Persy -- I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

There's been a lot going around about I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (you have to say the whole thing 'cause it rhymes), mostly because of the movie recently coming out. I honestly had never heard of it before seeing ads for the movie, but I make it a point to read all books before seeing their corresponding film.

Way back in the day, 'bout fifteen years ago, the planet Lorien was attacked, and destroyed. Fortunately, a few of them escaped to Earth. Nine children total, each with one Cepan/guardian. But the Mogadorians, the race that destroyed Lorien, found out about the escape attempt, and have been hunting the nine ever since. One, Two, and Three have all fallen, and now it's Four's turn.

Four is a teenage boy who's had many, many different names. When he moves to Paradies, Ohio, he takes the name of John Smith (reeeeal inconspicuous). John knows he's next, but luckily, he's developing his legacies/powers. Unfortunately, they aren't very predictable and they take a lot of time and work to hone. Also unfortunately, John and his Cepan, Henri, don't have a lot of time. The Mogadorians are after them.

It may not sound very complicated, but it actually is. I was surprised and pleased to find that Lore really worked on the details to make everything work, and he took the time to explain things without it all getting too tedious. The Loric race(s) are mostly developed, and Lore provides good background on the way they used to live back when they had a planet.

Now for the plot. It's a straightforward thing (teenage boy runs from aliens), so not many people would have a ton of trouble executing it. Lore certainly didn't. He made the characters likeable, and while they didn't have extraordinary depth, they weren't just flat either. Sarah, John's human girlfriend, isn't infuriatingly annoying like most love interests, and John's best friend is pretty awesome (most of the time). One bad thing about the characters is that almost as soon as you start reading, you can tell who's going to die. I picked out all the "dying" characters and all the "surviving" characters, and - bingo! - I was right.

Here's what I liked most about I Am Number Four: It wasn't about John and Sarah. It was about John being a Lorien and trying to survive on Earth, dodging Mogadorians and the chance human who happened to get suspicious. And here's what I hated most about I Am Number Four: The ending climax. Every chapted near the end ended with John about to die, and he was always preparing himself, thinking "Well, this is the end, we had a good run", and every time it works out fine. It isn't even suspenseful, because you can tell he's not actually going to die. It was getting very old be the end, and everyone knows that if you have a good finish, it practically makes up for any other mistakes you made. And if you have a bad finish...well.

And then there's one more thing that taints the memory of I Am Number Four. The movie. Now, I haven't seen it yet, so I could be totally wrong, but I have seen the trailer. It looks like the movie is moer about John's and Sarah's romance than the aliens. Talk about a letdown. I'm still going to see it - eventually -, but I have very low expectations at the moment.

In conclusion, I Am Number Four is a surprisingly good science fiction novel, with more details than you might expect (plus more magicky science), and the bonus of it not being about a forbidden romance. It's definitely worth a read, even though it might not end up being your favorite book.

--Persy

Persy -- Wednesday Scrolls

Is that not the prettiest thing you have ever seen? I think it's positively beautiful. And it just came out a week ago. Have you ordered your copy yet? I have.

This is the first novel in Cassandra Clare's new series, Infernal Devices. This series takes place in Victorian London, centuries before Clare's first series, Mortal Instruments. She's still writing Mortal Instruments, and the cover of the fourth book, City of Fallen Angels, is supposed to be released later this year. In my opinion, I think that series should end while it's still going good. The third book, City of Glass, ended rather nicely, but whatever. Clare has already signed on for two more books in the series after City of Fallen Angels, so she's obviously not tuning into my thoughts. But hey, they could be fabulous, so let's not read too much into my pessimistic predictions...

Clockwork Angel (I go SQUEEE inside every time I hear that title) follows the story of Tessa Gray, a young woman of Victorian England. She ends up in London's Downworld, a place full of Vampires, Werewolves, Warlocks, and more. Her only help (and probably hope) of finding her brother are the Shadowhunters, a mysterious group of people dedicated to fighting demons.

I'm a little apprehensive about Clare's new series. I mean, Mortal Instruments was fantastic, but I'm sort of wondering if her new main character, Tessa, will be exactly the same as Clary. Like she just moved all the characters back in time a few centuries, turned them all British, and added a bit of a different plot. Hopefully, this isn't the case and Clare is fully able to create new characters.

Some more news in the world of Cassandra Clare: Mortal Instruments is (supposedly) going to be made into a movie. I say supposedly because it's listed as one of those "can only be seen if you have IMDbPro" on http://www.imdb.com/. In my experience, those movies hardly ever come out. Maximum Ride, for instance? That was originally set to come out in 2010. It's actually still listed on IMDb, but is now set for 2013.

Anyway, back Mortal Instruments. I am very uneasy about this. Perhaps my 'faith' in book-movies has been shattered by the atrocities of Prince Caspian and Percy Jackson (to name a few of the many), but I just have a baaad feeling about this one... Honestly, this is a book I'd rather remained a book. You ever read a book like that? It's a hard feeling to explain, but it's like you have it all imagined in your head already, and you don't want to end up with someone else's image stuck in your head (that's what happened with Twilight: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart erased my pictures of Edward and Bella). Mortal Instruments isn't supposed to come out until 2012 (and like I said, it could keep getting postponed for eternity), so I've got a while to... I dunno, let my unease fester.

