The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
The Fifth Wave #1
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Puffin (UK)
Source: Publisher (NetGalley)
Goodreads Stars: 4
Rating: Essential

Buy the Book: Amazon UK

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

I freakin' love (LOVE) science fiction, and yet I don't think I've ever read a book about an alien invasion quite like this one. Sure, there was The Host, but let's be real here, that was more of a peaceful love story. And, of course, Obsidian, but that wasn't really an invasion, it was aliens hiding amongst people because their home had been destroyed. So The 5th Wave was very refreshing, since it's basically all action and survival.

The 5th Wave is told from multiple points of view, and to be honest it was very confusing. Now, it might be because I had an eARC from NetGalley, and you know how those are formatted (poorly). But while I was reading the bit where part one ended and part two began, I was a bit thrown off. At least to begin with. It was very confusing when it switched POVs without informing me, and I wish there had been a header or something to let me know. I spent the first couple of pages of Zombie's POV thinking "Wait... Cassie's not sick?!"

I really liked how the book started out in present day, and then Cassie went on to tell the reader about what happened during the alien invasion, and the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Waves. The way the story switched from present day to Cassie talking about the invasion was well done, and the regular switch and Cassie's way of telling the story kept it from being an info dump.

I did struggle to get into this book at first, but I think that's because I was still caught up in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, which is a bit different to the whole alien thing. Just a bit. Once I got to about 40%, I started getting really into it. This might be because Evan had turned up.

I adored the relationship between Cassie and her brother, Sammy. They were ADORABLE. Cassie spent the whole book trying to get Sam back, and I was cheering her on. They reminded me of the Winchesters and that made me upset because I can't handle the sibling love!

I also liked the relationship between Cassie and Evan. Evan is adorable and hilarious, and Cassie is a badass and also hilarious. They made a brilliant pair. At one point Cassie has to pick shrapnel out of Evan's butt, and it is the best scene in the entire book. BRILLIANT. I was dying.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the fact that there was no big twist. Or maybe there was, and it was so obvious that I didn't realise it, but I had the whole thing figured out from the beginning. Unless you count finding out who Zombie actually was at the end of his first chapter, because then I was like NO WAY.

I definitely recommend this book to fellow fans of science fiction and survival novels. Rick Yancey managed to pull me into this world, and now I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Reasons I Need Book Two:
- To find out where Evan is
- To see more awesome sibling love (Cassie and Sammy are adorable, did I tell you?)
- Is Evan okay
- Will Zombie die
- WHERE IS EVAN

I am quite concerned, obviously.