the book Henry {John's guardian} was like his father, not just his guardian. They had a great relationship, and I could totally see that in the person John was and how he handled life. However, in the movie Henry is an annoyance and a burden to John. One of the neat things about the book was the relationship they had, and how John actually says Henry is more like a father to him than anything else. And the love and trust relationship they have because of that. The movie was just SO unlike the book it should have said "loosely based on the novel I Am Number Four".
Things I liked in the book that they totally botched in the movie: John actually really likes hanging out with Sam. A lot. And they're friends. Oh, and Sam is such a geek, whereas in the movie he really isn't. He's just a little dorky and not popular... not really "geek" status. In the book, he wears his dad's old glasses, even though he has perfect vision. He is UFO obsessed, to the point that a secret society contacted him to let him in on their theories. Yeah, that obsessed. And the secret society wasn't something Henry could just look up online.
Oh, and John couldn't control his powers. Not really. He had days, weeks, when he spent hours with Henry learning to hon them and get them in control. Yes, John did use his levitation power against Henry once, but it was just to hold him in the air, not throw him against the house! The movie makes John into this incredibly volatile person, which he isn't in the book. I guess it works out to their advantage, because they can get through the fight scenes at the end of the movie much faster with him being so violent.
Why couldn't they focused a little more on his relationship with Henry and what he learned about his home planet? A huge focus there was how peaceful they were as a people {Henry is very level-headed and looking to keep the peace throughout the book}. And his relationship with Sarah? In the movie, he likes her, she likes him, they think about each other a lot, they're kids, so that makes them in love. It is so much different in the book. And she has such a bigger part in the book too. I felt like Number Six had a larger part in the movie than Sarah did, and Sarah had more screen time.
All in all, don't watch the movie. Read the book. It'll take you maybe a couple days to read, and its very entertaining {unlike the movie}.
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