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..Show More » 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.

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My 11-year-old and I like to listen to books during the commute. We've LOVED the Bartimaeus series, Leviathan and Behemoth, and countless others--and ..Show More »so wanted to like this book...but the hero was so irritating, stupid and never learned--that character transformation that happens in all great stories just didn't. At every turn, our hero could make the right call, reach above himself, pay attention at the very least! But he didn't, choosing to go into a ridiculous moony thing over his girlfriend. He did redeem himself at some point in the final battle scene but my son didn't even feel like finishing it--after putting up with the inanity for many hours. I really wanted to like this book, and was willing to put up with a poor narrator--what other said about his female voices was right on--but add ANY other voice than the 2 main characters--all done with a very heavy hand. He just basically made the other characters sound like they were mentally deficient. Or had a bad cold. All the time.
Yes, true love blah blah blah, but done so poorly. Teenage angst--but in comic-book style. Mostly the disappointment was the main character who just could never get over himself---and himself sure wasn't very compelling. I'd skip it. Get the new Bartimaeous "Ring of Soloman" instead, or the first 2 books in the Leviathan series--both terrific listens.

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There's nothing notable about John Smith being on the run. His life has been a nomadic blur of alternate names, new locations, and anonymity. What's n..Show More »ew is the infamy. John is not just on the lam, he's now a notorious fugitive and he's not alone.

Picking up where Four left off, John and his friends are just trying to recuperate. But the world outside their seedy motel room is exploding with John mania. The media is being flooded with updates and revelations of John and Henri's seemingly criminal activities. Four's face is saturating the airways and internet. Too bad he didn't get that invisibility legacy.


She has been monitoring the news religiously. The events unfolding around a one John Smith is hard not to notice and has fueled her flame of curiosity all the way from the small Spanish town, where living the quiet life of devotion in her convent run orphanage has become the norm. It's been a long time since she felt the thrill of covert activities, moving from city to city, traveling from one european country to the next, and picking a new name to match her fleeing fancy. The last one she chose was Marina. She is number Seven.


John, Sam, and Six are trying to lay low and continue their training while deciding what their next move is, but that's kind of hard when you're driving a stolen truck with borrowed plates, every law enforcement agency is looking for you and only the blind have no idea what you look like. Of course traveling to the most unlikely and dangerous places possible doesn't help, neither are the close encounters with the Mogadorians who are tracking them a little too easily.


Marina is miserable. But the news on John Smith gives her hope. The chaos involving Smith causes Marina to believe he's Lorien like her and could be a sign of the Garde's emergence out of hiding. Unfortunately regardless of her developing legacies her education and training have been neglected. Marina's cepan Adelina has lost the will to do her duty, instead devoting her self to the church and dismissing any talk of Lorien. Marina knows that the safety of the Spain is on the brink and if Adelina won't see that then she'll leave on her own. But Adelina has hidden her chest and Marina can't leave it behind.

Skipping town is about to get harder. A mysterious man has been watching Marina, she's been a little careless and is starting to draw attention to her abilities. Marina's location is about to be compromised.


John is trying to deal. With the loss of his cepan Henri, having to leave behind his girlfriend Sarah, and his increasingly confusing feelings for Six, life is difficult enough without the bloodthirsty aliens constantly trying to kill him. But John and company are starting to learn the coincidences that brought them together may not be so random. Henri moved John to Ohio for a reason and Sam's missing father is a huge part of it. To discover what's going on they'll journey back home where everything began. As they get there it's looking less and less like Paradise.

Turmoil is on the horizon in Spain and Six feels the need for help emanating from the region. The glyphs of One, Two, and Three have been burned into a mountainside there as a beacon to Garde and Mogs alike, but John see it as an opportunity to sneak into the Mogadorians headquarters.

Can Four and Six divide and conquer?

Pittacus Lore's chronicles of the Lorien Legacies is extremely entertaining. Very addictive. The Power of Six is what I would call a bridge book. It's more about building the characters, strengthening the world, and establishing the threads for the larger storyline. Normally these in-between books, without a prominent individual plot of it's own, aren't usually as good as the rest in a series. But The Power of Six is the exception. There were a lot of mini threads cycling throughout the book keeping the story from becoming stagnant. The multi POVs also helped to thoroughly introduce us to Seven while maintaining our connection to John, Sam, and Six. The ever complicating relationships are balanced well with backstories, and lots of action. We meet some other interesting personalities like Nine, who stole the show since his first scene. I have the audiobook narrated by Neil Kaplan and Marisol Ramiez. They did a great job performing the voices, and I love that they have Ramiez doing Marina's POVs.

The Power of Six is just as engrossing as Four. Absolutely enthralling. I can't wait to meet five and eight! Some will live. Some die. Others will be lost. The war has just begun. Saving the world by numbers is my new obsession.

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