The Lorien Legaices #1: I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

I first heard of this title as a movie, but I gave the book a rating of five out of five. "John Smith" and eight other gardes escape from their planet, Lorein, and go into hiding on Earth. Their planet has been invaded by Mogadorians who intend to kill all of the inhabitants and take all of the planet's resources. Earth is the Mogadorians next target. The gardes will develop legacies, or special powers, while on Earth which will hopefully make them strong enough to defeat the enemy. Due to some special protection, the Mogadorians are only able to kill the gardes in numerical order as long as the gardes are separate from each other. John and his guardian move to Paradise, Ohio, to go into hiding and wait for John's legacies to develop. Of course, John makes friends with a diverse group of humans, but he must try to hide his secret identity and powers from them. His presence endangers the humans, but John has never had close friends before. What will he do when the Mogadorians discover his location?

The plot jumped into the action immediately as the third garde was killed in the opening pages. I enjoyed John's character as he tried to balance his need to survive with his need for friendship and love. The plot held my interest very well, and I ended up reading the book in one day. While training with his guardian, John often had flashbacks to his early life on Lorein which might confuse readers who aren't paying attention. John also had a budding romance with Sarah, so readers may be turned off if they're not willing to accept frequent hugging and kissing. Overall, I really enjoyed the book, and I'm hoping to get my hands on the sequel, The Power of Six.