Tuesday Reviews: The Last Star by Rick Yancey

Title: The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Release Date: May 24, 2016

Format Read: Hardback

Rating: 5 stars

Description from Goodreads: 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 lie 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.

Okay, if you're reading this, I'm going to assume you've already read INFINITE SEA, book two in The 5th Wave series. Having assumed that, I'm going to use INFINITE SEA spoilers in this review. If you haven't read book two, you need to leave. Because this review will spoil many things, and I'd rather not do that to you.

And now for the review.

As you know, book two left off with Razor blasting Teacup to oblivion to free Ringer. Poundcake blowing the hotel up with himself, Grace, and Evan Walker inside of it. Ben Parish managing, once again, not to die from that God-awful gunshot wound. And miraculously, Evan Walker escaping Dubuque and coming to meet up with Cassie, Ben, Sams, Meghan, and Dumbo.

Now, in case you didn't read my review of THE 5TH WAVE or INFINITE SEA, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

The only reason,

literally the ONLY reason,

that I decided to read THE INFINITE SEA is because I told a friend that I wasn't going to finish the series because Evan Walker died at the end of 5TH WAVE. I enjoyed the book, but I wasn't attached enough to the characters to finish the trilogy out, because Evan Walker was my favorite and Evan Walker died. Thankfully, said friend made eye contact and gave a slight shake of his head. Just enough for a spark of hope to ignite inside of me.

So I read INFINITE SEA. And for a good while there, I thought Evan was going to die. Again. IT'S OKAY, HE DIDN'T DIE IN BOOK ONE BUT HE'S GOING TO DIE IN BOOK TWO. And then Cassie's last chapter in the book brought him back to us, and all was well. I was lad, but I also knew that there was another book coming, and it very well had the potential to take Evan away from me.

But I read it anyway.

And now I sit here writing this review, feeling like I took a trip to Dubuque myself, because guys, this book has completely wrecked me. I was right to save my five stars for the last book, because ho-ly geez.

Going into it, I knew three main characters were going to die-- Rick confirmed that during his tour for THE LAST STAR, and I thought I had it figured out as to who would die, but I had it all so wrong. Not only did the deaths shock me, but the way he tied up the plot with a nice little ribbon and left me emotionally raw and crying and in denial was amazing.

This finale lacked nothing. Everything that made INFINITE SEA incredible was here, plus so many plot twists that I never saw coming that made the story ten times better. Obviously, I'm not going to talk about them so that I don't spoil you, but just know that you probably won't see them coming. I only saw one of them coming, one of the ones that had to do with Ringer, and even the way THAT turned out ended up shocking me.

I absolutely loved this book, and I cannot wait to go find my friend that's already read it so I can spazz out about everything with him.

For those of you who have read it, or are reading it now, or will read it: If you want to discuss this book, COME FIND ME. I will happily discuss it with you on a more in-depth level on a platform that promises no spoilers for the general public.

Five stars from me for THE LAST STAR. I can't believe it's over. I can't believe what I just read. But then again, I can. It was the perfect ending to a very fierce, very action-packed trilogy that has just joined the ranks of my top ten series finishers.

Happily,

Stephanie