The Revenge of Seven Review

Book: The Revenge of Seven
Author: Pittacus Lore
Series: I Am Number Four
Standing: Book 5
POV: 1st person by John, Six, and Ella, present tense
Genre: YA paranormal

Source: Physical Copy
Pages: 416
Release: August 26th 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins

Favourite Line: "When the elevator dings and the doors slide apart, the four Mogadorians sent downstairs are greeted by Nine screaming and shoving a sofa into them."

Rating: 5 stars

Blurb: (Goodreads)
The Garde have suffered an unbearable loss. Number Five has betrayed them. Eight is gone forever. Ella has been kidnapped. The others are now scattered.

In Chicago, John makes the unlikeliest of allies: Adam, a Mogadorian who turned his back on his people. He has invaluable information about Mog technology, battle strategies, and weaknesses. Most important, he knows where to hit them: their command base near Washington, DC. During the assault, however, John and Adam learn the unimaginable truth: it is too late. The Mogadorians have commenced their ultimate invasion plans.

With a front-row seat to the impending invasion, Ella finds herself in the hands of the enemy. For some reason she's more valuable to them alive, and they'll stop at nothing to turn her.

Meanwhile, Six, Nine, and Marina make their way through the Florida Everglades, hot on the trail of the traitorous Five. With the development of a new Legacy, Marina finally has the power to fight back—if her thirst for revenge doesn't consume her first. 

                       ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭

Disclaimer: this review will be no more spoilery than the blurb (the blurb is spoilery, let's face it), so don't read this if you haven't read the first 4 books! 

THAT ENDING. No, I won't spoil it. BUT SERIOUSLY.

This book picks up right off where the last book left off. Ella has been kidnapped, Adam has appeared (!!!), Five has betrayed them, and Eight is gone. Everyone has lost something, everyone is hurting in some way. With the impending Mogadorian threat growing bigger, the stakes for both Garde and humans are higher than ever. Hello, doomsday.

Much like in the other books, we have an assortment of characters who are all in different groups. I'm glad for the groups, because it can be a little hard keeping track of who's who and who's where had they all been in one place. With the different parties, it's easier to remember that Party A has 3 people rather than 7. The switching perspectives also gave the chapters a more gripping feel, seeing as the author is so fond of leaving us with chapter cliffhangers. Party A will end on a cliffhanger, and then we'll jump to Party B, and then they'll end on a cliffhanger, and we'll find ourselves back to Party A, but we're also dying to know what happened to Party B, and it's a vicious cycle of emotions. Seriously, you can't put the book down at all!

The first party we have are John, Sam, Sarah, Adam, and Malcolm. From the last book, John literally just woke form his comatose state with Ella, only to find his friends desperate to protect him as the Mogadorians open fire on their safe house. Adam appears, who's a Mogadorian with powers of the Garde. Everything is going downhill fast, since John knows that one of the Garde has died, due to his new scar.

In the first party, the character that stuck out to me most was Adam. We've seen a ton of John and Sam, and have seen them grow throughout the other 4 books, but it was Adam I was curious about. If you've read The Legacies (part of the Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files series), you'll know Adam's history, and that Adam is a good guy. Both a good guy, and a good guy. As in a nice person. I was glad to see his character growth in this book, since it's been a while that we've seen any dramatic confrontations. I must say, I'm very impressed with him, watching him go from the Adam who hung back and tried to please his father to the Adam that is able to do whatever it takes to help, including confronting the one person he fears the most. Plus he's a much-needed asset to the team, having been brought up as a Mogadorian and knowing their ways and all.

Second party: Six, Marina, Nine. All of them are facing inner turmoil. Six, because she feels guiltily for having been knocked out so easily by Five, and thus keeps thinking that had she had her guard up, Eight could have been saved. Marina, because she loved Eight, and wasn't able to heal him in time. And Nine, whom Eight had jumped in to save, and thus dying in place of Nine. We'll not add to the fact that Nine finds out that his home, where John and his party were staying, had been destroyed. Basically, everyone's a mess. But they all manage to pull through it, fighting their way to reclaim what was theirs. Fortitude, guys. Fortitude.

I must say, I did not see Ella's circumstances coming. She was taken by the Mogadorians, and is being kept safe. Setrákus Ra personally tends to her, even placing his own version of a charm on her. They're trying to turn her into a Mogadorian, brainwash her and whatnot, but Ella remains fearless and relentless, trying to sabotage their attempts. She uses the fact that they won't hurt her to her advantage, and her acts of defiance are worthy of an applause.

Let's talk a little about Five. Last we saw, he was hightailing it out after killing Eight and Marina stabbing him in the eye. (she's kind of scary like that now.) As much as this betrayal hurts, we start to see a different, more softer side of Five. He's been living under heavy duress, and killing one of his own has taken a heavy toll on him. Do I sympathize with him? No. Do I feel sorry for him? Maybe. But we begin to see that he's not all bad, and he's just generally doing what he can to survive. There may be hope for him yet... But he has a long way to go for redemption.

AND THEN THAT ENDING. Seeing as this is my second time reading the book, I wasn't as surprised, but it still was quite a shock to learn that X character gained X abilities. Never. Saw. That. Coming.

All in all, another great fast-paced book filled with action, tension, both government (FINALLY, the government is on Team Good...though it takes a freaking alien invasion to turn them, but whatever) and alien conspiracies, betrayals, and new revelations. In comparison to the first book, this one is simply just more. More action, more excitement, more emotions! And now I'm off to grab my hands on a copy of Fate of Ten...