Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave
by Rick Yancey

Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 480
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: May 7, 2013
Suggested tags: young adult, dystopia, aliens



First in The 5th Wave series. From Goodreads:

"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."

{ I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. }


The 5th Wave seriously messes with your mind. It leads you to think one thing and then pulls a "nope just kidding" and completely reverses it, then makes you think maybe you get it now, then takes that away in a horrible shocking way, then makes you think oh no wait you were misled before but maybe you get it now, then blows everything apart so you have no freaking idea what the heck is going on, or has been going on since the first page. But I LOVED IT.

There have been 4 waves so far, and now there will be 5. Families have been destroyed through the waves, and the survivors who remain desperately cling on to whoever and whatever they have left. They don't know what to do. They don't know who to trust. It's chaos. In the midst of all this, Cassie is trying to be brave and strong and protect her younger brother, but it's getting more difficult. There is a promise of rescue, of salvation. Her father insists they can trust them. But can they?

Seriously, my brain was on overdrive the entire time I was reading this book, and it was just one blindside after another. Yancey makes it so easy to put yourself in the characters' places - how would you react when you have no idea who you can trust? Is that innocent stranger standing in front of you really an innocent stranger, or an alien sent to destroy you? Hesitate, and you could be dead. And the synopsis doesn't even begin to cover everything that happens in this book. I'm trying to come up with a list of what goes on without giving spoilers and I can't even... it's that intense. You never know what to expect. It's terrifying and gruesome and... just... amazing. Aaaand, amid all these horrors, there's romance! What? I know. But it works.

Rick Yancey, you are brilliant and I am an instant fan, sir. I am eagerly awaiting my chance to devour the next book in the series, and I am sure I will laugh and cry and start hearing suspicious noises as I read it just like I did with this one.


Final verdict: I'm obsessed with it! I thought this book was amazing! It's now officially one of my favorite books! I immediately bought a copy for myself because I will be rereading it again and again! I shall be shouting about it from the rooftops for days and I am currently recommending it to everyone I come in contact with!

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