Blog Tour: Review of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Publication year: May 7, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Post Apocalyptic / Sci-Fi)

Source: Publisher (Penguin Canada)

Format: ARC 

Pages: 480

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.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Indigo

Rick is a native Floridian and a graduate of Roosevelt University in Chicago. He earned a B.A. in English which he put to use as a field officer for the Internal Revenue Service. Inspired and encouraged by his wife, he decided his degree might also be useful in writing books and in 2004 he began writing full-time.

Since then he has launched two critically acclaimed series: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, for young readers, and The Highly Effective Detective, for adults. Both books are set in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Rick lived for ten years before returning to Florida. 

Follow Yancey on his: Website || Goodreads || Twitter

The 5th Wave, to put it simply, is one of the most hyped up and anticipated book of 2013. When I got this book I did my fair share of squealing and happy dance. As soon as I started reading, I was sucked into its world. I was so horrified by the alien invasion and how this book does not sugar coat anything. I felt as if my own world was through this invasion and I was like Cassie, the main protagonist. Cassie was such a strong character, I honestly can't say what I would do in her situation but she was fierce. I looked forward to the chapters told from her POV (yes this a multiple POV kind of book) and her voice was a pleasant one. A voice full of hope in a world that has seen so much destruction and horrific deaths in the past four waves. Each wave brought more destruction than the previous. I was anticipating when and what the 5th wave will be because of the title of the book. My heart was pounding so much during this book and sometimes I honestly needed a breather. This story reminds me so much of The Host, one of my all time favorite books, from the alien invasion, to the main protagonist searching for her brother, and the human extinction. However, I have to say that The 5th Wave is more emotionally gruesome than The Host. This definitely set it apart from the other books.  

The multiple POVs annoyed me at the beginning, especially since the characters whose POV I was reading were never introduced. I would feel so frustrated, wanting to get back to Cassie and find out more about the state of the world and what the hell is going on. However, later on, the other POVs gave us so much insight, heck they not only did that, but they tricked me and confused me into believing things that I then assumed were true only to be swindled later on in the book.Yup, Yancey seems to enjoy writing up plot twists and I have to say while I was frustrated at the beginning, I did appreciate not being able to predict anything from this book. At one point I honestly wouldn't have put it past the author to kill off one of the main protagonists. This definitely made me enjoy the novel more, I loved its unpredictable nature. 

The world building is out of this world (haha). We get to experience the apocalypse right now. It isn't 50 years later or at a world that has recovered and changed into a dystopian world. We get to see the apocalypse itself, experience it, see it try to break the humans left and take away their humanity, world, and hope. It was one hell of a journey. Each of the main protagonists took a different path after the alien invasion so you really get to see all the different end results of the paths you might have chosen. That sort of freaked me out because I wouldn't know which one I would prefer. Either become a soldier and part of hundreds of other young soldiers 'fighting for their world" like Cassie's 5 year old brother (FIVE!), roam around and try to protect yourself from everyone else like Cassie, or hide away form the world like Evan, who is Cassie's potential love interest. 

I have to say, at 480 pages, this book might seem too long, but I was actually never bored. This is a book that is worth your money. One that you would need to hide away somewhere and read for hours without any disturbance because when you get sucked into this world, you have no other choice than to continue with the characters to the end of the book. I would definitely recommend it to all dystopian and post apocalyptic fans. I also can't wait for the sequel as well as imagine what will happen next to the characters as well as their fight against the aliens.

 

Want to know what the first and second waves are? check the videos presented by Penguin below! 

Don't these two teasers make you want to read this book ASAP?