The 5th Wave Trilogy
The 5th Wave | The Infinite Sea | The Last Star
by Rick Yancey
Website | Twitter | GoodreadsPublication Date: May 7, 2013 | Sept 16, 2014 | May 24, 2016
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780399162411 | 9780399162428 | 9780399162435
Available to purchase:
Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | Audible
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.My experience with the 5th Wave trilogy has been a rollercoaster ride, to say the least. I went from really enjoying the first book to loathing the second book, to actually liking the third and final book, which surprised me more than anyone.
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 think Rick Yancey has a great story here and I really love Cassie as a main character. I think the overarching plot is good and the side characters are strong. HOWEVER, I think this series from too many cooks in the kitchen. Meaning, there was too much going on to adequately fit in a trilogy. And while I enjoyed each different plot line running through the series, that's just it: it felt like a bunch of different plot lines running through the series. If the series had been longer, or split up into a first series and then a spin-off series, I think it would have worked better. But the constant switching of perspectives, while can be effective in some instances, worked against the series as a whole, in my opinion.
All that being said, I did enjoy how the series ended. I thought it was fitting and brave and I was glad to see Rick Yancey "go there," for lack of a better term. He didn't wrap everything up too nicely and it felt more genuine and realistic than many YA stories I have read.
However, I do have to say that The Infinite Sea (book 2) was a hot mess. I did not enjoy a single page and I'm not even sure the book had a point. If you had taken one or maybe two minor things from the second books and divvied it up between books 1 & 3, making the series a duology, I think it would have been much more effective and efficient.
So all in all, I would recommend this series. I think that if you are not into aliens or teen romance, steer clear, but otherwise, I think it's worth taking a crack at. The books are quite heavy in language, so if that bothers you, this is not the YA series for you... so you've been warned. But there is a fun cast of characters and a story running throughout that you probably haven't read before!
Overall, I am satisfied with my reading experience.
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