Review: The 5th Wave By: Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave #1)
Author: Rick Yancey
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile, 480 Pages (May 7th, 2013)
From: the Publisher via Amazon Vine
Format: ARC
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis: 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.

Review: 4.5 Stars - The 5th Wave by author Rick Yancey is a fantastic must read for anyone who loves sci-fi with a fascinating and heartbreaking story that shows incredible strength in teenage characters under some of the worst (EVER) circumstances’.

For this reader, The 5th Wave was a no brainer must read title. I’m a fan of sci-fi and anything with aliens scares the crap out of me. Yes, aliens are at the top of my freak out in a panic list. So, being the reader that I am I often look for books that’ll freak me out. Books that can bring out emotions or emotional reactions are the best and The 5th Wave did just that and more than once. Oh and that cover, more than fitting for the first in a thrilling new series.

Each wave that hit before the 5th is terrifying, and the 5th itself – wow – just the thought of each gave me the creeps. Yancey does a wonderful job in conveying what his female protagonist – Cassie – is going through. How she survived is beyond me but she was driven and strong in ways that shocked me and made me love her as a female lead character. I mean, she’s alone and there’s no one to trust and has to face things over and over again, your heart just breaks for her. Her inner dialogue was often haunting and made what was bound to be a creepy story for me even more terrifying.

Who to trust when you don’t know who your enemy is? Who to look for to help when those whom you thought were on your side do the unthinkable? With so many unknowns in Cassies’ present and future the strength she finds in herself to keep going wore me out mentally.

The surprising thing about this title for me was that it’s told in multi points of view and I almost jumped for joy at the chance to read this book from the different character voices. With the aliens arrival and then soon after so many of the earth’s population dead… the survivors are spread far and wide so hearing what others are facing or dealing with during this catastrophic event added so many unique layers to an already overflowing tale.

Even walker is mysterious and has his own side of the story. Dealing with questions only he can answer was a pleasure to read. You wonder who he is and as Cassie begins to peel back the layers to Evan, we learn more of him as a character and in turn the two try to find solace in the possibilities of what the world and its people have become. Talk about hard to do when you question everyone and everything around you.

Then there’s Ben, another Point of View who finds an outlet for his revenge fueled rage to those who took something from him that he was supposed to protect. His part of the story was shocking and scary in a whole different way that added even more to an already impossible situation and to the story as a whole. There are other secondary characters in the novel that Yancey built his story around. It’s all the different characters and voices that help build Cassie’s story from beginning to end. I was never overwhelmed in the slightest with the changing points of view, I welcomed it because I never knew what to expect!

There is a lot of death in this title, but there has to be for this type of story that Yancey has masterfully created. He wrote words that seek deep into you, burrowing down until you are so consumed and emotionally invested and attached to these characters’ that there’s simply no turning back.

All in all The 5th Wave has left a lasting impression on me that started from the first page – which happened to be one of the most creepy first pages I’ve ever read – right on through until the heart wrenching, fast paced explosive last few pages. I am extremely impressed with Yancey’s writing, story and voices he found for his characters. Also the character emotions he was able to weave for them throughout such a well crafted book was impressive. I loved this book. I highly recommend this one and I am thoroughly excited (more than words can express) and looking forward to the next books that follow in this amazing, fantastic and compelling series.

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.