5th Wave, by Rick Yancey

When I started this book, I had extremely high expectations because of all the publicity and excitement that surrounded it. People were even calling it the next Hunger Games. No pressure, Rick Yancey. Just kidding, pressure on. 5^th Wave was a wonderful story and it had a very Zombieland-esque feel to it that I was completely obsessed with. Cassie, short for Cassiopeia (one of the best names in the world imo), has a very clear, spunky voice. She’s so incredibly real that you can’t help but connect with her. I especially relate to her when she talks about her high school crush, Ben Parish. We all had a Ben Parish so don’t even pretend otherwise. Ben was the person that we loved from afar who never knew we existed. It’s the tragic love story from our high school imaginations, and Yancey does a great job at bringing it to life. Anyway, here’s where I think the Hunger Games comparison begins (and ends, really). Cassie is quite similar to Katniss in some aspects. She was forced to grow up and learn how to survive on her own. Her relationship with her little brother is all she has left and when he’s taken away, she’s willing to literally do whatever it takes to get him back. She’s in that awkward stage of not being a complete adult but having passed childhood a long time ago when the first wave hit. But I think that Cassie is a bit more likable because her situation is less far fetched than what Katniss had to face. We can relate just a bit more with her.

Now, I’ve got to talk about the waves, which were terrifying. Since I happen to have an overactive imagination, I can just visualize all of that happening. Yancey might as well have called the book How to Destroy Earth, Have Fun Aliens. The waves were very realistic and that’s what’s fascinating about the book as a whole. To be a bit clearer, the waves are basically the stages of some kind of Earth destroying tactic, whether it be power outages or disease epidemics.

As great as it was, there was something about the book that I had a problem with. For the first chunk of the book, the entire thing is done in Cassie’s point of view. Great. Awesome. But then, it suddenly changes to a completely different person. That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s never explained who that other person is. Eventually, you find out when it switches back to their POV again (I’m not going to spoil that for you), but it’s just so out of nowhere that I have a hard time buying it. Maybe it wouldn't have bothered me if Cassie’s beginning story wasn’t so long. Instead, it could have been more effective if it switched more quickly. Be warned, there was also a lot of twists and turns that, though I always appreciate a well done plot twist, might be too confusing at times. It’s hard to keep track of who’s the good guy and who’s working with the aliens. But that’s just a tiny detail.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed 5^th Wave, and would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a book with a strong female protagonist, science fiction features, a little bit of romance, and a lot of fighting to stay alive. It was well written and the world that Yancey built is impressive and realistic in the most adventurous ways. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel whenever it comes out and I can’t wait to see what happens to Cassie and the other characters.  

-Annie