United as One by Pittacus Lore (2016) HarperCollins

The seventh and final book in the original Lorien Series (There are additional books since, but they seem to be discarded chapters from different points of view).  In this episode, number eight is a prisoner, but number four, John, gets him to participate in a revolt against the Mogodorians, who think they’ve one.  John discovers he can learn any legacy and goes with the others to the mountain headquarters in West Virginia.  Ra has become something more fluid than ever before and his protege, also thinks she is unbeatable.  Both are wrong as Adam tumbles with her into an abyss, taking her from the formula and number four discovers Ra’s weakness is to be healed.

The Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore (2015) HarperCollins

The sixth book in the Lorien series.  This volume picks-up from the previous installment with the Mogodorians attacking New York City, going from apartment to apartment, taking prisoners where there is cooperation and killing any resistance or hesitation.  At one apartment, a little girl suddenly discovers that she can levitate and move other objects, like soldiers and kills those who attacked and killed her stepfather.  Nine and Five are killing Mogs and brawling with each other.  John and Sam are leading refugees through the rubble, John healing those he can while they try to find safety.  Six and Seven and Adam have gone inside the Sanctuary and communicated with the entity formerly known as Lorien.  Ella, number ten, is being infused with her grandfather’s genetic mixture in an attempt to control her.

A year later, after his defeat, most of the Lorian have isolated themselves.  Except for number nine, who lost an arm in the final battle, and number ten, Ella, both of whom are teaching the new legacy endowed kids.  John has been fixing the cave that number eight found and creating new pendants.  He visits Adam, who was rescued from the abyss by him chimera, who did not survive.  Adam is in a Mogodorian refugee camp, trying to teach them how to change and live in a world in peace.  Marina, number seven, has found number eight, but will not interact with him as he wastes away.  Number six and Sam are traveling the world.  John leaves invitations for all of them to join him in the chamber he has reconstructed.  He is through with numbers.

When Six, Seven and Adam exit the Sanctuary, they find the skimmers have been disabled by the one Mog who survived the attack.  This means they’re stuck at the Sanctuary in Mexico without word from the others in New York.  Soon, they’re joined by Sarah and Mark and Lexa, the pilot of the second spacecraft that brought Ella from Lorien.

The Revenge of Seven by Pittacus Lore (2014) HarperCollins 

The fifth book in the Lorien Legacies series in which Seven, Marina, has developed a new legacy, the ability to freeze any available moisture.  The cold that comes off of her is palpable.  She and Six and Adam, the true-born Mogodorian son of a general, fly south to a Mayan city and go into a temple that the Lorians altered into a sanctuary to hold the entity known as Lorien.  While they are en-route, John and Sam and Nine go to New York with the FBI to try to alter the outcome of the Secretary of Defense’s assurance to the United Nations that the Mogs are trustworthy allies.

En-route to the sanctuary, Adam bluffs his way past Mog scout ships that intercept him and instead gets an escort to the temple area, which is surrounded by a field that burns any Mog trying to get inside.  Once there, he announces that his father sent him to inspect their setup.  But the leader of the squad knows his father (whom he has killed) in fact, considers him a traitor.  When she drags him to the field to burn him, Number Six and Marina slip behind a gun turret and kill the Mogs, except for the leader, who runs off.  They get to Adam and because he has a legacy, he is able to follow them through the field.

The leader calls Setracus Ra urgently and lets him know the Garde are there and have entered the temple.  He tells her to make sure they don’t leave.  In the meantime, Five attacks Ra and is thrown out of the mother ship while it is still a long ways from the ground.

Four and Nine blast their way through Mog guards to find the Secretary looks like is almost dead.  Four prevents him from committing suicide and heals him.  He wants the Secretary to do the right thing.

Setracus Ra alights in front of the UN building and walks down a ladder with Ten, Ellie, his granddaughter, reluctantly beside him, announcing that they come in peace.  But the Secretary takes the microphone and announces that Ra is a monster intent on the destruction and enslavement of Earth.  Ellie manages to hurt Ra and his concentration make him lose the good looks he had applied to himself and reveal himself as he is.  But the charm he made between them still works and every attempt to hurt Ra reveals itself on Ellie instead.  Five figures this out and knocks first John, then Nine out of the way, but Ellie tells John how she is wounded.  Nine sees Five simply as a traitor and turns to fight him, angry because he prevented Nine from killing Ra (not knowing it would not have worked – only Ellie can hurt him).

Six and Seven and Adam enter the sanctuary, carrying Eight and the charms from their combined chests.  Lorien is awakened and brings Eight back to life for a few minutes so Marina and he can say goodbye.  But the entity is vague in how she can help with the Mogodorians.

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman - illustrated by Brett Helquist (2009) HarperCollins 

The story of a boy in the days of the Vikings whose father is away on a raid.  He tries to go to the woods with his father’s axe and cut down a tree.  But the axe is too big for him and when the tree is felled, he cannot get out of the way fast enough and his leg is shattered, rendering him not useful to his neighbors.  His mother is from Scotland and was taken by his father in a raid because she was so beautiful.  He did not even approach her about marriage until he taught her enough of his own language to ask her.  But he died on a later raid, saving a packhorse who had swept overboard.  When he returned, the cold and wet had gone into his lungs and he died.

His mother married another man who did not like his new stepson.  So one day, Odd took a salmon and set out to find his father’s wood cutting hut.  He has to use a staff as a crutch because of his leg, but he makes it to the hut, or just in front of it, where he sees a fox who clearly wants him to follow.  So he does and comes upon a scene with an eagle sitting on top of a tree and a bear stuck between two trees with it’s arm buried in a honeycomb.  Odd takes his axe and cuts down the tree behind the bear to free him, hoping the bear won’t eat him.  Instead, the bear, the fox and the eagle follow him home.

In the night he hears voices in a discussion and gets up and accuses the animals of talking.  They finally let him know that they are really Odin, Thor and Loki and have been banished from Asgard by a Frost Giant.  Odd agrees to go with them to get rid of the Giant.

The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore (2013) HarperCollins

The fourth book the Lorien Legacy series in which we get a traitor in the midst of the children of Lorien.  We start with Sam being reunited with his father as they break out of a Mogodorian prison with the help of a young Mogodorian named Adam.

The others notice that number five is moving from Jamaica to Florida and burns a huge crop circle in the swamp.  It hits the news and the group go to rescue the new guy before the Mogodorians find him.  He’s smaller than the others and stockier and quieter.  But as soon as they find him, the Mogodorians attack.  They fight their way out of the bind with a last second shot from Malcom, Sam’s father.

Everyone returns to Chicago and they try to figure out a next move.  It is decided that they should return to the Florida swamp because Five left his chest there with its artifacts.  But Ella, number ten, has a screaming nightmare and when John, four, touches her to try healing her, he also is trapped in her nightmare.  The others decide to go to Florida anyway.

Once they get there, it turns out that five is a traitor and in an attempt to kill nine, he accidentally kills eight.  But the anger that causes seven brings on a new aspect of the chill she experiences when healing and she freezes the water around them and drive an icicle into fives foot and another one into his eye.

In the meantime, John sees Ella in the nightmare sitting on a throne next to Setracus Ra, calling for the death of six.  The Mogodorians choose to attack the penthouse at this point with only humans, Malcom, Sam and John’s girlfriend, Sarah, to defend the place and the two sleeping Loriens.  John wakes up, but cannot keep the Mogodorians from taking Ella.=

Ella wakes in an unknown bed and finds herself on the Mogodorian mother ship.  She tries to escape, but no one stops her.  There is nowhere to go.  Setrakus Ra finds her and calls her his granddaughter.