“The Legacies” (Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files, #1-3) Review

Cynthia Ayala ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

By: Pittacus Lore

Published: July 10, 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins

Series: Lorien Legacies

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Fantasy

Three stories originally published as eBooks now in one paperback, The Lost Files combines the stories of Six, Nine and the story of the Fallen Legacies.  Held captive, Six and Nine both fell into the traps of the Mogadorians, and here are their stories of heartache and struggle.  The last story introduces us into Adam and who he was before The Fall of Five.  These are three wonderful stories, all in one.

This novel is a compilation of stories about characters that fans know from the I Am Number Four novels, more commonly known as the Lorein Legacies.  The first story is about Six who was first introduced near the end of I Am Number Four.  Readers only got a glimpse, snippets here and there of her story: how her guardian was killed and how the Mogadorians held her captive.  But there was more.  Her legacies developed after she was held captive, destroying the young innocent girl she was.  This story gave readers more insight into her character, highlighting how much of an orphan she was and the hardships she had to endure as she escaped and survived until she made her way her to John.  As a whole the story had a lot of depth to it, and the growth from who she was to who she has become is amazing.  There is this new strength behind her character that makes her both softer and stronger than she was before.

As of late Nine is one of the more obnoxious characters in the series.  He is annoying and thinks that he is so much better than everyone and knows very little of how to be a team player for those who have been reading the series. But now, this story gives readers an understanding.  As with Six, he was captured and trapped by the Mogadorians, but he saw horrors worse than she had and was given a different mentor and home, one that didn’t involve moving around. Readers know this from the past two novels in the series.  This story was well written and gave his character more depth.  The writing was amazing with very good detail and scene specifics that allowed for very good story flow.

The last and final novella in this novel was centered on Adam who was first introduced in the main series in The Fall of Five.  Adam is a Mogadorian and this story gave fans insight into who he was before, to whom he became, and why he has chosen to fight alongside the Loriens.  Not only was this a good story, but also it had something the previous two didn’t: it was humorous and entertaining, yet very sad.  It was bittersweet with wonderful characterization.  The story was well written, fun, and something completely different in this world brought to readers by Pittacus Lore.

All three stories give this new world and the characters in it more depth and characterization. ★★★☆☆ (B)