Review | The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Blurb:

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.





I'm not entirely sure how to start this review. There are so many awesome things about this book that I would love to share, however I feel like I wouldn't be a very good friend if I didn't admit that there were a lot of things that bothered me about The Fifth Wave.

The biggest thing that bothered me about this book was the fact that some of the many characters aren't even mentioned. There are certain characters whose POV take up a lot of the book and they're mentioned nowhere in any of the blurbs. And some of them are characters a lot more interesting than Cassie. Zombie, for starters, I found to have a more interesting story line (although I'll admit it wasn't all that compelling). 

Also, the lack of warning between POV changes at first really bothered me. There wasn't very much of a hint as to who you were reading and while I did figure it out, I thought that maybe the voices between characters could have been a bit more distinct. 

I'm not entirely sure what it was, but there was something about this book which wasn't all that compelling. At times I found my mind wandering away and I'd put the book down and not pick it up for days. I can't pinpoint what it was exactly, but I think it may be just the lack of connection I had with the characters. 

However, having said that there are a few things that I really did like. Firstly, the writing. I absolutely loved his descriptions. It's not purple prose in anyway however there were similes and metaphors which were very visual and they weren't things I had read before. 

Also, character development. As much as I didn't like the characters, I really loved the building Yancey did for Cassie and her brother. I found the other narrators to not be as in depth but I expected that at first given that Cassie is our first narrator. 

I think I will definitely give the sequel a go.

Rating: 3/5