I Am Number Four came out in theaters today.  I read this book back in September, shortly after it was released.  The synopsis of the novel drew me in so fast I began reading the book right in the bookstore.  Why?  See for yourself: “Nine of us came here.  We look like you.  We talk like you.  We live among you.  But we are not you.  We can do things you dream of doing.  We have powers you dream of having.  We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen.  We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books–but we are real.  Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them.  But they found us and started hunting us first.  Now all of us are running.  Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in.  We have lived among you without you knowing.  But they know.  They caught Number One in Malaysia.  Number Two in England.  And Number Three in Kenya.  They killed them all.  I am Number Four.  I am next.”

With taglines like that, I had to have the book, so I brought it home and read all 440 pages in one sitting.  Fabulous book!  The characters weren’t developed as much as I’d like them to be, so I wasn’t enamored with them like I am with some characters in novels, but I still enjoyed them (especially John, aka. Four).  I would have liked this book to have a LOT more action as well, but since this book is the beginning of the series, I understand that it needed to set up everything for the sequels. For an alien on the run, though, the action was quite minimal.  Part of the reason I like the movie version is that is made up for that.  I think both the book and the movie are on the same scale, though technically they do tell different stories.  The book was well written, and the movie was much better than I thought it was going to be.  In the beginning of the movie I wasn’t so sure I was going to like it… it seemed to drag, and in order to get the background information set, the main character narrated for a while, which I thought was really bland, but then it started to get interesting.  Of course, the movie changed a  lot of events around, and even made up a few, but for the most part, I think they did a good job.  They renamed a few things, and had events happening out of sequence, but I didn’t feel like it took away from the movie, or book for that matter–though you’ll understand the movie much more if you read the book (the director did leave out a huge part of the storyline).  I actually think that seeing the characters on screen boosted my feelings for the characters in the book.  Being able to see them as concrete beings has made me like them a lot more, so… I’m going to re-read the book with this new perspective and see what I think.  And I’ll definitely be re-watching the movie too!  I’ll let you know…

Four stars for both novel and movie!