The 5th Wave
By Rick Yancy
Categories: Young adult, dystopian, science fiction, adventure
Cassie is surviving, it’s what she does best. When the aliens first showed up hanging out in Earth’s orbit, no one could figure out what they wanted. Then they began systematically orchestrating wave after wave of devastating assaults that leave the human population at first limping, then crawling along. Cassie’s family survived the first and second waves, but her mother perished in the third, her father in the fourth. As far as she knows, her little brother is alive but has been separated from her and might possibly be held captive in a military base. So Cassie lives one day at a time, utterly alone and maintaining her last grip on reality.
This story pulled me right into it. Cassie’s will to survive and bad ass outlook was hard to ignore. Right away you want to hear how her family went through each of the waves (and what they were). She is one of those strong female heroines you start rooting for and just need to find out what happens to her. The novel also follows Cassie’s high school crush (a lifetime ago) Ben, who has been recruited into the last remains of a military organization. Once a teenage heart throb who didn’t even know Cassie existed, now a disciplined soldier elite. He shows us the last hold out of human resistance against the fifth wave of alien invasion.
If you watch Doomsday Preppers, have a plan for any of the potential natural or manmade disasters, or are fascinated by different scenarios that could decimate human civilization, this is the book for you. These aliens want earth, and they want it bad. Each wave is a calculated blow to decimate and cripple humans. And even if you have a plan for one, like a virus? They have a back up to get to you also. Earth is prime for the taking, but humans are in the way. The 5th Wave is thrilling and scary and action-packed, with very realistic and interesting characters.
The bottom line, I read this book while on vacation in Denver and I spent a lot of time making excuses to sneak away to read another page or two. Or twenty. It was good to the point of distraction. So if you need a book to completely suck you away from reality, just grab this one. My only aggravation when I reached the end was that, surprise! This is only the first book. It is never fun, waiting around for a sequel to come out. As of this writing, the next book is slated to come out September 16 2014 titled The Infinite Sea.
