The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore

It took me several tries to get a good start going on this one. Ryan thinks I'm reading them out of a misplaced sense of obligation. I get why he thinks that, but that's not it. I'm struggling through them because several of my students have read them and talk about them which means other students are interested in reading them. I try to read the things that become popular for whatever reason whether I find them personally motivating or not.

The Fall of Five is the fourth book in the Lorien Legacies and my biggest problem with it is that it came after the third book in the series: The Rise of Nine. (I really did not like that book.)

In this volume, the garde is reunited with each other. They've found Sarah and survived an encounter with the big bad, Setrakus Ra, and they soon run into Sam and his dad. They survive, but it's obvious they aren't ready to face off against the Mogadorian horde.

They retreat to Nine's Chicago penthouse and try to develop a plan. This is complicated by the appearance of Five.

I really like how the book opened with Sam finding his dad. I'd kid of written them both off. I assumed at the beginning of the series that the dad probably died tragically, and when Sam was captured by the Mogs and abandoned by Four and Nine, I was not entirely sure that he wasn't going to show up dead or brainwashed on the other side.

Structurally there are some issues.  The chapters switch between three different points of view: John/Four, Marina, Sam. There is no regular pattern to this, and it is not always clear for several paragraphs whose POV the reader is in. This interrupts the flow of the narrative and makes it feel a little more meandering than it actually is. Additionally, the progression of events feels a little disconnected. Things seem to be happening a little more randomly and it's chapter after chapter of characters reacting.  This seems to be because Lore is exploring the characters more, but it means the feel of narrative shifts.

Oh, and Nine is still a colossal jerk.