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I Am Number Four is a compelling story. It doesn't really fall into the fantasy/young adult genre I normally enjoy reading, as this is more of a sci-fi young adult story, but I enjoyed it just the same. And I will admit that the main lure for reading this book was because of the movie based on this story coming to theatres in February 2011, starring Alex Pettyfer and Dianna Agron.

In a nutshell, the story is about a small band of refugees from the planet Lorien arriving on earth ten years earlier as children, along with their guardians/mentors (known as Cepans) after their planet is destroyed by another hostile race of aliens called the Mogadorians. Lorians look like us, and their planet is very similar to earth so they are able to blend in. The nine Lorian children will eventually come into their special Lorian powers (called Legacies) as they mature, and their hope is to become strong enough (together) to fight back and reclaim their planet. In the meantime, the Mogadorians have a mission of their own...to kill all the Lorians that escaped their massacre on the planet they conquered. The one hitch is that some sort of protection spell was cast on the Lorian children before they escaped...and in that spell, they can only be killed in order...thus the premise of "I Am Number Four". Number Four is next on the list as the first three have been eliminated.

The Lorians and their Cepans are constantly on the run...never staying in one place for too long for fear of the Mogadorians finding them. Four and his Cepan, Henri, have left their last home of the last few months and settle in small-town Ohio. Four chooses the name John Smith as his new identity. John is also 15 years old and begins longing for a normal life, complete with friends. John finds that in Ohio despite Henri's warnings about getting too close to anyone. Living a life on the run is just easier when you don't establish any ties to the town you are living in...but John can't help himself when a couple of friendships just come so easily with Sarah and Sam...he can't resist.

Some of the characters in I Am Number Four are very relatable, while others, for me, are not. I felt a connection to John's and Henri's characters...especially because the story is told from John's perspective, and the story is basically theirs...and John and Henri are completely likeable characters. You really feel for John's loneliness and longing to make friends and have a girlfriend. And the special relationship between John and Henri is very endearing too...like father and son, and for all intents and purposes, they were just that. Henri's protectiveness for John transcends any biological ties not present.

I also thought the dog that found his way into John & Henri's house, and into John's heart, whom John named Bernie Kosar, became a character I cared about too.

However, I didn't *get* the connection so much between John and his love interest, Sarah. I did get the friendship between John and Sam though...but had a hard time truly believing both Sam's and Sarah's easy acceptance of John being an alien (I know they saw the evidence for themselves...but there didn't seem to be any doubt of what they saw...trying to explain it away). And I didn't truly believe the change in Mark James...it didn't feel authentic to me. I also didn't fully appreciate the vendetta the Mogadorians have on the Lorians that escaped. I drew some conclusions on my own but wasn't satisfied that it was all fully explained.

A couple of things went unanswered that I felt needed to be concluded in this story...for example, were the people of the town aware of what happened, or are they now? I also saw a couple of possible solutions that were never visited...of which I can't really get into without being spoilery. A big one occurred to me at the end...where I was just shaking my head as to why none of them were thinking of something very obvious that could go wrong with their plans to leave for another town and leaving a certain key character behind.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and am looking forward to the movie...and will likely read the sequels. I just hope that we get to know the other characters like Sam, Sarah, Six & Mark a little bit better...and I do have certain predictions for the next book(s), one of which involves a love-triangle forming...I just hope it's believable.