Review Detail

The 5th Wave was easily one of most anticipated books of 2013. Penguin seriously caught my interest with their insanely fantastic advertising campaign for this book. After several Goodreads members compared this to The Hunger Games, I knew I had to read this. I was going to go to the library to pick up The 5th Wave which I had on hold when the UPS delivered an ARC of the book to my house. I didn't expect Penguin to send me an ARC and it was such a pleasant surprise.

Truthfully, I didn't expect The 5th Wave to take the direction it did. Even though I had read the description and countless reviews, The 5th Wave still completely surprised me. Rick Yancey created a completely original spin on the classic alien invasion tale. I have never read a book quite like The 5th Wave. I didn't think any author could surprise me anymore, to my surprise Rick Yancey proved me wrong.

Cassie is the kick-ass protagonist of The 5th Wave. For the most part, I really liked Cassie and I enjoyed reading from her point of view. I love Cassie's attitude and humor which added some comic relief to this dark sci-fi book. Cassie's determination and dedication towards finding her little brother Sammy. The only negative thing I need to comment regarding Cassie, is her relationship with Evan.

Alot of reviewers seemed to like Evan and his relationship with Cassie. Truthfully for most of the book I found Evan to be a creepy stalker who lacked chemistry with Cassie. Evan undresses and bathes Cassie, he watches her sleep, and is constantly watching her. Doesn't this strike you as creepy and odd? Later on in the book, I started to like him more but I still couldn't get over his strange demeanor.

The romance in The 5th Wave isn't done particularly well and it comes across as superficial. I didn't really believe Cassie and Ben had any chemistry for most of the book. Their romance was extremely fake and it seemed like Cassie and Ben instantly fell in love. The way Cassie spoke about Ben was extremely cheesy and way too melodramatic. Seriously? Thankfully this book didn't have a love triangle but I have a bad feeling that book #2 will feature a love triangle.

The 5th Wave alternates from the POV of a few characters, my favorite POV was definitely Cassie. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and how Rick Yancey connected their stories into one. Alot of reviewers said that they weren't a fan of Sammy's point-of-view, I actually really enjoyed reading from his POV. Some commented that his POV was repetitive and badly written, but I think Yancey perfectly captured how a little kid would react to an alien invasion.

The 5th Wave definitely started with a bang but the plot definitely became a bit sluggish after the first couple chapters. Luckily Rick Yancey threw in a few plot twists that perked my interest and kept me turning the pages. Keep in mind that The 5th Wave is more focused on humanity than the Others, which are The 5th Wave's aliens. This book is extremely intense and that ending of The 5th Wave was simply epic. I can't believe that the next book comes out in August 2014. I need book #2 immediately, I really hope it's not called The 6th Wave because that would be so cliche.

Is The 5th Wave the next Hunger Games? The 5th Wave could definitely be the next big YA book! I am pretty excited by the fact that Sony has the movie rights because this could be an epic film. I'd highly recommend this book to fans of Sci-Fi books like The Host, and The Knife Of Never Letting Go. The 5th Wave definitely deserves the hype it's receiving!