The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1) in Reads With Friends

May 07, 2014 Eve rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016-rockmytbr-challenge

http://functioninginsanity.blogspot.c...

Book Rating: 5 Stars

So we have an alien invasion but we don't start out at the beginning but after four waves of the invasion preparing for the unknown but sure to come 5th wave, hence the title. At this point 7 billion of the population are gone. That's serious numbers. It's us verses the Others. We have a couple different POV but the first is Cassie, a pretty kick ass girl. She has been through some serious stuff and we see patches of it as we go along. http://functioninginsanity.blogspot.c...

Book Rating: 5 Stars

So we have an alien invasion but we don't start out at the beginning but after four waves of the invasion preparing for the unknown but sure to come 5th wave, hence the title. At this point 7 billion of the population are gone. That's serious numbers. It's us verses the Others. We have a couple different POV but the first is Cassie, a pretty kick ass girl. She has been through some serious stuff and we see patches of it as we go along. She is alone, and she believes the only way to stay alive is to stay alone. Trust is no longer an option. Until she meets Evan, the mysterious farm boy who saves her. She made a promise to her brother that she would come for him and she has put it off unsure how to deal or how to move forward but she has to choose. Give up or fight, defiance or surrender, life or death.

I was pulled in pretty quickly. I had seen the movie trailer everywhere so I had images in my head for Cassie, Sammy, Ethan and the parents. The others didn't really click until I saw the trailer again after reading then I could assign names to random characters. I had a basic understanding of the story and plot but honestly I had no idea what to expect. There is a scene right before the first POV change where I was completely shocked and then mad at the change because I wanted to go back to Cassie! The first shift, before I knew it was a shift was a bit confusing for the first page or two for me when I realized we were now a male character and not Cassie, after that realization everything went rather smoothly. I even figured out who the POV was. We also see the POV from Sam and a Silencer which gave great depth and diversity but I'd still say the main POV was Cassie. She was the focus, or at least it felt that way to me.

The whole story is like a mystery. You have some things that are predictable and others that get you. Then you have all this doubt and misdirection and you think one way but then start to question if you were wrong and paranoid but then something else happens and you still don't know what to think. I am rather proud that I had it figured out, though I did have some moments of doubt creeping up on me at times. I think that just shows the authors talent right there to invest you so deeply that you question your own thought process.

I really enjoyed that Cassie wasn't so much worried or focused on saving the planet, she doesn’t have any grand design to save what's left of civilization she just wants to save her brother and stay alive. Her goal is challenging enough but it feels more attainable for one untrained girl to accomplish. Cassie's POV was by far my favorite with the random and sometimes fractured line of thought it seemed so genuine and very much how I imagine myself should I somehow survive that long. Also, OMG I just about died with the conversations with Bear! Best stuff oh and let's not forget Howard! Oh and Evan, he is a weird combination of awkward and sweet that works for me. Plus not going to lie he still has chocolate in the end of the world so clearly he is living right!

Zombie was pretty interesting as well. I liked seeing the opposite kind of view where Cassie was alone he was not. He was in the center of the fight. Getting to know the others on the team from Dumbo, Flint, Poundcake, Oompa, Teacup, Ringer, and Nugget was fun. The dynamic of the team and their goals was interesting getting to know them. I love the relationship that is formed between Zombie and Nugget that just made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Everything was harsh and cruel in this world and there is some serious things happening and tons of death but when you have so many 'children' they are forced to grow up quickly but to see that almost brotherly bond was great.

Now some questions I don't feel I had an answer for and hope it will be revealed later are how do the disks work on the bus? Red or Green chosen then vs how they are played out later. Okay I guess it was just the one question. Any others are more to things I'm sure will play out in the series as a whole. ...more

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Aug 03, 2013 Mom2triplets04 rated it liked it

Shelves: books-i-own-read

I started out reading this for my book club. Wanted to read it before the movie comes out. I switched to audio in the middle of the book. This book is told in multiple points of view. I loved Cassie's story and Sam's story. As for the other characters not so much. I just watched the trailer and I think the movie will probably be better than the book. ...more

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Aug 09, 2013 Danielle marked it as to-read

Shelves: book-to-movie-must-see

Well, that’s good, we thought. This silence is deafening. Why did they come billions of miles just to stare at us? It’s rude.

