Monday 13 August 2012

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore


Title: The Power of Six
Author: Pittacus Lore
Publisher: Puffin Books
Page Count: 406
Publication Date: 2012

Synopsis:

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


What I thought:

I stare at the page.

Come on you can do this! I think as I take note of the page number. Ten pages in. I’m weak and tired but I’m also strong in will. A sudden icy cold shiver trails my spine as my brain kicks into overdrive. My first legacy. The power of Perseverance, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. My mouth sets into a grin as I ready myself for battle. Give it your best shot.

400 or so pages later I finally close the book. No legacy could have prepared me for this. There were just so… so many things wrong. How was this possible? I think, not much more than a second before the book turns to ash, falling through my fingers and onto my lap.

End scene.

Careful, spoilers ahead!

First things first, it was definately better than the first book. I was a tiny bit annoyed by the constant perspective changes which were defined by a change in font. Especially when they changed over halfway through a chapter for about a paragraph, just to tell us something meaningless. That being said most of things that happened in the book were meaningless and could have easily been left out altogether. For example, the awkward unrealistic conversations they had, riddled with the word ‘dude’ in every other sentence or maybe the random ‘fancy words’ that seem out of place in the characters vocabulary. (Segue)

Secondly, the characters, does Adelina not care about putting her life and Marina’s on the line by being oblivious to everything? They have no common sense. Especially John…

They somehow make John even more clueless than he was before, which is saying something if you read the first book. He constantly puts his own life and others at risk when it isn’t necessary (texting Sarah). He even cheers when Sam agrees to infiltrate a Mogodorian base with him. Which brings me onto two more points?

How they heck did Sam survive all that? Of course he’s being held hostage or something now but really he should have died or have been severely injured when the Mogs blew the house up near the start. How did a regular human survive that and have time to grab the Chest? I had a hard time believing that.

What about the Mogs? Officially the worst villains I have ever known. There’s clearly an endless amount of them but they can’t even kill two Lorien kids and a human. Probably because they were too busy steam pressing their trench coats. But thankfully the awesome plot line hasn’t been tarnished by such things. There were nine of us who escaped.

Wait! No there weren’t because number ten jumps out of nowhere in the form of an eleven year old girl. I expected it, but not because of any good foreshadowing. Because the writers are so obvious. Why else would a new character get so much attention? It’s never explained how they made the (impossible) journey for Lorien, which is also frustrating. Not to mention the unnecessary love triangle? I’m sorry, love square. That’s right, John, Sam, Six and Sarah. Until Sarah’s character is sabotaged to make room for Six who is now my favourite. Sorry Sam.

That being said, this book is, like I mentioned, better than the first and if you don’t take it too seriously you could enjoy reading it for a laugh. But after investing so much time in a series which has disappointed me so much, I’m not sure if I should give the last book a try. We’ll see…

Rating: 2/5

1 comment :

  1. Hello from GoodReads!

    I'm following now. Here is my link
    http://onlectus.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete