Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy

Source: Purchased on Amazon
Publisher: Blue Moon Creative
Series: The 5th Wave #1
Edition: Hardcover, 457 pages
Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi, Post Apocolyptic
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository
Rating: 5/5

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.

The 5th Wave turned out to be one of those rare reads where I was so absorbed and so in love with that I wanted to remember everything. By the time I finished the book I had a ton of quotes written down and I kept flipping back through re-reading sections.

This is a book that follows Cassie, Evan and a few others, whom I will not mention, on their way to find safety, family, and revenge. I was a bit a surprised to see that this had multiple points of view and even though I wasn’t initially sure I was going to enjoy that aspect it turned out to be something I really loved. I would finish one section dying to know more and then move on to the next section with the same feelings. If I had to use one word to describe my overall reaction to everything it would be paranoia. I can’t even remember the amount of times I marked someone down as evil and then changed it to good…only to go back to thinking they were evil. Cassie doesn’t know, the other characters give you some insight on a few things but even with that you’re not entirely sure until the fact is given to you. That was something that added to the experience, I felt the tension and the distrust. This takes the whole black and white morality and paints everything grey.

Cassie was definitely my favorite narrator. She’s got the right amount of snark and toughness to make her a realistic survivor for all that’s occurred on Earth. She’s not some ultimate survival machine, she cries and panics…and at times her mental strength just collapses but she keeps going because of a promise she’s made.  Cassie is a character you want to win. Not to mention she has a brain and actually uses it. I love the way the povs weave around each other making connections and adding to that feeling of tension.

This is a book I think I could easily recommend to Young Adult and Adult readers alike. It definitely seems to have the best of both of those genres and I can see plenty of people being able to sit down and fall into this story without any issue.