“The Fall of Five” (Lorien Legacies #4) Review

Cynthia Ayala ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff 

Author: Pittacus Lore

Published: August 27, 2013

Publisher: Harper Collins

Series: Lorien Legacies

Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, Young Adult

The Fall of Five continues the journey of John Smith and his Lorien comrades and they build their powers and try to find a way to battle the Mogadorians who are hunting them.  But as they continue to train and as they find themselves reunited with old friends and the last of the Loriens they discover a traitor in their midst and the truth about Ella’s origin is revealed.

Thrilling adventure that explores just how lost heroes can feel.  Pittacus Lore explores the realm of these lonely orphans who are on the run with a destiny bigger than they understand and powers they are only starting to control.  Left alone on a foreign planet growing up with a destiny they were never able to understand, these kids don’t know what to do as they suffer more than anyone should have to.  It’s a brilliant and in depth novel that explores the difficulties of life, set in a teenage science fiction setting.

The characters in this novel are amazing.  Some of them are obnoxious, but even their attitudes have a reason behind them.  They aren’t characters that are obnoxious just for the sake of giving the reader someone to dislike or someone to create tension; they have a depth to them, a story behind each of them that explains who they are.  The inside plot is a rather simplistic one, but it’s clear and concise and allows for the readers to connect to all the characters, even though each is vastly different than the others.  What the inside plot also does is allow the outside plot, the main story, progress beautifully and gain momentum as it goes along.

The pace of this book is amazing and it made the story easy to follow as it shifted between character points of view.  The shifts are done smoothly and effortlessly and highlighted their individual struggles of finding a place to fit in within their close-knit group, learn to deal with the fact that they are orphans, and the death they have felt.  They are fighting a war; children are fighting a war and learning just how to deal with that fact.  And the twist that there is a traitor in the midst shows the complexity of the mind and how difficult war really is and how some circumstances can influence the mind.  The result builds the story so much and the ending was mind-blowing.

This novel offers a lot of characterization and story to it.  Although it may come off as superficial to some, looking at the story as a whole, it offers a lot, touching upon real life difficulties even though it is attributed in a young adult science fiction setting.  Even though there are some cheesy moments in the novel, those cheesy moments symbolize just how fleeting happiness and safety are and how all those moments in real life should be cherished.

Breathtaking, blood-pumping novel that gives this generation something other than vampires to admire. .★★★★☆ (B+)