The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

I read The 5th Wave earlier this year, in February or March, because I wanted to read it before the movie came out, which I ended up not seeing. Usually, I don't re-read books so soon after reading them the first time, but since The Last Star came out last month, and I didn't remember much of the first book, and pretty much nothing of the second book, I decided it couldn't hurt to do a quick power read of them. Once I started reading, I remembered more than what I thought, but there were also some parts I had completely forgotten.

(Credit: Kelsey Darling)

Five Sentence Summary

It's the end of the world; aliens have invaded our world and they are taking us out. Cassie Sullivan watched her mother die a slow, painful death; then her brother was taken by the others who have disguised themselves as humans; then her father was brutally murdered; now she is trying to make her way to her brother so she can keep the only promise that matters. Evan Walker finds Cassie on the brink of death, bleeding out in a car, but he helps bring her back to life; but Evan is hiding a secret that Cassie can't put her finger on. Ben "Zombie" Parish is a boy from Cassie's school who has been rescued by the military and is being trained to take down the infected, but when he is sent on a mission to take out teds, he learns that the "good" guys may not be as good as he thought. While the three of them navigate this new world in search of the truth, you learn to not trust anyone, no matter what they tell you.

Commentary

Reading this for a second time was interesting. I already knew the big secret, that some of the humans are actually aliens, that they have taken over our bodies and minds. I also knew that everyone's lovable rescuer, Evan, is actually one of them, but after falling in love for Cassie, he changes sides. So this time around, I wasn't as paranoid as I was the first time. That did take a little of the fun out of it.

The second time around, I noticed some smaller details that I didn't notice the first time around. One thing I noticed was that as much as Cassie says she is careful and doesn't trust anyone, that's not always the case. I mean, she talks about how she doesn't trust Evan, but she never does anything about it except worry. Yes, he turns out to be a good guy, but when the hair on the back of your neck stands up, which she says happens a lot, you need to run.

Yancey also uses a lot of graphic wording when describing the surroundings, peoples deaths, etc. I mean, it makes sense, seeing as we are in a post-apocalyptic world, but this time I noticed how negative the wording is. It makes me love Yancey more as a writer.

All in all, the book is still really good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first time, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I knew how it was going to play out.

(Credit: Someecards.com)

Rating: 8/10

Pages: 457 (paperback)

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia