The 5th Wave series by Rick Yancey

I'm doing something a little different in this post. I just recently read the first two books in The 5th Wave series by Rick Yancey.  I thought rather than make two separate posts, I would just combine the two. Let me know what you think of this or would you rather I keep the books in a separate post next time I do a series review.

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.~Goodreads



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Let me start by saying, I had a hard time getting into this book. It started out kind of slow. Give it a chance. Once you get past the first chapter or so (basically once they leave civilazation), the story really picks up.  

Okay, so on to the review. Aliens have landed on Earth. At first everyone is still pretty optimistic. Maybe the aliens are good aliens like in Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. Yeah, not so much. Rather than me rewrite it, let me quote the blurb here again, "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."  The 1st wave- all energy sources no longer work. The 2nd wave- A massive tsunami that wipes out all the coastal cities/towns in the world. The 3rd wave- A plague that wipes out most of the people left. Made worse because it's spread by birds. The 4th Wave- A group of aliens called "Silencers". The Silencers job is to kill anyone who is human. You can't tell them apart from a normal human, that's where the "Trust No One" comes from.  I'm not going to tell you what the 5th wave is. You're really going to have to read it to find out about that wave. If I told you it, it would be giving away too much.

The main characters are a girl named Cassie, her crush Ben, her little brother Sammy, and a gorgeous guy she meets named Evan. Most of the book is spent looking for her brother once he is taken from her (are they good guys or the Others that took him?!?!). Just as she's about to give up, she meets Evan who gives her hope for the future (but how has he survived so long by himself? Is he a good guy? Can she trust him?). There is so much action in this book, it really keeps you attention. And the question of who is good and can be trusted is always there making you second guess everything you thought you knew about the characters. 

This book was AWESOME. I didn't put it down for about 3 days. It was one of those books you think about when everyday life is getting in the way of your reading it. I honestly couldn't wait to pick it back up and even had dreams about it. I give this book 4.5/5 stars (the half is because of the first chapter or so).~ Laurie

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate. ~Goodreads

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Wow. I thought there was a lot of action in the first book in this series. Man, was I ever wrong. This book starts off running and rarely slows down. 

We've got more characters in this book. Well, most were introduced towards the end of the first book but they really develop more and we learn their back stories in this book. Great, we learn more about the characters, therefore we grow to care about them (Which always sucks in distopian books. It's never a good sign when you start to love one of the characters). Thankfully, Cassie and Sam are back together but things are not the same between them. So much has happened to each of them, they're not the same people. Ben is with them also. Does she act on her crush on Ben or does she follow her heart and wait for Evan? Can she trust either of them? 

This book is mostly the group of survivors against the Others. With only a few guns and their wits to fight the Others. How can the survivors continue to survive? Did Evan survive the fight at the end of The 5th Wave?  I loved this book and give it 5/5 stars.~Laurie


I totally reccommend both of the current books in this series. There is another book in the series, The Last Star, it has a  release date of May 24, 2016.  I cannot wait for it!