The Power of Six by Pittacus LoreMy rating: 4 of 5 genies
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Aliens, Romance, Adventure
Published: August 23, 2011
Pages: 406
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Library Loan
Format: Hardcover
Purchase At: TheBookDepository.com or Amazon.com
Goodreads Summary
I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me . . . he's one of us.
Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together?
They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio—and failed.
I am Number Seven. One of six still alive.
And I'm ready to fight.
My Thoughts
Easily 4 genies, I enjoyed this, but there are some plot-holes and character-suckery that I shall get to in the review to come. It's an intriguing read from start to finish; spent my whole study-day (Saturday) on this!
Update!!!
I liked this, obviously since I spent a great deal of time flipping through pages, BUT there were some issues that made me halt several times. It was strange, because there I was having this great experience and suddenly all the character mess-up's made me pull back from the enthral and be like, "Whoa boy, what the heck son, are you for serious??" Yeah, I could've done without that.
Here's what bothered me: (beware of spoilers? I kind of went spoiler crazy, sorry, and shall mark the afflicted areas as such.)
1. Six's eyes were absolutely unfathomable!! You have no idea how freaking frustrating it is to be reading and then having to stop because the characters you happen to be reading about have undefinable features. Her eyes. What people look at. Is it really that hard to settle on one colour, Pittacus Lore?
I mean John
And it's totally unfair to Six's badassary, because the girl is awesome, Lore should've done a better job with her and edited more. I love her though, way more than John!
2. Spoiler: Oh this was rich! Suddenly, John loves Six too?? What is going on here!? It was bad enough with Sarah, I actually split my side laughing at their meeting in the park when he had to be like:
"Girl, I loves you. I is Lorien, I only does this once! It's you, homie, fo' sure!!"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Oh right. Anyone else call bull on that, or is it just me? I think the writers were really going for a love triangle, in fact I'm positive of that, and they pretty much flung character integrity to the side. Sarah turned John in
3. Someone please explain to me exactly why the BAMF Mog, Setrakus Ra, did not snuff out those two on sight?!?! Is John not number four, and are his people (or whatever's left of them) not a threat to this other dude's civilization?? Instead he stands there flashing the other medallions like some show-piece model. L.A.M.E. and the pansiest move if ever; everyone's there making a giant deal about him landing and he just lets them go. What am I supposed to do with that??
Excuse me while I break into DBZ distinction for a moment, since we are dealing with extraterrestrial beings, the comparison makes sense to me. Say Frieza (a bad mother-chucker) encountered Goku (the good guy) - or even Vegeta (a somewhat goodguy, an antihero actually) - upon landing on earth, he would promptly fry their testicles. And heads. And everything else also! That is what villains do, this is how they are!! Instead that Setrakus Ra fella lets them go, like a mofo, Nappa could have done better! And that my friend, is probably the biggest insult. Because Nappa sucks worse than anyone else, period.
And the DBZ cannon aside, shouldn't something more have happened upon their encounter at the end? It left me hanging and expecting so much more than what I got.
4. Spoiler: So...now there're seven of them? Like really, Pittacus Lore, this is what you're going to spring? Alright. Fine. I just hope this addition does something other than confuse the fudge out of everything else. Oh, shoot! Too late.
5. Spoiler: What was with the introduction of Olivia? What did that do?? Nothing. She showed up, for like a minute, got bitten by piken and then died. Such a waste, especially since I was linking her in my mind to the cat Marina found a few chapters ago; there is absolutely no development however, she just meets a cat, the cat is not Olivia and Olivia ends up dead. Why?
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And I guess that's most of it! Some other things were harder to place visually - say for instance that secret compartment/sundial that was supposed to be Sam's dad's office - but that never quite hindered my reading as much as the listed above did. So I guess what I'm getting at here is that it's a book worth the read. If you're looking for something interesting, pick this up, I'm looking forward to the next installment..."as we speak"? Can I really say that?
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Anyway, I'm invested, I'll read the next one, but if you happen to be super picky about details/character traits The Power of Six might leave you hungry and not in the best sense. The plot is decent and coupled with other factors, it isn't a bad book, I'm marking this a strong 4/5 genies.
A good read. I enjoyed this book, not quite loved, but it
isn't far off from being amazing.
