The Rise of Nine, by Pittacus Lore (Lorien Legacies #3)

Until the day I met John Smith, Number Four, I'd been on the run alone, hiding and fighting to stay alive.

Together, we are much more powerful. But it could only last so long before we had to separate to find the others. . . .

I went to Spain to find Seven, and I found even more, including a tenth member of the Garde who escaped from Lorien alive. Ella is younger than the rest of us, but just as brave. Now we're looking for the others--including John.

But so are they.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They caught me in New York--but I escaped.
I am Number Six.
They want to finish what they started.
But they'll have to fight us first.

After the events of the previous book, Four and Nine have just escaped from the Mogadorians, leaving Sam behind. Meanwhile, Six had just met up with Marina (Seven), Ella (Ten) and Ella's Cepan. The four of them go off to India to check out a mysterious local deity who they suspect is one of their kind while Four and Nine wander around the states arguing and fighting.

I wish I could say more in the summary but I don't want to give anything away. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I did the previous two, probably because I felt like we were actually getting somewhere in this one. The first one was a sweet intro to the series, but the second teased lots of secrets and information the reader has yet to learn without actually going anywhere with it. In this book, the plot moves and I loved how all the Numbers we know of were reunited at the end. That alone redeemed the other two books because finally the series is moving along and not keeping us at that suspenseful place where you want to pull out all your hair because you know something should be happening. It's like when you sit in the car waiting to leave-you know you'll be going eventually but at this point you're just losing patience, and in this book you finally hit the road. It was also cool to see how all the Numbers interacted with each other-the tentative camaraderie they start off with while they get to know each other and being forced to trust someone they barely know because they know they'll have to save the world with them eventually. Four and Nine were especially funny together because of how different they are from each other. Nine was a great foil for Four and provided many opportunities to learn more about our hero than we had from the previous books.

I don't have anything more to say but for anyone who has the patience to get through I Am Number Four and The Power of Six, this book is the reward.

5 stars.