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May 03, 2013

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.

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?


17 comments:

  1. Juhina a heads up at the beginning of your review u start off by "The Ward" i think its suppose to be the 5th wave? // cant wait to read this!!

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    1. oh wow! I guess I was reading The Ward when I was writing this review! Thanks :)
      and yea, this book was great, definitely pick it up when it comes out!

      - Juhina

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  2. I looooved Cassie! I agree that she was fierce! I didn't actually realise this book was almost 480 pages long. It flew by! Love this review :)

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  3. Yay I'm so glad you enjoyed The 5th Wave too Juhina, the change in pov's at the beginning I did find confusing at first too, but then I found myself just wanting to stick with one pov which was Cassie's, I was so tempted to skip ahead a few times. I love all the plot twists that Yancey incorporated in this story, they truly had me on the edge of my seat. I think book two will certainly be one of my most anticipated reads for next year. Wonderful review Juhina! :)

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  4. Jeez, I keep seeing this and it is getting such rave reviews. I want it so badly. the world building sounds awesome. Wonderful review.

    Jenea @ Books Live Forever

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  5. This sounds amazing and review makes me want to read even more. Love the sound of the world building as well

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  6. Eeek! LOVE your review. I got a copy at TLA and I'll have to bump it up on my TBR pile. I LOVE LOVE LOVE sci-fi, aliens...all that jazz! So this sounds like something I would LOVE!!! Great review! I can't wait for some heart racing action!

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  7. I am insanely, crazily excited for this! I thought the trailers were really great and well done. "The world building is out of this world." Very punny ;) Glad to hear the length does not detract from the novel, I love when longer books can still be entertaining. I also couldn't wait to find out what the 5th wave was since the others were so crazy! Awesome review, can't wait to read this!

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  8. The world-building sounds amazing! I'm SO excited <3

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  9. I've been reading a little at a time of this one. I'm liking it a lot, but it's so REAL, like you said. It just almost gets hard to read cause it's so horrifying. Hopefully I get it finished by release day!

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  10. Interesting. I haven't read this yet, but I like the way it sounds. I'll have to put it on my TBR list. Great review :)

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  11. Okay, I am really looking forward to this book now. There aren't enough alien apocalypses out in YA literature (good ones, anyway), so I am super excited about The 5th Wave. Thank you for sharing your review and those awesome teasers!

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  12. I've been a bit out of the loop lately. So I had heard of this book, but really had no clue what it was about! Your review Definitely got my attention! Can't wait!

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  13. Been so curious about this one, I enjoy multiple points of view, I also am excited to hear that the twists are unpredictable and you didn't figure it out what was going to happen. Thanks for your thoughts!

    Kristin @ Young Adult Book Haven

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  14. I have an ARC of this but haven't started, yet. I can't wait to read it!!

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  15. This books sounds AWESOME, I can´t wait to read it!
    Great review!!

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  16. The multiple POVs didn't bother me because I listened to the audio, but I can see how that would be frustrating. Still, I LOVED this book. I haven't been that impressed with a story in a good minute. :)

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