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The Revenge of Seven

On Monday, I gave a brief rundown of the first four books in Pittacus Lore’s series Lorien Legacies. If you love these stories, you know he has written novellas detailing the background of every member of the Garde. I have only read the account about Six, and it was enjoyable. You can find them here.

The latest in the series, but not the last, is The Revenge of Seven, and I don’t feel the title suits the book. I kept waiting for Marina to do something vengeful and make the name have meaning. Never happened. If you read the book and find something, please enlighten me in the comments.

Bad title aside, I didn’t want to put the book down. Like the others in the series, it starts fast and snowballs until it seems all hope is lost. The readers have come to realize the Garde can’t win a major victory. There is another book. Perhaps Setrakus Ra and his ugly crew will finally be defeated.

The story is told from the perspectives of Four, Six and Ella. We’ve read from Four and Six quite often and their voices are distinct. Their personalities shine through. I love both of them and was happy to get inside their heads again in this novel.

Not so excited about the third POV character. I kept forgetting Ella is about nine because her voice reads as someone much older. She is a captive in this segment (expected since they carried her off in the end of book number four). While on the enemy warship, she learns the truth about Setrakus Ra – and fights against him. I admire her spunk but couldn’t engage with her character voice.

As with the other installments, the team splits up. I was glad to see Sarah off in a different location working with other humans behind the scenes.  The romantic spotlight shifts to Sam and Six in this story. If you know Six, you know there isn’t much drama – but plenty of action.

The author doesn’t disappoint in the action department. The beginning contains more setup than usual, but the payoff is worth it. There are battles in Washington DC and fights in Mexico. Things heat up as it becomes clear the Mog invasion is imminent.

I thought the political aspect of this story added interest. I’m not sure teenagers will feel the same way. If you’re reading this, teens, please comment about how this addition felt to you.

The ending is mid-scene. This isn’t truly unusual for the author, but it really irritated me because I feel the build-up is complete. It is obvious to me what will happen next and how the Mogs will be defeated in the end.

I am never a fan of cliff hangers. I feel like every story in a series should stand alone and contain its own problem, solution and resolution. This book did an okay job with the first two items. However, instead of resolving anything, the author threw us a hint about how the whole thing will wrap up and then stopped writing.

I still have to give it four out of five stars because I was engaged. Ella’s parts were few, and even though I didn’t find her believable, there was plenty of new information to be gained during her scenes.

If you’ve read one, two or all five of these books, what did you think of them? Would you recommend them to other teenagers or adults?

What do you think? Add to the discussion here.