The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave, #1) by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

My Review:



This story blew me away immediately. It was intense, sad, proud, and defiant. To find ourselves as human beings faced with these impossible odds would be detrimental for humanity, as indicated in the book. However, to be utterly alone and hopeless and still choose to fight everyday and against all obstacles is downright heroic. Since reading this book I have been encouraged to live life to it's fullest and to try not to take things for granted (whether or not that was the message of this piece).

I enjoyed that this story had heartbreak, loneliness, hope and hopelessness, trust issues, a little romance - even if it's just to get lost in the body contact, determination, loyalty, shame, and self-sacrifice. It wasn't overly romantic and there wasn't any one particular hero, which could have caused the story to take some serious detours. The story flowed well, stayed on track, and the ending was written well enough that you could walk away completely satisfied, like I am, or you can continue on in the series to see just what these heroes are made of.

I feel like Rick Yancey nailed this story. He is a great writer and I will definitely recommend this book and will be reading another book by him, hopefully soon.

Favorite Quotes:

“Some things you can never leave behind. They don't belong to the past. They belong to you.”

“You can only call someone crazy if there’s someone else who’s normal. Like good and evil. If everything was good, then nothing would be good.”

“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 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.”

“We’re here, and then we’re gone, and it’s not about the time we’re here, but what we do with the time.”

“Cruelty isn't a personality trait. Cruelty is a habit.”

“There's an old saying about the truth setting you free. Don't buy it. Sometimes the truth slams the cell door shut and throws a thousand bolts.”

“Because we will die, but at least we will die unbroken.”

“I don't care what the stars say about how small we are. One, even the smallest, weakest, most insignificant one, matters.”

“It's like a cockroach working up a plan to defeat the shoe on its way down to crush it.”

“The minute we decide that one person doesn´t matter anymore, they´ve won.”

Read from May 13 to 27, 2015

Top 5 Genres*: Young Adult, Science Fiction/Dystopia, Science Fiction, Science Fiction/Aliens, Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic

*According to Goodreads
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My ratings system
5 stars - I absolutely loved it
4 stars - Good book and would recommend
3 stars - Decent book, but wasn't spectacular
2 stars - Not good, but was able to finish it
1 stars - Did not finish (DNF) and I don't usually rate a book I haven't finished (just to be fair to the author)

View all my reviews