The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore (updated version)

The Rise of Nine is the sequel to The Power of Six (which I talked about in my previous post), and the third book in the Lorien Legacies series. Basically, the series is about a group of kids trying to save the planet Lorien. Lorien was a beautiful place where basically everything was perfect -- until it was attacked by the Mogadorians, an army of aliens seeking to take control of the universe. All of the Loric, except for twenty, were killed. The twenty that survived escaped their destroyed planet and fled to Earth. Ten of the Loric were Garde, and they were the ones meant to defeat the Mogadorians and restore Lorien to what it once was, using unique and incredible powers known as Legacies. Each Garde had a Cepan assigned to guide the Garde in their quest to restore their planet. There was also a charm meant to protect the Garde, making it so that only one of them can die at a time. The lowest-numbered Garde is the vulnerable one, while all of the other Garde are completely immortal. (For an explanation with slightly more detail, you might want to read my previous review.)


At the beginning of The Rise of Nine, numbers One, Two and Three are dead, as well as all ten of the Cepans (which are not protected by the charm protecting the Garde). All of them were tracked down by the Mogadorians, which have already started to invade Earth. Number Four is in hiding in America with Nine, who he rescued from a Mogadorian base in West Virginia. Six, Seven and Ten are searching for Eight, who is believed to be in India. The whereabouts of Five are unknown.

The book follows multiple characters' perspectives, each book told in the eyes of a different set of characters. The Rise of Nine follows the perspectives of Four, Six and Seven. As the title implies, the book is mainly about the Garde getting to know Nine, who is a new character to the series. However, Nine seems to have been spoiled by his now-deceased Cepan, who bought a penthouse suite in the Hancock building in Chicago. His personality is also unpleasant -- he is rude, jerky, and has a complete lack of tact. He and Four, who seems to be disgusted by Nine's behavior, are hiding in Nine's penthouse.

Meanwhile, Six, Seven and Ten discover that Eight is in India. Upon meeting each other, Eight shows the other Garde a Loric material called Loralite. Loralite is a powerful substance that allows a Garde to teleport to another location on Earth with Loralite. The four Garde decide to teleport to New Mexico, because they think that a hidden Mogadorian base is there. However, a miscommunication causes Six to end up being the only one to go to New Mexico, while the other three teleport to Stonehenge. Six teleports to the middle of a desert and nearly dies of dehydration, when she is kidnapped by a Mogadorian and taken to the base.

In Nine's penthouse, Nine shows Four a Loric device that shows the location of the other Garde. They see that one of them is in New Mexico, while the other three are in Stonehenge. Nine argues that they should go to Stonehenge because there are more Garde there, but Four thinks that the lone Garde in New Mexico might be on trouble. Finally, Nine reluctantly gives in, and the two of them begin the long drive from Chicago to New Mexico.

Eventually, Seven, Ten and Eight find the Loralite and use it to teleport to New Mexico. Ten uses a Legacy of telepathic communication to communicate with Six, who tells her that she is being held in the Mogadorian base. The three Garde search for the base, but they have no idea where it is. Suddenly, they see a light in the sky, and follow the light. It turns out that the light was created by Four, and he and Nine had just found the entrance to the base. The five Garde work together to storm the base, rescue Six, and escape. The book ends with all six of the Garde heading back to Nine's penthouse in Chicago to train so that they can one day beat the Mogadorians and restore Lorien.

My overall reaction to The Rise of Nine was generally positive, although there were a few negative things I found about the book. One of these things was the title of the book itself. Although Nine is a new character in the series, he is probably the least likable. While Nine lived a life of luxury, the other Garde spent most of their lives running from place to place, running from not only the Mogadorians but from the FBI as well. Although he did face some hardships, such as being held captive by the Mogadorians for more than a year, he comes off as very unpleasant in my opinion. I think a better title would be "The Garde United" or something similar to that.

Another way I think the book could have been better would be to give Eight more of a backstory. We don't know much about his life before The Rise of Nine. It might have helped if the author wrote some chapters in the perspective of Eight, to kind of understand what he's going through at specific parts of the book, like when he first meets the other Garde in India.

Overall, The Rise of Nine was definitely an improvement on the first two books. An important event happened in almost every chapter, and the book was generally filled with suspense and action that made me not want to put it down. We begin to see the Garde forming bonds that will make them even more powerful as they grow stronger. Futhermore, the conclusion of the book faces toward a sequel that is even better than the first three books. In conclusion, I would definitely recommend the I Am Number Four series for anyone looking for a series that gets better every time you turn the page.