Return to Zero (Lorien Legacies Reborn # 3) by Pittacus Lore

“The final book in the Lorien Legacies Series though the end was a bit saccharine, “the world is better with friends” but dark/gritty parts were intermixed enough to make it a well rounded wrap up.”

4 Stars

Pros: If only briefly, we get to see all the remaining OG (Original Garde) in one way or another/Lore did a good job in touching upon every aspect and wrapping the series up nicely/Characters that were never given a shot or enough meat on their bones played important/critical parts in this novel.

Cons: The complete change in character of Taylor Cook from mousy, nervous, shy Healer to round em all up, pep talk Hero seemed sudden and well, out of character/It would have been interesting to see all remaining OG interact for at least one moment.

 Full Review

If you’ve followed the “I am Number Four Series” from the beginning, like I have, this was a pretty good conclusion. All the Original Garde that remain (Four, Five, Six, Seven, Nine and “10”) all show up in one way or another and all are important to varying degrees. The “outlier” characters, IE, normal teenagers that were given Legacies in United as One, also play important parts. The group is split down the middle with Caleb, Ran and Isabela going onto join Einar’s “rebel” team; wanting to hunt down the villains behind the Foundation, while Taylor, Kopano and Nigel remain with Nine and return to the Human Garde Academy.

Einar’s team is hell bent on tracking down key members of the Foundation and making them pay for manipulating the “Earth Garde” (teenagers who developed legacies during the battle between the Mogadorians and Earth.)  The Human Garde who return to the Academy just want life to go back to the way it was before Einar and the Foundation came to the forefront.

That’s never the case though as suddenly those who run Earth Garde decide that it’s time to implement the “Cepan” program. When the Original Garde came to Earth there were all assigned a “Cepan”, in essence, a mentor who had no powers and was tasked with the responsibility of raising the Garde to train and use their powers. Some, like Four and Six, had caring, affective Cepans, well others, like Five and Seven, were left wanting and didn’t learn to properly use their Legacies. Earth Garde’s creation of the Cepan Program is just another way for them to control the Human Garde and Nine and Malcolm Goode are having nothing to do with it, nor are any of the other residents of the Human Garde Academy.

Basically, it turns into a whole “X-Men, Mutant Registration” thing where the Government wants to plan “inhibitor chips” inside the brains of the Human Garde as a way to control them if they “get out of line.” And understandably, the Human Garde aren’t on board with that. And with the arrival of John Smith and a surprise guest, we learn that not just Earth Garde were gifted Legacies during the battle for Earth.

Though the beginning was somewhat slow and drawn out, the ending had me hooked. I finished the last fifty pages in a night because, as Lore does, he packed in all the action at once and you just had to find out what happened. Every action has a consequence and everything we do can change the future, so to see it all come together piece by piece, moment by moment, was very entertaining.

Characters who were often thought of as bad had their redeeming moments and those really stayed with me. After finishing the novel I found myself wired and awake, thinking over some of the scenes. It was a good ending to a very entertaining series and though I’ll miss reading about the Original Garde, I think it’s time Lore called it quits and kept the series where it is. Another novel and it would be too much. This ending is fine the way it is.

I would recommend this book to, of course, anyone who has read and enjoyed the I am Number Four Series and also to anyone who’s looking for an interesting take on the “living in a world that hates and fears us, super powered, mutant/alien” shtick.