The Fate of Ten Review

Book: The Fate of Ten
Author: Pittacus Lore
Series: I Am Number Four
Standing: Book 6
POV: 1st person by John and Six, present tense
Setting: New York City and Mexico, present time
Genre: YA paranormal

Source: Physical Copy
Pages: 416
Release: September 1st, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins

Rating: 5 stars

Blurb (Goodreads)
The sixth book in the thrilling, action-packed, New York Timesbestselling I Am Number Four series! For years the Garde have fought the Mogadorians in secret. Now all of that has changed. The invasion has begun. If the Garde can't find a way to stop the Mogs, humanity will suffer the same fate as the Lorien: annihilation.

There is still hope. When the Elders sent the Garde to Earth, they had a plan—one which the Garde are finally starting to understand. In the climax of The Revenge of Seven, a group of the Garde traveled to an ancient pyramid in Mexico known to their people as the Sanctuary. There they awoke a power that had been hidden within our planet for generations. Now this power can save the world . . . or destroy it. It will all depend on who wields it.

                       ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭

THAT. ENDING. WHAT IN LORIEN?????????

Okay, okay, I just found out that this wasn't the last book and  there's going to be 7 books. BUT STILL. THAT ENDING. SOMEONE PLEASE CRY WITH ME.

***Disclaimer: I honestly don't know how to review this book without spoiling the events of the previous books, so if you haven't read Books 1-5, don't read this review!***

Okay? Okay. Let the wave of feels begin.

The Fate of Ten picks right off where The Revenge of Seven left off. Mogadorians fleets have arrived on Earth. The invasion has started, and New York City is at the mercy of the Mogadorians. A few new revelations have been made in the last book: Setrákus Ra and Ella are now connected, in which if you hurt one, you hurt the other. Six and the others have awakened the Lorien Entity. And Sam now has telekinesis as a by-product. 

Right off the bat, we're thrown into a world of high stakes and danger, not just for the Garde, but for humans in general. The beginning is intense as we follow John and Sam as they try to save as many innocent people as possible from the Mogadorian attack. What I particularly liked about them was that though they were rescuing people and helping them get to safety, their main goal remained to be battling the Mogadorians. Yes, they were helping people get to safety, but as soon as the people were safe, John and Sam jumped right back into the fray to fight. Even when they could have run away and hidden with all the other civilians, they didn't. They retreated, but didn't run away. And that's what heroes really are.

At the same time, we have another plot line going on. In Mexico, Six, Marina, and Adam just released a Lorian Entity, who we are able to gather as the reason for Sam's new powers. Though the beginning of this second plot line was a little slower at the beginning, it instantly picked right back up with the looming threat of death. We're introduced to a little more history, and if you've read The Lost Files: Rebel Allies, then you'll recognize a familiar face and ship :)

I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the two plot lines much more than the other books. I found that they complimented each other, giving readers different perspectives and reactions of similar emotional challenges. There's multiple forms of desperation, and different people handle it differently, such is the case for John and Six. The same can be said for making hard choices; there are different kinds of hard choices, and different people will do act differently. John is responsible for everyone, for the Lorians and humans, and thus required to look at the bigger picture when making choices. Six is responsible for her group, responsible for getting everyone out alive and intact rather than focusing on the general population. John has a bigger group, Six has a smaller group, and it's nice to see the similarities and differences between their leadership roles.

This book wasn't without loss. In fact, this book literally was loss after loss in the form of unsuspecting event after unsuspecting event, which kept me on my toes. Nothing ever went to plan... Loss of preparation, loss of time, and most devastatingly of all, loss of life. Or, rather, lives. In a way, I understand why these deaths happened, (it's a war, after all!) but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. And especially after Eight's death in The Fall of Five...yeah. It was easy to get emotional, and believe me, one of the character's speech before death was downright beautiful... which, of course, made that death all the more heart-wrenching and unbearable. *sobs*

We got a bit of history in this book as a means to understand Setrákus Ra's actions. In a way, it humanizes him so that we're more inclined to sympathize with him, as we see that he started out ultimately doing what he believed was good, just that it spiralled into something sick and twisted. The history also acts as a good motivator for readers as well as a refresher for why he needs to be stopped for the final stretch of the series. So even though a history lesson at the second last book is a little strange, it was fitted in perfectly to leave readers understanding and ultimately wanting more.

This book is a flurry of do-or-die. Fast paced and gripping to no ends, it ended much too quickly despite it's 416 pages. And that ending. Did NOT see that coming. I originally though this was a six-book series, which made this the final book, and thus was immediately upset with the devastating ending. But thank god there's actually another book, because an ending like that? Someone might as well rip my heart out and destroy it.

So now I'm going to sit in quiet burning agony as I await the last and final book in the series. And possibly get some therapy, because that ending. Someone please join me in my therapy group?