Review: The Rise of Nine

Hmmm- well, first things first, I did like The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore- mostly.

It was what I expected- action, adventure, and in some small ways it moved part of the story, previously told in the Lorien Legacies along but ultimately, it didn't.  I was really loving the book until it ended.  And I mean, it just ended.  To the point where I was turning the page wondering if I had missed something.  Like many series these days I found myself thinking, if "Pittacus Lore" had just written another 100 or so pages and finished the story, it would have been grand. 

I wonder why authors are so afraid to tell a complete story these days?  Are they afraid our attention span can't handle a full tale or a large book?  No- it's greed I think.  More books equal more money and I'm getting quite sick of it.  But I guess that's a rant for another day. 

Anyway, the story itself, as I said before moves along quickly.  The most annoying aspect is the narration jumping between multiple characters- Four, Six, and Seven.  I found this particularly irksome when more than one of them was in the same place together and it often took me several paragraphs to figure out who was speaking as they described what was going on- only when a character spoke about one of the other characters did I figure out which of them was narrating- their voices aren't differentiated enough, unfortunately.  This could have been solved so easily by just putting the character's name at the top of the chapter as so many other authors who alternate point of view often do.  This particular distraction had me often going back to re-read the beginnings of chapters to figure out what, exactly was going on. 

As for the title, The Rise of Nine- I didn't really get it.  Nine was a fun and interested character, but I think a better title would have been, "They Gather" since that's pretty much what happens- it was set up in the previous book as the Garde started to find one another and predictably continues in this book.  Unfortunately it doesn't continue toward any sort of conclusions. 

I will continue with the series, because it's fun to read and I enjoy the action, but if there's no forward motion in the next one, it may lose me.