The 5th Wave: Review

Synopsis:

he Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

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 have so high hopes on this book. And yet it disappoints me in a lot of ways. I know this book has a high rating on Goodreads (4.18/5) but I can't make myself to at least give a 4 no matter what. I'm nearly dragging on reading the whole thing until the last 20 chapters or so. I must say, I need to more wary about new dystopian releases next time.

Truth to be told, I quickly picked up pace in the first few chapters (yep, this book has 91 chapters, so it's kinda fast to pick up in just a few). To me, Cassie was such a great character in that few moments. But then I slowly detached from her story because of the whole memory thing. Normally I like this kind of writing style but... not in this time, although her past is really fun to read at some point. I can't make myself focus on the story anymore.

This point is write in multiple point of views. Cassie and Ben is in the first-person perspective, while Evan and others are in third-person point of view. That makes it completely confusing. In the first half of the book, I have no idea whether this guy telling in a first-person pov is Cassie or Ben. And so for half of the time I have no idea what is going on. That's an epic failure to me because how can you feel attached to the book if you can't even make out what is happening?





The world the author creates is actually quite good in theory. I mean, alien invasion? This is not Lux series. There are no hot aliens (okay, there are, but def not what you think they are). The aliens are actually bad guys and bring hell on Earth. And a girl is out searching for a brother in this dangerous world where no one can be trusted. It's typical ('cuz it kinda sounds like Blood Red Road to me), but I like it because of the alien part. However I can't like the plot itself because it is too scattered in the first half of the book. I have to read other reviews in order to learn which is Ben's pov and which is Cassie's.

The characters are really great at first, especially Cassie. She's so strong in the first part of the book. But then she kinda falls flat. Ben is really... zombie-like? And I can't make out what's happening most of the time in the base. Evan, on the other hand, is like a beautiful guy fighting his inner demons (only he doesn't actually have one other than his... nature). There's not much about him so I can't make a judgment (And I'm so disappointed. I mean, there are more Ben then Evan and Ben is not even mentioned in the synopsis!)

I'm not so sure about reading the sequel despite its kind-of cliffhanger ending (you know, Evan goes away for some business. Just like Blood Red Road). The only thing I actually like besides the dystopian world is the ending. I hope the sequel will be much better and much more... obvious in various points.

Rating: 5.5/10