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The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1)

Rick Yancey

Start date: January 1, 2016

Finish date: January 31, 2016

Discussion: THE 5TH WAVE

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THE 5TH WAVE

THE 5TH WAVE (NO SPOILERS)
By April (Aprili… · 9 posts · 106 views

last updated Aug 20, 2016 05:03PM

THE 5TH WAVE (SPOILERS)
By April (Aprili… · 22 posts · 107 views

last updated Jan 31, 2016 09:29PM

What Members Thought

May 28, 2014 Annia Lennox (DaydreamingThroughBooks) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014-reads, young-adult, reviewed, young-adult-sci-fi

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. This is probably the most confused I have been during a book. But, I did ultimately enjoy it and would like to continue the series. However, I’m not eagerly waiting for its release this fall.
The characters were enjoyable and Cassie is a pretty good heroine. She’s actually spunky and funny, but I don’t think you realize it right away. But the humor is a nice break in this super intense alien invasion story. I have more to say about other characte I don’t even know where to begin with this book. This is probably the most confused I have been during a book. But, I did ultimately enjoy it and would like to continue the series. However, I’m not eagerly waiting for its release this fall.
The characters were enjoyable and Cassie is a pretty good heroine. She’s actually spunky and funny, but I don’t think you realize it right away. But the humor is a nice break in this super intense alien invasion story. I have more to say about other characters but I’ll save that for the spoiler section.
Rick Yancey does a fantastic job of making you question what is going on and who you can trust. This is why I was confused so much. It might be odd that I’m not taking away stars for the confusion, but there is a difference between not writing a clear story and purposely misleading the reader. I believe he was purposely twisting the story to make it hard for the reader to judge people. My opinions on characters changed multiple times while reading.
One weakness is probably the romance. I’ve heard some people thought it was insta-love, but I disagree. The romance did develop over a decent amount of time, in my opinion. And, if you ask me, it’s understandable to be drawn to someone when 97% of the earth’s population has been killed and you could die any day. That being said I didn’t think the romance flowed with the rest of the book. The books had a consistent tone across perspectives and I felt the romance drifted from that tone.
And now onto the spoiler bits.
First, I want to talk about my favorite character: Bear. I know he is an inanimate object, but he was entertaining. When Cassie and Bear were “speaking” were some of my favorite parts. I hope he continues to be a part of series.
Now, I want to talk about Evan. I knew pretty quickly that he was the Silencer. It was the one thing I wasn’t confused about. And I went back and forth on whether I liked him or not. But then he kicked some serious ass at Camp Haven and I practically fell in love. He is strong and fights for what he believes in. I hope he sticks around, but I’m pretty sure he will be.
Then, there’s Ringer. I’m going to say right now I think she is an alien. The way she speaks and the way Evan speaks are very similar. They taught Cassie and Ben how to shoot in similar ways. I don’t think these similarities are a coincidence.
On a side note, Cassie and Ben have similar thoughts, but I haven’t decided what I think that means.
The multiple perspectives did bother me. Well, in the end, I appreciated them and the storytelling choice. But it confused the hell out of me while reading. It would always take me awhile to know who was talking and where we were both physically and time. Then worst one was the first switch, because I thought it was still Cassie and I didn’t understand why she was suddenly somewhere else. Part of the reason that one was so hard was because he purposely avoided giving a name to the character so we could have the big reveal at the end.

OK, that’s all I have to say.
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Sep 18, 2016 Lauren rated it really liked it

*3.5 stars*

Found this book to be quite slow to begin with and took me awhile to get into. Most enjoyable thing for me was to read from Bens point of view - particularly the Camp Haven training section so kind of wished the whole book focused more on him as I found him the more interesting character. A good start to the series so shall see where it goes.

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Mar 06, 2014 ➳♡Natalie➳♡ rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014, 3-star-rating

meh. That's how I mostly felt about this book. I was expecting some really cool action but instead got a girl wandering around trying to say philosophical things. Also the "romance" between Evan and Cassie seems very forced, almost like Twilight... ekk. I do think the whole alien infestors and waves are pretty exciting. ...more

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