The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Goodreads Description -
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.
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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.
Review - no spoilers
The 5th Wave is one of those books where I can't decide whether I liked it or not. I don't think I can really blame the hype for ruining for me because I think it's just one of those books that I don't like. This is strange because I am a huge fan of Sci Fi but this one just didn't do it for me. The 5th Wave was a hardcore apocalyptic book that was very well thought out but there were some issues that made it hard to like it.
First of all, the number one issue that made it hard for me to get into is the slowness of pace! You must be thinking yeah but it's an apocalypse so it's going to be full of action though! Don't get me wrong, there was heaps of action it just seemed too slow for me. I don't know how I was able to sit through and read 457 pages. If you've read it, you may or may not agree with me but it took me 3 weeks to read it but that was mainly because of school (hence the mini-hiatus) but every time I tried to read it, I'd only read like 3 chapters. It started feeling like more of a task than anything.
The characters in this book were alright. I loved Cassie as a main character because she was a kick-ass heroine but sometimes I felt like she would go on forever. She had really good self-determination and she had that moral of kill or be killed which I liked because of the circumstances. She had the right attitude to this sort of apocalypse which made it more realistic. Throughout this book you change perspectives between characters and I found it so confusing the first time! It doesn't give you any indication that it's a new character so it was a little frustrating.
One thing I really liked about this book is how there is two sort of story-lines in the one book. We mainly follow Cassie, but we also follow this other character Zombie. It was cool because they were both dealing with their own problems and they were both unaware of each others presence, so it's like we get two different aspects to the 5th wave.
The overall 'apocalyptic' storyline was great. I liked how they came down in waves and it just made if very dark. You could never trust anyone because they had no idea what the aliens looked like. Sometimes I hate these books because it always feels like the enemy has the better weapons and it just seems impossible to win. But I did like the whole concept of the book and I think it was very well thought out.
The overall 'apocalyptic' storyline was great. I liked how they came down in waves and it just made if very dark. You could never trust anyone because they had no idea what the aliens looked like. Sometimes I hate these books because it always feels like the enemy has the better weapons and it just seems impossible to win. But I did like the whole concept of the book and I think it was very well thought out.
In the end I both hated and loved this book. I don't think it's everyone's cup of tea as I think you have to be a fan of science fiction and apocalyptic novels. I didn't like the slow pacing and I found it really hard to finish and it started feeling more of a task than my own enjoyment which is what you don't want out of a novel. I'm not too sure whether I'll ever read the second book when it comes out but I think my curiosity will get the better of me.(I always want to know how they win!) Anyways don't go off my negative review and not read it because you never know you may love it. This is only my opinion and I hate to give negative reviews.
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8 comments
I GET YOUR POINT o_o it was sooooo sloowww that I almost feel asleep. Especially on Silencer's POV there were only walls of text and I putit down multiple times before I finally decide to put it on hold for a while. Great review! I'm a bit disappointed since I really looked forward to reading this book :(
ReplyDeleteYou know how excited I was for this so I was extremely disappointed with it's slow pace. I've given up and I think it's amazing that you continued as I can't be bothered. I hate when reading feels more like a task. Especially when the idea seems so great.
ReplyDeleteOh no! That's really disappointing. As you know I haven't read it yet but I'm sad to hear you didn't like it very much. Usually I like books less that other people so I fear I may not like the 5th Wave at all.
ReplyDeleteMarian ^_^ x
This book didn't live up to my expectations either! It was good, don't get me wrong, but I didn't find it as amazing as everyone else made it out to be. The pacing was the main reason - and how it could get confusing... but mainly the pacing! It did tend to drag at times... The build up to the end was much better though and the ending was quite the climax. I think I will read the sequel, hopefully the pacing will be better!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! :D
Wow Francoise, this is the first review of that book that hasn't been absolutely glowing! Great to hear a second opinion, thanks for the honest review.
ReplyDeleteJeann @ Happy Indulgence
I totally agree with all the things that you've pointed out in your review. I definitely felt that the beginning was quite slow paced as well (although thankfully it picked up in the second half in my opinion). I was irritated by the random POV changes at first and the romance felt rather forced. Overall, I still enjoyed the book overall haha
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
I loved this book, but the hype is extraordinary and I can see what you mean about it being slow. I always give up when a book starts feeling more like a task. Great review! :D
ReplyDeleteHardcore Heroines
I agree. The pace was pretty slow, and since it's a big book, that just made the book seem longer. The perspectives also confused me, which was one of my least favorite parts of it. A lot of other things really worked for me, which is why I liked it a lot better than you. It's a shame you didn't like it very much, but I hope that if you read the sequel, you'll like it a lot more. :)
ReplyDelete