The Last Star by Rick Yancey

Title: The Last Star (Fifth Wave #3)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam 2016

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 338

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - 365 Days of YA; Finishing the series; 52 Books - W29

The enemy is Other. The enemy is us. They’re down here, they’re up there, they’re nowhere. They want the Earth, they want us to have it. They came to wipe us out, they came to save us.
But beneath these riddles lies one truth: Cassie has been betrayed. So has Ringer. Zombie. Nugget. And all 7.5 billion people who used to live on our planet. Betrayed first by the Others, and now by ourselves.
In these last days, Earth’s remaining survivors will need to decide what’s more important: saving themselves . . . or saving what makes us human.

I wasn't too excited about The Infinite Sea, but this volume redeemed the series for me. Thankfully we got back to some character development instead of constant action. And we get a satisfies, if not predictable, conclusion to the story. I almost wish this series was a two-parter instead of a trilogy. A lot of fat could have been trimmed from the second and third books to make one volume.

Ffith Wave:

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Title: The Infinite Sea (Fifth Wave #2)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam 2014

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 300

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

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.

While waiting for N to finish The 5th Wave so we could watch the movie, I picked up the second in the trilogy. The second volume in the series just felt like a bit of a letdown. It was much shorter and focused on action action action. There was hardly any character development. I would have like to get to know some of the characters more. Instead it's action on every page. After a while, I was tired of the action and wanted things to slow down. Hopefully the conclusion of the trilogy is better...

Fifth Wave:

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

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

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