To say I was looking forward toward reading this book is an understatement, although I did read a lot of other books before this one, an entire year, in fact, but that doesn't mean that the anticipation was any less than it was after I finished reading The Power of Six. I came in with the expectations of the Garde finally uniting together, but this is only the third book in the series, so it wasn't a total shocker that all of the Garde don't fully appear in the book. Five, where are you? Over the past year, I've read book in a blend of genres and crossed the line between those genres quite a bit. Certain authors have a way of finding the perfect mix in their book and series, between action, character building, explosions, romance, and finding the right balance for it all. Some favor character and world building depth, and others dive headfirst into the fighting and action. Pittacus Lore, the former elder of Lorien, favors the latter. While that may not be a bad thing, however at this point in the series, I think we need some characters building to differentiate between not only the Garde members, but the others in the story as well. Between chapters the members of the Garde alternate narrating, and sometimes it gets confusing, because it's not said who is narrating, and you have to find that out by who the character talks about in their narrating. There are times when Nine and Four have conflicting personalties, but they are more alike than they seem, almost like they are carved out of the same leather by Pirracus Lore. I read the last book over a year ago, but I didn't need any refresher to know what happened, as The Rise of Nine picks up where The Power of Six left off. Six, Marina, Ella, and Crayton are on their way to India to meet up with another possible member of the Garde. When they get their things instantly break into chaos when they are being shot at with missiles and chased by the military, if things weren't confusing enough, they aren't Mogs. They manage to beat the threat and meet up with the possible Garde member by passing the tests. The Garde member reveals his number and that he is indeed a member of the Garde and Loric, he also shows them to a cave to some shockingly accurate predictions. When faced with the task of meeting up with the other Garde members, the newly revealed Garde member shows the others a way to teleport, but something goes terribly wrong and there is causality before they even teleport. Four and Nine are stuck together after they lost Sam, and it's eating away at Four. John soon begins to get dreams of Sam and Setrakus Ra. The Mog base might be nearby and John tries to convince Nine to search for Sam. But before they can do anything, they are attacked. Not by the Mogs, but by the US Government. Things only get weirder when they are using Mog weapons. The battle that ensues is an unfair one, for the government, that is. More of the items in the chests were reveled and used in this book, some more useful than others. At first I thought the Chests only served as a plot device and distraction, and they were a distraction in some of the battles that took place, but the power of the weapons and items inside the Chests are valuable and useful, that item that has liquids in it, wow. The book was overall action based, as most of it was action and the consequences of those actions took place afterward. It was like a rush and go type of thing. The Garde just went and the soldiers and Mogs attacked and fights ensued. I'm a huge fan of action and love it, but things could've been slowed down a notch or two and allowed for some character or even world building. The battle the raged on and the end where where it fired on all cylinders, even without the Garde having their powers, it was a thrilling and overwhelming battle where the stakes were high and the Garde could've lost it all right then and there. The Garde threw everything they had breaking into the base and while taking on Setrakus Ra. While I enjoyed every second of the final chapter, it just ended abruptly. I mean, it got me ready for the next book, but there wasn't any aftermath to it. It was done there and waits a year for the next book. After a while, I was okay with the ending, I realize that there are many more books in the series to come, and hopefully it can improve on this one. I loved this book for many reasons. We could sort of predict what was going to happen in this book by all the clues given in the last one; we knew that they'd all try to come together and end the war. And of course, this book ended with an intense battle, just like all of the other ones.I really liked the way that this book was written. Using different fonts, the author was able to show the story through different viewpoints. It was especially useful when they were all in trouble because then we could figure out what was going on with Eight when Four or Nine couldn't figure it out. Something that could've been better was the predictability of this book. It was really easy to figure out what was going to happen next, partly because the storyline is relatively the same in every book, or because each character is just really easy to judge. But the fact that we can predict what each character is going to do exhibits the fact that Pittacus Lore developed his characters extremely well. Well developed characters are good to have, because you can develop a deep "bond" with the characters.... and then the author goes off and kills them. This, of course, makes the story much more interesting.I would recommend this book- and series!- to anyone looking for an intense, riveting read because of all the battles and surprise problems given to the characters.
What do You think about El Ascenso De Nueve (2012)?
The Rise of Nine was a great book. This book mainly is a book counting the story of John, Nine, Seven, Six, and other characters from the first and second books in the series. The characters were all different and dynamic and the setting is all around the world including Chicago, A desert, and the ocean. The plot is very well written and every end of the chapters makes you want to read more. The coolest part was when Seven had to protect the plane in a HUGE thunderstorm that the pilots didn’t see till it was right in front of them. Which I thought “Come on! how can you not see that?”. I could relate to this I was flying in a plane going back home after a long trip and the pilot said “Attention passengers I will get bumpy as why go through a small storm in front of us please buckle your seatbelts.” The weird thing is that mostly everyone already saw the storm before the pilots said anything. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend or anyone who liked the book series Alex Rider because there is action, suspense, and more that those readers would enjoy.
—Angel
This book didn't hold my attention as much as The Power of Six but it does seem to be tying things together. With Four and Nine separated from Eight, Six, Seven and Ten, the story flips back and forth between the two locations and the two story lines. The end of the book is much better than the beginning but it just doesn't hold the same appeal. It seems to be held together with pointless action and a weak plot although by the end it seems the writer remembered what he was trying to do not only did it pick up but it kept me wanting to know more.The book seems to just end which is a little strange. Then there is a strange addition to the ending where we are apparently learning more about the Lorien children on earth directly from Pittacus Lore and recordings that were apparently "just found". It gives a little background on several of the guard. I'm hoping that the next book will be a bit better but it seems that each one loses something instead of gaining it.
—momo
I just loved Nine, a hell lot. He is my favourite character so far.
—Scott
Nine kicks butt. But she is less likeable than the others. Why?
—sisi
