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

Tuesday Reviews: The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Title: The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Release Date: September 16, 2014

Format Read: Hardback

Rating: 4.5 stars

Description from Goodreads: How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others' ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven't seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

After finishing THE 5TH WAVE, I wasn't too sure whether or not I wanted to continue with the series or not. I get attached to characters, not to plot, and (This is a spoiler for book one. But if you're reading this review, you've probably already read book one. Anyway, here's your chance. If you haven't read THE 5TH WAVE, skip to the next paragraph.) since Evan was my favorite character in the book, and he didn't exactly look like he'd come out of things alive, I was ready to stop reading the entire series.

Thankfully, I expressed my thoughts on this to a friend, who assured me that I should keep reading because the series got better***

So I read book two.

And let me tell you, INFINITE SEA >>>>> 5TH WAVE

EASILY FIVE TIMES BETTER THAN BOOK ONE.

While the POVs were still inconsistent, I was able to enjoy it so much more this time, because THE INFINITE SEA didn't switch between Cassie and Ben and back and forth a bajillion times. In this book, we get POVs from Cassie, Ben, Ringer, Poundcake, and one other character that I shall refrain from spoiling for you. One POV may be five chapters, while one may be a hundred pages, but this time it was much more enjoyable due to CLIFFHANGERS at each POV end, and the way that it swapped between more than just two characters.

I also feel like, with THE 5TH WAVE being such an original alien invasion story, THE INFINITE SEA was more of an adventure. Because we didn't know where the story was supposed to go. There were no guidelines to follow, because this isn't your typical, green-alien-from-outer-space invasion book, this is new and fresh, and just because the aliens showed up, that didn't mean that the next step was going to be a full out humans vs aliens war. So there was the element of surprise with everything that happened, which made the reading experience so much fun. 

Also, the character development, just from one book to another, was spectacular. I could feel each of the kids grow, even the secondary characters whose POVs we didn't get to see from, and it was just as heart-breaking (because circumstances) as it was enjoyable (because good writing on Yancey's part).

All in all, THE INFINITE SEA was another solid read from Rick Yancey. I did enjoy it a lot more than 5TH WAVE, but I'm saving that five star review for the last book, because I know it's going to be worthy of it. If you read THE 5TH WAVE, you absolutely must continue on with book two. It's definitely necessary, and you'll be missing out on some of the most original storylines I've ever come across.  Four and a half stars for THE INFINITE SEA, and I'm now moving on to THE LAST STAR.

*SCREAMS*

Happily,

Stephanie

***SPOILER ALERT: EVAN LIVES *DANCES*

Tuesday Reviews: The 5th Wave

Title: The 5th Wave (5th Wave #1)

Author: Rick Yancey

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

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Format Read: Hardback

Rating: Four stars

Description from Goodreads: 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.

I finished THE 5TH WAVE last Friday, at like four in the morning because I couldn't go to bed without finding out what happened in the end. Which ended up being a terrible idea, since the book ended in a bit of a character cliffhanger, and I ended up having to spam my best friend and gets some answers, since I know it'll be a while before I finish my current TBR and can get my hands on THE INFINITE SEA. But anyway, THE 5TH WAVE wasn't quite what I had expected...

The concept of this story was ingenious. The idea of aliens looking like us and invading earth, causing us to not be able to trust anyone-- to turn on each other-- it's a perfect showing of human nature. And the plot was so extremely juicy and enrapturing that I hated having to put the book down. I have a soft spot for sibling rescues, especially when the sibling is as adorable and perfect as Sammy, so this story had all of the elements that stole my attention and made me want to read faster. 

It even had fantastic quotes. There were quite a few good ones, but I wanted to share my favorite with you. Part of the quote is spoilery, so I'm going to cut that chunk out with a "---".

"But if I'm it, the last of my kind, the last page of human history, like hell I'm going to let that story end this way. 

--- 

Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity.

And if this is humanity's last war, then I am the battlefield."

Said quote gave me chills and set me reading faster. Just saying.

I loved nearly every part of this book, though I did predict most of the twists and turns. (I think that happens when you read dystopia and post-apocalyptic YA- things start to seem familiar and you can draw parallels to predict the outcomes- but as long as the story's main elements and characters are fresh, I don't mind.) The only things that I really didn't like about the story was the inconsistency with which it switched POV's, and the way that it backtracked. For example, one instance was a Cassie pov, and it ran through her day, and then when it switched to a different pov, it backtracked time, documenting THAT character's day. 

Those are the two small things that bugged me, so obviously it was a pretty solid story. 

And I have to admit, reading this book was a bit of an interesting experience, because in many ways, Cassie is a lot like me. Her snark, determination, dedication, are a few to name. But there are also ways in which we differ, and those ways were tremendous. The biggest one was the way she treated Evan, in which we were exact opposites, but I cannot explain in case some of you reading this haven't read the books yet. 

I would give THE 5TH WAVE four stars, and recommend it to those who enjoy thought-provoking alien encounter stories, or dystopian/post-apocalyptic. Even though I'm getting to where it's hard for me to read books from this genre, THE 5TH WAVE was a fantastic read, and I'm glad that I finally picked it up.