The Fall Of Five (Lorien Legacies #4)
By Pittacus Lore
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Recommended For: Ages 14+, sci-fi nerds who like lots of action, people who like to imagine aliens exist.

The Garde are finally reunited, but do they have what it takes to win the war against the Mogadorians?

John Smith—Number Four—thought that things would change once the Garde found each other. They would stop running. They would fight the Mogadorians. And they would win.

But he was wrong. After facing off with the Mogadorian ruler and almost being annihilated, the Garde know they are drastically unprepared and hopelessly outgunned. Now they’re hiding out in Nine’s Chicago penthouse, trying to figure out their next move.

The six of them are powerful, but they’re not strong enough yet to take on an entire army—even with the return of an old ally. To defeat their enemy, the Garde must master their Legacies and learn to work together as a team. More importantly, they’ll have to discover the truth about the Elders and their plan for the Loric survivors.

And when the Garde receive a sign from Number Five—a crop circle in the shape of a Loric symbol—they know they are so close to being reunited. But could it be a trap? Time is running out, and the only thing they know for certain is that they have to get to Five before it’s too late.

The Garde may have lost battles, but they will not lose this war.

The Gist:

The Lorien Legacies series kind of screeches to a halt in this fourth installment. Perhaps because the group is more stationary, or the series is just being dragged out too much, but I really missed the suspense from being chased. The pace of the series slowed and the cheesiness continued. I found myself frustrated with the lack of forward movement and character development throughout the book.

What I Liked:

All the Lorien are finally together in this book. We’ve been hearing so far how great they would be together and we finally get to see how they all interact with each other.

It was nice having the non-Lorien characters added back into the mix.  They add a different level to the storyline and their personalities contrast yet meld well from the others.

I felt a hole now that all the Cepans were dead, so I was glad to have Sam’s dad along for the ride. I think having an adult around to help guide and share wisdom makes it a little more realistic. I’m never gonna to think that a band of young teenagers always knows what to do in the face of danger.

What I Didn’t Like:
Gosh is slowed down a lot. There was no imminent threat until the very end. For most of the book I felt like I was trying to plow through a string of scenes with petty arguments and cheese-tastic romantic lines. I think a big reason for the decline in fast-paced action was because the author was trying to stretch the series out longer than it has to be. I’m ready to get close to the final battle, especially now that they’re all together.

The book is just riddle with cliches, whether it’s the dialogue or the events that happen in people’s relationships.  The dialogue in particular bothers me. It’s very generic, doesn’t reveal a ton about the characters, and isn’t distinctive (i.e. uses lots of cliches). And they always seem to know exactly what to do and never feel like they make the wrong choice, or at least rarely do.

The attempt at the big twist at the end was poorly done. The hints were obvious, I mean even the title gives it away.  It was just another example of the lack of excitement in this book.

LunasLuckyRating: 2/5 Lunas