Release Date: May 7th, 2013
Genre: Sci-fi, Apocalypse
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 480
Rating:
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Summary:

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.

Blurb: I will never trust another human being again.

Review: Ho. Ly. Crow. This book blew my mind! And I hadn't realized it until I read it that there has been a distinct lack of aliens in the YA world (when compared to other paranormal creatures). NOT ANYMORE! The 5th Wave fills that hole and THEN some!

This was the kind of book that kept me up until 1 or 2 in the morning because I just kept saying "one more chapter. Okay. One more." Hence it's "Squeaky Book" designation. I found the characters compelling, the story absolutely engrossing, and the morality wonderfully complex.

I was especially pleased that Yancey did a wonderful job switching points of view and still keeping me engaged in EVERY story. Oftentimes switching PoV just frustrates me because there's only one story I care about. Not so with this book. Every time it switched viewpoints I thought, "Yay! They're back!"

If there's one thing that I have to say against this book (and the reason it got 4.5 flowers instead of 5) is that it does have quite a bit of profanity. Actually, it doesn't have all that much, but what it does have is extreme. The reason why that didn't totally throw me off is because my big problem is with pointless profanity. Now, I don't like profanity ever, but I can at least understand/tolerate it when the characters are under duress. And these characters were under a lot of duress.

All in all a FAAAABULOUS book. Yancey doesn't disappoint!

Other Reviews:

• Xpresso Reads (Loved it!)
• Speculating on SpecFic (It was okay)
• A Girl, a Boy and a Blog (REALLY Didn't Like It)

*I am an amazon affiliate. If you purchase this book using my link, I will get a tiny fraction of the purchase, which goes toward contests.