September Book Selection - The 5th Wave

[[deleted user]]

The book selection for September 2015 is The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Join our discussion here or on the Youngbloods website.

Click here to stream The 5th Wave as an audiobook through Hoopla or check it out as a print book from one of our branches.

Here are some questions to get started:

1. How are the humans and The Others alike?
2. What did you think of Cassie?
3. This book has a lot of great press, and an equal amount of press that was…well, less than positive. Which side of that debate are you on?
4. Trust obviously was a major theme in this book. If you were in Cassie’s position, who would you trust? How would you know who to trust?
5. Who is your dream cast for this book?

[Katie]

I like how the humans and the Others both had superiority complexes become their downfall. IMO Cassie's character is pretty standard as far as post-apocalyptic heriones go--very similar to Katniss Everdeen, but instead of a bow and arrow, her weapon of choice is an M-16. Honestly, I thought Yancey could have done a better job character-wise with the Others. I am still intrigued enough to read further books in this series, if only to find out more about the Others. I liked the way the book was structured, breaking into different characters' points of view.

[Kim]

I was impressed by how organized the invasion was. I know I probably shouldn't be impressed by the bad guys, but seriously. Aside from stereotypically underestimating their opponent, the aliens really brought the A game, planning-wise.

I can see where this would get bad press. Reviewers are sort of over the whole dystopian thing, I think. I really enjoyed it, though moreso than his previous series. The alternating viewpoint style is not usually one of my favorites due to it being really difficult to write it effectively, but he manages to make each character have a unique voice and specific way of revealing the trauma they’d sustained.

I didn't really picture Chloë Grace Moretz as Cassie, but we'll see. I love that Maria Bello is going to be Reznik, though. That is a great character to gender bend and she is awesome.