The Fourth World

The Legend of the Locust #1

by Laurence Moroney

Buried deep below the Nevada desert, in a place often called Area 51, is a very special and ancient school where the best and brightest children come to learn the technology that will bring mankind to its next step of evolution -- a place amongst the stars. 'The Fourth World' follows four children through their entry into this 'Fintan Reilly' is a young, often bullied Irish boy who has a big destiny; Zach Adams, from Fresno, is his diametric opposite, and instant best friend; Ayako Katsuragi is a brilliant Japanese girl, a military brat who is as capable as she is smart and Nizhoni Benally is a Navajo from New Mexico, who is as tough as she is beautiful, and who somehow shares a secret past with Fintan. The book follows their first year in their new school, with an Alien as headmaster, and where they learn everything from Cosmic History through to how to fly a flying saucer, and comes to a shocking conclusion in a field trip to Mars where ancient secrets are uncovered.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Aliens, Ebooks

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2009

About the author

Laurence Moroney is the author of more books than he’s prepared to admit. After several best selling programming books, his first Young Adult novel “The Fourth World” became a #1 book on Amazon Kindle, spawned two sequels “The Million Year Journey” and “The Legend of the Locust”, and is currently being shopped around studios for a potential movie. “Space Cadets” is his latest, a cutting edge science fiction novel, based on real science that starts a new series charting out humanity’s course to the stars. He’s presently working on the sequel “The Quiet World”, which he hopes to finish in 2015. For his day job, Laurence works as a Developer Advocate for Google, where he is constantly counting his blessings for being part of the best workplace in the world…

Reviews

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining read; young adult driven. At points seemed to be very similar to the Harry Potter storyline. It definitely became more engaging and interesting as the book progressed. I am planning on reading the second book in the series.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I judge my science fiction on a modified version of the Baen criteria: the technology has to be something I can put my head around, there must be a believable plot, and if there are aliens they have to have names I can understand. The author hits it on these three crazy things, and writes a pretty good tale that could be enjoyed by adults as well as children. He does leave a cliff-hanger ending, making you want more as the book comes to an end so I hope there is a sequel coming soon before I forget about this one.

[Laurie Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Not my usual to read, but I enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and mature for their age. Seriously I kept thinking they were older. Can't wait to see where the author goes from here.

[Sokufamily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so general consensus that I've read say that this book is like a sci-fi Harry Potter. However, it's only half HP...the other half is Ender's Game. It's like Ender and Harry had a lovechild. Sort of. This is it.

I gave Ender's Game and the majority of the HP series 5 stars. This, I give 4, because although I enjoyed it, it was like a bit of a lesser HP, and a bit of a lesser Ender. This book also was written with the specific purpose of continuing the story in "The Million Year Journey." In essence, this book shouldn't be read as a standalone. I would say the closest comparison would be The Empire Strikes Back...big drama, good guys are somewhat defeated, etc.

So I'll break it down a bit more, without giving spoilers.

HP similarities:

1. Young kid (12 years old I think) has a bad family life, goes to a special school where they're taught non-mundane skills
2. The popular school game is played in space ships, but is closest in gameplay to Quiddich.
3. Kids normally go home for holidays and summers, but Fintan of course doesn't want to go home.
4. A lot of the story is about Fintan's daily life, classes/learning, and finding his place in the school
5. School "squadrons" split into 4 groups (should have just named them Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor, lol)

Ender similarities:

1. Young kid is super smart (details of why found out in the book), chosen as "the One" by the leaders, whatever that means.
2. The leaders have a brief back-and-forth discussion of the progression of the main character at the beginning of each chapter
3. The popular school game is played in space ships rather than space suits in zero gravity, but the game strategy teaches the kids a skill they'll need in the "real" world.
4. Sure there's other good comparisons, but I'm getting bored of this.

So anyway, the story is good. The second book should flesh out the first and give the story a bit more of a finale. The ending was just too abrupt. Moving on to "The Million Year Journey" now.

[Sabrina Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an awesome story this one turned out to be!

The main characters are 4 easy-to-like and believable children, from different countries, embarking on a journey to a very special, very secret school.

Once they get there, they realize just how special this school really is. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but let's just say that their curriculum involves more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Maybe a little space-age technology. :)

The story line is blended into real-life mythology as well, and information is given out at just the right intervals; keeping the reader guessing without getting bored. The relationships between the children are endearing, and while I know this book was meant for young readers, I was drawn into the action and the mystery.

I've seen other reviews comparing it to the Harry Potter series and Ender's Game. There are definitely aspects that are similar to each, and at first I was concerned. However, it ends up being that the similarities are vague and expected of a book about very special children in a very special school, and what they learn, academically and otherwise.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first I thought the book borrowed a lot from enders game. The main character was being bullied, being sent off to a far away school that had to do with space. Even the whole secret notes from teachers at the start of each chapter.

It quickly changed to a more harry potter feel for me, the 4 kids going on adventures and looking into secrets.

I'll admit, I loved the relationship between the two main characters, but I felt no attachment to any character at all. I didn't care in the slightest when people died at the end of the book.

I'll probably get the next book just to see the end of things. I find it interesting that the authors other books are all tech/programming books.

[James Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem is with the too-young age of the characters. They all act like they are much older and in a story like this, which has extremely serious things going on, it just doesn't work. The main characters would almost have to be uber-children to have the physical abilities and emotional abilities to handle what they are doing.

Basically, the Earth has either been visited or taken over by aliens. That isn't really made clear. Anyhow, there's some race of beings that could attack the Earth and wipe it out and the kids are being used as combat pilots. Doesn't make sense. There's also no indication that any other kind of defenses are being prepared.

This is all a shame since the characters are done so well.

[Clayton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually a review of "Fourth World" and the second in the series, "The Million Year Journey". I actually paid for the second, as I left the first volume feeling there was a lot of potential: good idea, good story, good writing, decent characters.... But #2 did not quite live up to that feeling, and I am getting just too much "young adult" vibe from the story to want to continue at this time. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I am looking for. I can see how others might rate this book a lot higher than I have. If some day I come back and buy the third installment, I promise to bump it up to four stars. ;-)

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definately agree w/ the Harry Potter reference. The world these kids are thrust into is odd and full of twists and turns. They sense there is something more going on and there is. But that's for later... It's sci-fi and YA but I was sucked right in and finished it in one night. There is also a strong Najavo(American Indian) presence woven into the story. I immediately bought the second book when I finished this one. How could I not?

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out somewhat like the story 'The Mysterious Benedict Society', which is a young adult/children's book that I loved. This book though never really took off, all of the relationships in this story seemed awkward or forced and this book was somewhat of a drag to read. But, that given, I think that any young kid who enjoys space and aliens and who is just getting into reading would enjoy this book.

[Katreena · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to read this story simply because of the cover design. Once I started reading it though, I was completely hooked. I don't like to give away story plots, but I definitely encourage others to read this. Since reading this book, I have bought the other two books in the series and I have not been disappointed.

[Caz Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant book but the story is totally unfinished so book 2 is a must.

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, even though its YA scifi, it could hold its own elsewhere. Cn't wait to read book 2, can recommend it.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a bit like Harry Potter goes to space!!

A really good story though - onto the sequel!

[Manoj · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a combination between Harry Potter and Ender's Game. At times it is an annoying copy of these books, while at others it brings some new and interesting ideas.

Overall, a decent read.

[Rasma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think I would like this book, but I ended up loving it. It had aliens and futuristic scenarios and was well written and attention grabbing, looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Frank Shedd · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok nothing great