Book Review: THE 5TH WAVE by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

REVIEW BY NICKY

I was hearing so much about this book (mostly from Janine!) before I read it. To be honest, though, it was this book trailer that finally got to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKkEAIs4pJc

Cassie is on the run from “Them,” who are destroying all of humanity to make room for their own colonization of our planet.  They are carrying out their attack in waves.  The first wave, an electromagnetic pulse, makes the machines, upon which we rely so heavily, useless. The second wave consists of tsunamis that destroy all coastal lands. The third wave is a fatal disease spread by birds. With the fourth wave come the “Silencers,” alien consciousness that have been implanted into humans at their conception.  Cassie and her brother Sam have managed to survive all of these waves, and she is determined to reunite with him after he is taken from her during an attack. “Zombie” is also a survivor, one who, after his training in boot camp designed to turn him into an alien killer, has nearly forgotten who he was was before the first wave.  Their paths come to a surprising collision.

This book, if nothing else, was definitely a page-turner!  The suspense and twists and turns of the plot made me ignore mundane things like dishes and proper bedtimes in order to get to the next part.  It’s one of those novels that is just destined to become a movie… not just because of the current dystopian trend, but also because, with Yancey’s detail, you can visualize everything as you read.  This is another nice cross-over for YA and adult reading.  I’m not sure why it hasn’t caught on more than it has. I would expect that this might be the next “Hunger Games” phenomenon.  In my honest opinion, The 5th Wave certainly would merit the attention that the Hunger Games trilogy has, and I am itching to read the sequel, The Infinite Sea.