The fourth instalment of the Lorien Legacies Series by Pittacus Lore is The Fall of Five. And I am pleased to be able to report that it is a cracker! It continues the epic journey of the nine Loric children who were smuggled to Earth from their home planet (Lorien), in a desperate attempt to save them from an invading force of Mogadorians. Unfortunately, the Mogadorians have now come to Earth to hunt them down. Six of these Loric "gardes" have now found each other, and are living in Nine's penthouse in Chicago, and are wondering how to find Five, who is the only other surviving garde. When they come across an article on the Internet about a crop circle that is in the shape of the Loric symbol for Five, they make plans to retrieve him. In the meantime, Sam Goode, the High School buddy of Number Four (John Smith) is rescued from the Mogadorians by Malcolm, his long, lost father, and, much to Sam's surprise, a Mogadorian called Adam, who seems to have a Loric Legacy. Five is rescued, with the help of Sam and Malcolm, and back to Chicago they all go. The garde work on improving their skills and team work, but tensions develop with the new guy, number Five, struggling to find his place. Ella is having horrific nightmares featuring Setrakus Ra (leader of the Mogadorians) who taunts her and shows her the devastation that he plans to wreak upon Earth. When John tries to shake her out of one, he finds himself pulled into the same dream. While he and Ella are fixed in a comatose dream state, the rest of the garde head off to find Five's chest, which contains his inheritance. Big mistake!
There is a constant menace running through this book, and the reader, just like the characters, can never get comfortable. There are many dark and fraught moments, with only a few light touches to bring occasional relief. Written with three different points of view - Four (John), Seven (Marina) and Sam Goode - really works for me, particularly in the audio edition, as each POV is given a different narrator. This technique really gives you the opportunity to get under the skin of the three main voices of this book. It was also pleasing to have Sam back in the fold, who was very much a dorky sidekick before, but now comes into his own much more. The Fall of Five ends on a fantastic cliff hanger and sets you up for the next book, which is out in print, ebook and audio CD, but not yet available for audio download ... I have been reading all of these books via audio download, so am champing at the bit ... not sure I can wait!
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 352 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.84.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; unabridged audio CD; ebook.
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