I Am Number Four: Lorien Legacies, Book 1

With "I Am Number Four" being made into a Hollywood blockbuster, and with what appeared to be an interesting storyline, I was eager to add this title to my growing audio book collection for the commute to and from work.

The initial premise is good: 9 Lorians and their Keepers escape to Earth from their home planet, only to be hunted down by the Mogadorians. The Lorians can only be killed by the Mogardorians in numerical sequence. John Smith, our hero, is Lorian Number 4, and with when One Two and Three are killed, he knows it's only a matter of time before they come for him.

I wish I could tell you more about the story, but in all honesty I stopped listening at chapter 4. The narrator, Adam Kaplan, drove me insane and is the sole reason I stopped listening to this book. His 'normal', John Smith voice is barely tolerable (while I know that this is a YA book, Kaplan's almost Valley Girl tone for John grates after awhile) - and the voices he uses for the female characters and other male characters was enough to make me rip my earbuds from my head in disgust (Although his Henri - gravelly, French - is wonderful). I urge you to listen to a sample of the book before you spend money on it. I myself will be heading down to the library to find a hard copy version so I can find out what happens to John without Kaplan's annoying voice in my head.

A great novel, but sadly the narrator destryed the strong women characters for me... made them out to be pathetic.

The plot idea is nice, and the writing starts out nice enough, but it really falls off towards the end. All the action scenes are clumsy, many don't make sense. Also - something I dislike in movies, too - the plot only goes forward because the main character behaves exceedingly stupid. Not a great listen, I'm afraid.