Another book-movie that's actually coming out next month is It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. This is the story of Craig, a teenager who is enrolled in a pre-professional high school. Before this school, Craig was considered a genius, but in this school, he's just average. Eventually, the stress ends up too much and Craig attempts suicide. He can't quite do it, though, and calls a help line, checking himself into a mental hospital.

I read this book a loong time ago, probably before I should've. I was like, eleven or twelve, and lots of things in there didn't make sense back then. Let's just say they do now. So don't give this book to someone under thirteen or fourteen, kay?

My first thought when seeing it had been turned into a movie was, "Huh..." and I went on about my business. Needless to say, this isn't one of my top-priority movies to see. I don't remember a ton about the book; it wasn't fabulous, but it wasn't awful. At times it was funny, but in general it was just "okay".

The movie stars Keir Gilchrist, who hasn't really been in anything of note, as Craig. Co-stars include: Zach Galifianakis (playing Bobby), Emma Roberts (playing Noelle), Lauren Graham (playing Lynne), and Zoe Kravitz (playing Nia). The movie comes out October 8.

And for the final piece of news... The eighth book in the Bloody Jack Adventures by L.A. Meyer (who is in fact a dude; I thought he was a woman for the longest time...) just came out! It's called The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, which sounds preetty interesting. I myself am only on number five (Mississippi Jack), so I've got some catching up to do.

The Bloody Jack Adventures follows the story of Jacky Faber, a very impetuous young woman of the early 1800s. In the very first book (Bloody Jack), she disguises herself as boy and becomes a ship's boy on the HMS Dolphin. Hijinks ensue.

I was an... 'adventurous' kid, so I read this book when I was barely into my double digits (maybe even before then), but I'd recommend it to maybe thirteen and up. But these have always been some of my favorite books, even if the basic plot (reckless and feisty girl disguises herself as a boy and gets in tons of trouble and saves the day, etc. etc.) isn't the most original. Sometimes, it's not about originality.

-Persy

Persy -- Wednesday Scrolls

So do you want the good news or the bads news first? Let's go with the bad.

Justin Bieber is writing a book.

Are you okay? Need some CPR, advil, a tree to bang your head against? That's kind of how I reacted too.

A press release said it would be a memoir, but Justin Bieber himself said he's "A little too young" to be writing a life story. Which I quite agree with. Instead, it's going to feature never-before-photos of Bieber taken backstage at various performances etc. etc. I saw on http://www.roflrazzi.com/ that the book would be made up of tweets and doodles as well, but so far that's unconfirmed for me. Duck and cover, people, the Bieb is moving on to the book industry...

Let me just apologize if there's a Justin Bieber fan reading this. I personally don't like him (in case you hadn't figured that out), but if you do, you go ahead and go read his picture book.

And NOW for some news -I- find fabulous!

Neal Shusterman's, who is the author of Everlost, the Dark Fusion series (http://persyandarty.blogspot.com/2010/07/arty-dread-locks-by-neal-shusterman.html), Full Tilt, What Daddy Did, and more, Unwind is in the process of being movie-ified. I haven't actually read this one yet (though it's now at the top of my list), but everything I have ever read by Neal Shusterman has been amazing. Everything. Generally, there's at least one or two novels by an author I dislike, but that is not the case with Neal Shusterman. This guy's just amazing.

The movie's ETA is currently set for 2012, but who knows if it'll actually come out then. You can visit Neal Shusterman's Unwind Move website (http://unwindmovie.com/UNWINDMOVIE/UNWIND.html) for more info.

The novel is about a world where unwanted teens get salvaged for body parts. Three teenagers, all with their own circumstances that will lead to being unwound, are drawn together and attempt to survive until their eighteenth birthday, when they can no longer be harmed. I am definitely looking forward to this.

And for our last bit of Wednesday news, Meg Cabot, author of the Princess Diaries and Airhead (as well as other series' and novels writing as Jenny Carroll), just released a vampire novel listed under horror (on Fantastic Fiction, anyway). If you're like me, this wasn't something you'd expect Meg Cabot to write. When I think of Meg Cabot, I think of sparkly pink covers featuring tiaras or catwalks and strange stories about reincarnation (Avalon High). But her vampire novel, Insatiable, which was released in June, actually looks rather interesting.

Meena Harper doesn't believe in vampires, and is sick of hearing about them, but her bosses make her write about them anyway. She also has the unique gift of precognition and knows how people will die. Now here's where it sounds more like the Meg Cabot I know: Meena falls in love with a modern day prince with a dark side, who *gasp* is already dead! Meena's desperately in love with him, but he might turn into something of a nightmare... dun dun dun.

Insatiable is now on my reading list, but it could be a loong time before I actually get around to it. To be honest, it doesn't sound especially unique or overly interesting, but I suppose we'll see.

Thanks for reading this week's Wednesday Scrolls! Please pop in for this Saturday's book review!

-Persy