Review: The Fifth Wave

This is actually a review I wrote quite a while back, and forgot to publish. 

Title: The Fifth Wave

Author: Rick Yancey

Genre: YA Sci-fi

Year: 2013

Pages: 480
3.5 stars

“After the 1^st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2^nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3^rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4^th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one”

Our protagonist Cassie has survived these four waves. Not knowing what to expect from the next wave, all she does is running, trying to avoid contact with anybody – you never know for sure whether they’re even human. This distrust has kept her alive so far, but also meant being alone ever since she lost her family. But then the mysterious Evan Walker saves her life, and she has to choose between trusting him, or running away. However, she is weak, and she needs to rescue her brother. Evan may be her only chance to achieve this.

As you are probably aware, this novel has been extremely hyped up. That lead to me having high expectations. The beginning of this novel did live up to this, and I grew even more curious about the plot. However, it quickly became clear to me that Yancey’s writing style is not necessarily my cup of tea. It was too simple and there was too little depth to it. About half way through, I got stuck, even though the story was still quite intriguing.

While the writing was my main struggle, it was not the only. Without spoiling any of the story, I want to point out that I felt Cassie’s character was perhaps not the strongest. She is supposed to have survived quite horrific things, as well as having struggled alone for a while. However, after only a few moments of hesitation, she decides to trust Evan. I felt this was out of character, and it bothered me much more than it probably should have.

Over all, though, I did really enjoy it, and I’m very excited for the movie which will come out in the beginning of 2016. However, I am not running to the store to buy the sequel.