When the mogadorians invade Lorien, nine children who would have become their planet's defence, flee to Earth. With no planet of their own to protect they take a stand, to stop the Mogadorians conquering Earth. Known, primarily by their number, they have been hunted and slaughtered, number one is killed in Malaysia and three in Kenya. Number four has become active and his only hope of survival for him and the Earth is to find the others, whilst all the time the Mogolians continue to hunt...

The Rise of Nine is the third in the Lorien series of books, purportedly written by a Lorian elder Pittacus Lore, but in reality written by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, though after a falling out, Hughes walked away from the series following this book - apparently because he disagreed about the direction the series was going.

The series is aimed at the young adult readership, which is a way of saying it borrows heavily from other books. I won’t disagree that the resurgence in young adult novels is great to encourage a generation to discover the magic which can be found within the pages of a book, it’s just a shame that the books which get all the publicity are not the best in their field.

Although, the series has a huge fan following, amongst young adults, I can’t say that I was terribly impressed with the book, it felt like filler for the proposed series. It is great, if you enjoy a travelogue, but not successful as a standalone novel, as the action bounces around the world, following the Loriens. The massive success of the books and film will ensure that the small number of Loriens will survive, shame that not a single one of them is named Loth.

That the book will be shifted by the truckload is a given, nor is there a contention that the book is adequately written, but as filler this is only likely to appeal to fans who have already bought the previous two books. We can only wait with bated breath to see how the series develops and why one of its authors walked away. For that alone the next book will be more interesting.

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Charles Packer