Series: The 5th Wave
Release Date: May 7th, 2013
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.
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
– Weapon violence
– Gang violence
• Death (of parents and children)
• Death camps
• Separation (abandonment) from loved ones
• Allusions to sex, but (see below)
• Sexual activity doesn’t go beyond kissing
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I think what I appreciated most about The 5th Wave was that the plot wasn’t just a story. It had a past–the other waves–and it also had a detailed history. Everything was thought out, and at the end of the book, you could see how everything rolled together, creating this mass domino effect. The history of how the aliens came to the Earth, and how each wave was created was so fascinating. And although, yes, at times it could get a bit slow, Yancey paced the novel so excellently that different sections were different POVs. So, if you were currently making your way through one part of the book that was slow, you still looked forward to reading the other perspectives.
Also, this is one of the few sci-fi books that got me thinking and feeling. Since the plot was not relatable–hello, it’s an alien invasion–I found it surprising how Cassie’s emotions and even Zombie’s, Ethan’s and Sammy’s leaked off the page, causing me to pause and question things that they were thinking. Like, what if you were in a similar situation to Cassie’s? Would you be that strong to survive and just soldier on, putting one foot in front of the other? And what about Zombie? Would you be able to follow along, no questions asked like he did in the beginning? I really appreciated how Yancey was able to involve big thinking questions, like Cassie possibly being the last person alive who wasn’t controlled by Them. It made the story all the more realistic because it wasn’t pretty. Cassie wasn’t perfect, neither was Ethan. Sammy was just a kid and Zombie… ya, he’s definitely not perfect. But it was their un-perfect-ness that made it that much more awesome to read.
I also felt that Yancey did a great job creating the foundation of how everything interconnected. Starting from the 1st wave, from how the ‘aliens’ did what they thought they had to do: dropping a colossal pole from space into the ocean to wipe out the people living along the coast, to how Cassie’s past and present were connected to what was happening to Zombie. It felt like a huge puzzle I couldn’t wait to solve.
But, what truly made The 5th Wave awesome to read were the characters and the relationships between them. Cassie is the main protagonist–although Zombie’s a runner-up–and the main plotline of the story was that she was separated from her brother, Sammy, soon after the 4th wave had hit. She promised she would find him, and she’s planning on keeping that promise. But along her journey, she meets Ethan, who ends up saving her life. And although Ethan is mysterious and has answers to all Cassie’s questions, something still feels off. But that doesn’t stop them from feeling something for each other. I seriously loved Cassie and Ethan. I just hope that Ben doesn’t ruin anything (Ben’s the guy she had a crush on, who went to her school before all the waves hit).
I cannot wait for the next book in the series to come out, and yes, The 5th Wave does end with a cliffhanger! A major one, too. So, I’m going to cross my fingers that everything turns out a-okay… at least for now.
[…] 5th Wave by Rick Yancey✰ My Review […]