“Go inside, Cassie,” he said gently. “Sammy needs you more than she does.”
I went inside. Sammy was sitting on the floor in his room, playing with his X-wing starfighter, destroying the Death Star. “Shroooooom, shroooooom. I’m going in, Red One!”
And outside, my father knelt in the freshly turned earth. Brown dirt, red rose, gray sky, white sheet.

I might be—no, I probably Well, that’s good, we thought. This silence is deafening. Why did they come billions of miles just to stare at us? It’s rude.

“Go inside, Cassie,” he said gently. “Sammy needs you more than she does.”
I went inside. Sammy was sitting on the floor in his room, playing with his X-wing starfighter, destroying the Death Star. “Shroooooom, shroooooom. I’m going in, Red One!”
And outside, my father knelt in the freshly turned earth. Brown dirt, red rose, gray sky, white sheet.

I might be—no, I probably am—doomed.
But if I’m it, the last of my kind, the last page of human history, like hell I’m going to let the story end this way.
I may be the last one, but I am the one still standing. I am the one turning to face the faceless hunter in the woods on an abandoned highway. I am the one not running, not staying, but facing.
Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity.
And if this is humanity’s last war, then I am the battlefield.

“The plague isn’t theirs, it’s ours,” Chris says. “Escaped from some top-secret government facility after the power failed.”
I cough. He flinches, but he doesn’t leave. He waits for the fit to subside. Somewhere along the way he lost one of the lenses to his glasses. His left eye is stuck in a perpetual squint. He rocks from foot to foot in the muddy ground. He wants to leave; he doesn’t want to leave. I know the feeling.
“Wouldn’t that be ironic?” I gasp. I can taste blood.
He shrugs. Irony? There is no irony anymore. Or maybe there’s just so much of it that you can’t call it irony. “It’s not ours. Think about it. The first two attacks drive the survivors inland to take shelter in camps just like this one. That concentrates the population, creating the perfect breeding ground for the virus. Millions of pounds of fresh meat all conveniently located in one spot. It’s genius.”

She zooms in tight on an area no larger than the head of a pin, and then I see it. My stomach does a slow roll. Embedded in the soft tissue is a pulsing egg-shaped growth, anchored by thousands of rootlike tendrils fanning out in all directions, digging into ever

We’re the dead. There’s no one else now. There’s the past-dead and the future-dead. Corpses and corpses-to-be.

I will teach you to love death. I will empty you of grief and guilt and self-pity and fill you up with hate and cunning and the spirit of vengeance. I will make my final stand here, Benjamin Thomas Parish.
Slapping my chest over and over until my skin burns, my heart on fire. And you will be my battlefield.

He had been finishing humans since the advent of the plague. For four years now, since he was fourteen, when he awakened inside the human body chosen for him, he had known what he was. Finisher. Hunter. Assassin.

Woooow are u kidding I get to see their point of view FUCKING Amazing!

His heart, the war.
Her face, the battlefield.
With a cry only he could hear, the hunter turned.
And ran.
...more

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Oct 05, 2013 Celestine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-books, science-fiction, audiobooks, dystopian, kindle-books, read-in-2016

Re-read on audiobook: 5/2/16-5/4/16; my feelings from the original review below have not changed.

I really liked this story. I think the organization and slow reveal of information made me feel like I was actually living the story. The main character, Cassie, provided an interesting viewpoint for the books events. She goes through so much, and she must be incredibly intelligent because she is able to process things very quickly. She makes it through several life and death situations with only the ...more

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Jun 03, 2015 Bogdana rated it really liked it

http://bogdanathebooknerd.blogspot.co...

