Book Stop Corner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars








Rick Yancey, an American author, has penned a terrific and thoroughly heart-wrenching tale of apocalypse, in his book, The 5th Wave, which is the first book in The 5th Wave series, that unfolds the end of the world situation when the world is taken control by some alien beings by capturing the minds of the humans and in the wake of this humdrum, a high school teenager must make some decisions by trusting no body on this planet to save her little brother.



Synopsis:

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.

Well, I waited a few months to write this review, since I read the book last year and till then I've been waiting impatiently for its movie to hit the screens. So last night I had a movie date with Chloë Grace Moretz, Alex Roe, Nick Robinson and many more, and oh boy, they did not made me regret in watching the movie-adaption of the book, as they did full justice to the characters.

Cassie is trying to fight the alien invasion on her planet. Thinking that she is the sole survivor, she is on a mission to find her brother, who have been taken away by the US Army to some military base for protection. On her way to the military base, she met a stranger named, Evan, who saved her life, when Cassie got wounded by a bullet. But the aliens are taking over the minds of the human and are roaming among the humans, so Cassie knows that she can't trust a single soul on this planet. But Evan's attitude towards her ,made her rethink her decision to trust again. Or trusting Evan will force Cassie to pay a heavy price? On the other hand, away from the forests and away from Cassie and Evan, Ben along with fellow teenagers and children are getting full-on training to defeat the enemy. Will Ben be able to disarm the enemy before it's too late?

Alien invasion stories are really not my thing, but when I first heard about this book from Goodreads and especially looking at all the hype about this book, it made me buy a copy of this book, and I must say, the book is worth every penny. Firstly, the writing of the author is coherent by explaining tiny details into the book with intricacy. The story flows with a medium pace, especially considering the fact that the story is layered with so much adrenaline-rushing action scenes. The setting and the time frame is highly inspired from the present time, thus making the story very believable.

The characters are also drawn with enough realism, and are well-developed, in fact, the main characters grow through out the story, thus making me fall for them. The hardships faced by Cassie made her strong and brave and the waves taught her that she must trust no one. Although Cassie is not all serious type of girl, she has a funny side which came out even in the darkest of the dark moments. Evan is mysterious and thoroughly caring and equally brave like Cassie, whereas Ben protects Cassie's brother, Sammy like his own and would do anything to make sure that Sammy is away from danger.

The only flaw would be the narrative which is bit complicating as the POVs at times got mixed up. The romantic angle between Cassie and Evan is captured with enough passion and emotion, thus making my heart skip a bit with their growing attraction. The author has laid out the story in such fashion that it will make the readers contemplate with the alien invasion problem quite easily.
And not to mention that the story ends with a major cliffhanger, for which I definitely need to grab a copy of the Book 2 very soon.

Verdict: A must read dystopian series as well as the movie is worth watching.

Note to the fans The 5th Wave book: The director, J Blakeson, has done a full justice to the book and on top of that, you don't want to miss Chloë's incredible performance as Cassie. So head out now and catch the movie-adaption of The 5th Wave in your nearest theater.
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Author Info:
Rick is a native Floridian and a graduate of Roosevelt University in Chicago. He earned a B.A. in English which he put to use as a field officer for the Internal Revenue Service. Inspired and encouraged by his wife, he decided his degree might also be useful in writing books and in 2004 he began writing full-time.
Since then he has launched two critically acclaimed series: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, for young readers, and The Highly Effective Detective, for adults. Both books are set in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Rick lived for ten years before returning to Florida.
Visit him here


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