Review of The 5th Wave Series by Rick Yancey

Hey blog readers!
I just finished THE LAST STAR by Rick Yancey a few days ago, and figured that since I was intending to blog about the first two books several months ago before it came out (and obviously failed to), it's time to actually blog about the whole trilogy.


Let's get right to it! This series has been a blockbuster hit, and is riding the YA apocalyptic wave (pun totally intended) to success. I have mixed feelings about this, as I think there are much more worthy books that have come out recently that I personally loved more and didn't receive as much success when I believe they should have. But at the same time, I definitely think this trilogy is worth reading.

Goodreads Book Description: 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.

My ratings: 5th Wave- 3 couches, The Infinite Sea and The Last Star 4 couches

Review of the series: The 5th Wave was definitely my least favorite of the three.  This book stars Cassie, who is one of the most infuriating and annoying protagonists that I've read in a long time. I'll admit I skimmed through most of her first person narrative, because her point of view is seriously grating. However, I do believe that Yancey wrote her very intentionally this way, as the other characters (particularly Ringer later on who may possibly rival me in detesting Cassie), accurately describe her in a pretty similar way. Cassie as a character does work for a lot of other bloggers/readers, so just know that this was just my personal reaction to the character. The premise of the book is pretty similar to most other apocalyptic books of its genre; for some reason there are waves that are knocking down the human population, possibly alien in origin, and everyone is just struggling to survive. And within that is a love story between Cassie and Evan. Evan is an interesting character and I gravitated much more towards his part of the story, but because of my issues with Cassie, the love story didn't quite work for me. Because the book ended on an intriguing note, I decided to give the next book a shot.

I'm glad I did because The Infinite Sea was in my opinion, a much (infinitely? lol) better book, with better characters, notably Ringer, who let's face it, is just as bad-ass a female character as you can get. We also get introduced to another character, which I won't reveal who it is as it's kind of spoilerish. Interestingly enough, the mere fact that this story is not really about Evan and Cassie's love story is the very reason that many people were turned off by this and the next book. For me, this was a major plus, as you might suspect from my review so far. I personally thought that these other character arcs were worth sticking around for, and by the end of The Infinite Sea, I knew I'd be picking up the third.

The Last Star unfortunately brings back Cassie, but she has to share the limelight with the other characters. Ringer gets her fair share of action, which I was delighted to see, and the trilogy ends in a way that I did not know was coming. Total kudos to Yancey for taking that risk. I definitely had fun reading this book and while at certain places it dragged or got too dark, the characters and story were worth reading to the bitter end.

Overall, if you are hankering for a solid apocalyptic read, the 5th Wave is not a bad way to go. Some great characters, Ringer in particular, and some really nice twists.

Would love to see what the rest of you thought in the comments!