What they say: The Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey. After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself.
But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.
What I say: The 5th Wave is one of my past Waiting on Wednesday books. I selected it purely because I was really excited to read the story. I love anything alien related and was expecting another Ender's Game type story...!
After I received my copy I read the first third really quickly, devouring the story in all it's dystopian glory. When I hit around 35% of the way through I suddenly found myself really frustrated with the plot and I was really disappointed. I don't give up on a book easily so I carried on reading, but it took me a long time to really get back into the story and I couldn't understand why. The last part of The 5th Wave is much better and easily matches the beginning in terms of intrigue and excitement.
Cassie was a strange type of heroine because she is tough and strong, which I should like BUT she's also whines a lot! Yes, everybody is having a bad time of it, but she constantly obsesses over a guy she liked in high school! I found Cassie very immature at times and found it difficult to understand what Evan saw in her. Cassie's little brother Sammy was really sweet and I wanted them to find each other again.
I initially enjoyed the mixed POV's, but the switch to Ben's POV became annoying and I found it hard to like him even though he's the hot, all American teenage dream!
Evan was a tricky character because yes he's basically a stalker, but I did actually like him and if you've read Erica Stevens's Ravening books, you'll know where I'm coming from. The only problem here is Erica's story is more intriguing and the male characters are stronger.
In summary I both liked and disliked The 5th Wave, but I'll definitely read the follow up next year. It's not up there with my favourite reads, but it was enjoyable nevertheless and if you're into aliens and dystopian stories then give it a try. I think I was slightly disappointed because I bought into the hype surrounding The 5th Wave which is always a bad idea!
3.5 Stars in my Sky!
My fav non-spoilery quotes:
- It's an alien apocalypse! Quick, grab the beer!
- Well, I tell myself, it could be worse. You could have been rescued by some fifty-year-old perv sporting a spare tire the size of a monster truck's who keeps his dead mother in the attic.
- "Got to get these clothes off," I mutter. "You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that." Smile. Lopsided. Sexy.
- ... he's never slept without Bear, not ever, not since Bear came to him, anyway. He is tired, but he is also Bearless.
