The 5th Wave Book Review

Yancey, R. (2013). The 5^th wave. NY: Penguin House Company

Cassie is a 16 year old survivor of an alien invasion.  This post-apocalyptic story is set after the Others have already done four waves of mass destruction to earth, killing billions of humans.  Cassie can only imagine what the 5^th Wave will be.  Told from multiple points of view, readers learn what life is like for several characters and how they all come together at the end.  The main character, Cassie, has already lost her parents in the previous Waves, and is living in the woods, alone, with the sole purpose of saving her younger brother Sammy.  Cassie trusts no one thanks to the 4^th Wave, where the aliens invaded the human race, causing humans to become their own enemy.  Cassie’s story begins with searching for water and finding an injured soldier who was dying from a wound.  She does not trust he is human and shoots him, realizing later he was only holding a cross, not a weapon.  Cassie knows she is beginning to lose herself in this world she must survive.  As Cassie moves on to find her brother, she is shot in the leg by a Silencer who has been following her.  Cassie is near death when Evan comes in and saves her.  Cassie is suspicious of Evan and with good right because she later learns Evan is in fact a Silencer who loves Cassie and will rebel against his alien commands.  Readers will read from the point of view of Ben Parish who changes his name to “Zombie”.  Ben and Cassie went to school together and she even had a major crush on him.  Ben shares his story of being a victim of the plague that came through with a Wave.  He is slowly dying at a refugee camp then he is taken to a military camp and is healed.  There, he meets Sammy, Cassie’s brother, and wants to help him find his sister.  Ben (Zombie) shares a more darker side of the invasion.  All the stories and adventures eventually come together at the end of the novel and Cassie and Sammy are reunited.

I had very mixed emotions about this first book of the series.  I usually love when a book changes the point of view of characters and love figuring out how they will come together, however it was a little confusing at times to realize which perspective the reader was hearing from.  The characters switch from present day activities to flashbacks to previous Waves.  I found myself more interested in wanting to learn about the events that took place before where the book starts from.  The introduction titled “Intrusion: 1995” hooks the reader from the start as it describes the invasion of the Others on the human race, leaving no trace or evidence that it even happened.  I especially loved the bond of siblings in this novel with Cassie and Sammy.  Cassie was determined to keep going for her younger brother.  Survival stories intrigue me as a reader and I love to imagine which characteristics of Cassie I would have.  The novel leaves readers on a cliffhanger, which is appropriate being it is the first book of a series. 

Readers will enjoy the second and third books, “The Infinite Sea” and “The Last Star” to finish this series.