Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Book: The 5th Wave

Author: Rick Yancey 

Pages: 457

How long it took me to read: 6 hours (I was hooked!) 

Plot Summary: 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. 

General Thoughts: The 5th Wave is a very well written and well constructed young adult (YA) dystopian novel. The book tells the story of the earth being taken over in 'waves' by aliens. They first arrived in their spacecrafts and did nothing for several days. Even though people panicked, most of them went about their regular lives and routines till the first wave struck. The 'wave' was a powerful electro-magnetic pulse, which destroyed continents and took out power. Over the next four 'waves', earth's population came down from seven billion to about one billion. Survivors were few and were all running or hiding for their lives. 

Cassie, our protagonist, is one such survivor. Her parents have been killed and her brother has been taken by the aliens- who for some reason are taking kids and training them for an unknown purpose. Cassie's journey involves surviving aliens and finding her brother. It is a journey she undertakes alone and in the cover of darkness. It is during one such forays in the cold winter months that she encounters Evan Walker, a mysterious boy who has also lost everyone he loves. 

I don't want to give much else away in case you want to read the book- and you should read the book! 

What I Liked: I really enjoyed reading about the dystopian world as constructed by Rick Yancey. I have read a fair amount of YA dystopian books of late- Delirium, Divergent, The Hunger Games, Matched etc. etc. Of all of these books, I found the apocalyptic scenario of this book more, um, realistic (??!). I also enjoyed the main characters- Cassie, Evan, Zombie, Ringer etc. 

What I Didn't Like: It did remind me of a teeny-tiny bit of The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I mean, the whole aliens taking over our bodies and are just like teensy viruses.. that was pretty much the premise of The Host. 

Would You Like It: If you like fast-paced books and enjoy YA dystopian fiction, then this is a much better read than Delirium or Matched, for sure! 

Rating: 4/5