The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave #1) - Rick Yancey

I honestly had such high hopes for this book. I mean I love good science fiction; Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Ender’s Game are just a few. So when I heard the premise – a girl fighting to survive aliens called “Others” who have managed to wipe out almost all of humanity without setting foot on Earth – I literally went crazy. I was super-excited to read it. And for the first half of the book, I genuinely enjoyed it. I loved the references to aliens in pop culture and the thrilling action. Cassie felt like a great narrator, she was sarcastic at the right moments, but also serious in telling her story. She was pretty heroic but wasn’t boastful about it; she was honestly just a normal but headstrong teenage girl. But this, my friends, is where everything went wrong. Let me ask you a question: when being shot at by an alien-infested sniper, what are the chances that you’re going to be rescued by an amazingly hot boy who seems to be perfect and caring? If you answered slim to none, you actually have some logic. After Cassie was rescued by this amazingly hot guy, she was still unconscious but he UNDRESSES and BATHES her in her sleep. Creepy much? And when she wakes up, he caters to her every need. Somehow they get into an argument, which I can’t remember what it was even over, but they go from “I hate you” to “I love you so much” in five minutes. And this is how Cassie turns into a stupid, teen angst-y narrator who falls for the boy who “kisses her eyelashes” (no crap, a legit quote from the book) despite the fact that she hated him just a day ago. And you think you can classify this as science fiction? More like stereotypical young adult “romance” (also known as instalove) to me.