Title: The 5th Wave (Fifth Wave #1)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam 2013

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 457

Rating: 4/5 stars  Movie: 4/5

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - 365 Days of YA; Popsugar - Movie This Year; Book to Movie

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.

So I grabbed this off the library's Lucky Day shelf on a whim. It hadn't been on my TBR shortlist. And yet, I'm glad I picked it up. I was assuming this was going to be a wimpy alien invasions story heavy on the melodrama and sap. Amazingly, it wasn't. I found myself intrigued by Yancey's world building and characters. I thought Cassie would be our only narrator, but thankfully we get to hear from a few other characters. I got so sucked into the story that I finished this in two days. I don't know what got into me, but I only surfaced once I read the last page. And then I was disappointed by the ending until I figured out that this is a trilogy. Guess who just reserved the second novel from the library...

Movie:

Overall, a decent adaptation of the novel. Of course there were changes, but those changes didn't fundamentally alter the story or characters for me. The pace was okay. Lots of the slower moments and conversations were cut for time and pacing. I get it. It's a Hollywood movie. I would have liked to see more character development especially from Ben and Ringer. But I get it. I did like Chloe Grace Moretz as Cassie Sullivan. Good casting there. The actor who played Ben wasn't quite what I had in mind, but oh well. The twins enjoyed the movie. So I guess it was a win for movie night.

Ffith Wave:

• #1 The 5th Wave
• #2 The Infinite Sea
• #3 The Last Star