I am a few years late in joining in the hype surrounding The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. I recently borrowed the audiobook of this book from my local library. I usually listen to audiobooks during my daily commute; this book was so great I found myself wishing my commute was longer just so I can listen to it more each day. I will purchase a physical copy of this book because I must add this to my personal library.

I would like to start this review by addressin http://bogdanathebooknerd.blogspot.co...

I am a few years late in joining in the hype surrounding The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. I recently borrowed the audiobook of this book from my local library. I usually listen to audiobooks during my daily commute; this book was so great I found myself wishing my commute was longer just so I can listen to it more each day. I will purchase a physical copy of this book because I must add this to my personal library.

I would like to start this review by addressing the cover; I find it to be breathtakingly beautiful. I absolutely love the simplicity and the sinister feel it affords. The girl in the forest making her way to a sweltering city, perfectly captures the complete state of anarchy the world finds itself in. This is the first book in a great trilogy, followed by The Infinite Sea (already available) and The Last Star (available May 24, 2016). While this is considered a young-adult novel, I believe the content will appeal to adult readers as much as teens. If you are a sci-fi geek, regardless of your age, this is the book for you.

This was my first Rick Yancey book and my first alien invasion novel; and, I was completely blown away by this read. Rick Yancey is an amazing storyteller that created an apocalyptic world that left me quite scared. The book is narrated from different perspectives, mostly Cassie and Ben, our main two characters, with a few chapters narrated by Sam, Cassie’s little brother, and Evan, a boy Cassie meets at a critical time in her journey.

As I said before this is my first alien invasion read, but based on the movies exploring this subject it appears that the aliens usually want to destroy our planet and wipe us all out in the process. In Yancey’s rendition of alien invasion, the aliens are not here to destroy our planet at all. They actually go to extreme lengths to make sure that the planet is preserved as they need it so that they can live here. However, they do want to wipe out the entire human race. They do this in the most gruesome ways, each terror unleashed on humanity being referred to as a “wave”. At first, when the first alien ship appeared, our beliefs that humans aren’t alone in the universe were confirmed. When nothing happened for a while, most people believed that this was a good sign, that we would make peaceful contact with the inhabitants of these ships, and most went on with their life, unconcerned by these creatures; but then, the first wave hit and all power was off, then the second wave wiped out large cities on the coasts with huge tsunamis, the third wave was a horrible plague, followed by a few other surprises until there were hardly any humans left. Going through each wave from the main characters perspective transported me into a very frightening world. I found myself very engaged and invested in the story and what becomes of each of the characters.

As I write more and more reviews, I find that the best books are the hardest to discuss, because they are usually very intricate and everything can be a spoiler. All I can say is that during this horrible time when the aliens appear to be successful at wiping out the human race, when humans are stripped of their humanity, a boy and a girl fight the impossible to protect a little kid. The novel is filled with action and tons of plot twists that will leave you breathless. Yancey’s take on alien invasion is quite dark and disturbing. The characters created are very well developed. Each character has a very unique voice; by switching between narrators we get a glimpse into their lives pre-alien invasion and we get to embark with them on this apocalyptic journey in which each develops and grows into unforgettable characters that you would want on your side if an alien invasion would occur.

The entire book kept me guessing. I never knew who to trust and I kept second guessing every decision the characters made. The novel focuses mostly on raw human emotions, exploring the lengths people are willing to go to in order to survive. Yancey is an excellent writer and a brilliant story teller, who captured my interest from the very beginning and kept me at the edge of my seat until the very last word. ...more

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Jun 05, 2013 Michelle (Bookaholic Banter) rated it really liked it

A clever take on aliens invading our planet. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. This story captivated me and pulled me in. I lived inside the story. This was my first Rick Yancey novel- and will not be my last. The ending was a little abrupt for me, and I can only hope that this will not be the last of Cassie and Evan.

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