We’re carried along from event to event as Cassie tries to find her brother, as Zombie struggles with boot camp, as Sam attempts to adjust to his new life–and we want to know what’s going to happen to these people we’ve become attached to.Īfter I finished THE 5TH WAVE I set it aside and thought about it. The pacing is excellent despite several flashbacks at the beginning of the book, Yancey handling them quite seamlessly. The imagery and emotions draw readers into the immediacy of the story. Yancey’s prose is fantastic, especially compared to most YA novels I’ve read. We learn his tragic backstory and find him endearing by how he can be kind-hearted despite his situation. Then there’s Zombie, the third PoV, another high-schooler who is rounded up with other youth and taken to a military training camp to teach the children how to fight back.

We also see Sam’s PoV, which, while interesting to see the apocalypse from a child’s perspective, he is really only a kid and as a result lacks depth. She’s a great heroine with an engaging voice, who somehow retains her humanity despite the horrors she’s faced. We also learn about how Cassie’s life has irrevocably changed from the awkward high school girl she was mere months ago. We learn bit by bit about the waves of destruction: a worldwide EMP, coastal flooding, a plague, and then being hunted by drones. She’s camped out in the forest outside of town, but is afraid of lighting a fire and being seen, she sleeps with an M16 and her brother Sam’s teddy bear, and has learned that staying away from other people is what will keep her alive. She wasn’t allowed to go with him, but promises she’ll find him no matter what.įrom the start of THE 5TH WAVE ( Amazon), the author Rick Yancey creates a tone of lingering terror as he builds the setting and Cassie’s story with vivid detail. She can’t trust anyone, even other humans, because she’s convinced that some of them work for the aliens.īut Cassie has a purpose beyond simple survival: her five-year-old brother Sam was taken to a camp where he’d supposedly be safe.

Now mankind is on the verge of extinction, and Cassie is alone, having lost her family and escaped to the forests outside Dayton, Ohio.

The fifth wave book review