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*