A review of The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey
Overview:
The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey is an intricate book about hope, identity, and what it means to be human. Set on our Earth, except aliens have almost completely taken over and the remaining 0.01% of the population is scavenging for resources while living in constant fear. 4 other "waves" have happened leading to the apocalypse which include an EMP, a bomb that flooded the coasts, a deadly plague, and alien hunters called "silencers" sent out to kill humans while looking identical to them. Cassie Sullivan is one of the survivors. She is 17 and is trying to find her lost brother Sam after he is taken away. While searching, she is shot but then subsequently taken in by a mysterious person named Evan Walker. As she learns about him and the fate of her brother she is put into a dangerous situation on who to trust.
My Opinion (spoilers ahead):
I have several conflicting opinions on this book. It may have been one of the most confusing books I have ever read. First off, the easy stuff I didn't like, the book not only changes perspective multiple times but the first time it happens is halfway through the book, it changes to a previously thought dead character, and on top of that it doesn't actually tell us when it changes perspective. A character mentioned early on the in the book named Ben Parish, someone who Cassie knew, randomly appears in the story not only alive but is now the focus of the book and you don't even realize it until the last part of that chapter. This book definitely takes some rereading and while I can appreciate the effect that the author is trying to give here it definitely didn't work for me. The last thing that irritated me is what I like to call the "small world" effect, but first I have to talk about what I really liked in the book, and that is the first half. The first half of the book is not only interesting, but engaging and thought-provoking. For the first half of the book we only see Cassie's perspective as she narrates what happened in her past. This does one of two things very well. First off, it is able to perfectly encapsulate a feeling of complete hopelessness. Throughout this half, there is barely any human interaction not included in flashbacks and it really gets across this feeling of hopelessness, of being the last human for miles, of always being in danger, there is no safe haven or resistance against the aliens, you can only look towards the next day. The second thing this part does well is ask the question of why? Why continue on when literally everything is hopeless? The only reason Cassie is really able to move on is because of her half-baked idea about saving her brother but the main question is directed towards you as the reader? Would you have the strength to keep going? That question lingers in the back of your mind for a long time and is what I feel was the main appeal towards this book. But now the bad stuff, and it all really goes downhill when the perspective switches towards Ben. A lot of the good stuff I mentioned before is nearly erased in this part. It turns out that there is a resistance brewing among humanity and young kids are being taken to fight in the war against the aliens. But in a very underwhelming and unsurprising plot twist it turns out that the revolution was run by aliens the entire time. This completely degrades one of the strengths of one of the book being the sense of isolation and hopelessness. Another problem I feel pops up at this part is when Cassie's brother Sam just randomly ends up in the same squad as Ben through pure chance. The "small world" effect is when the majority of the main characters end up in the exact same spot through pure chance and it really takes away from the sense of vastness and isolation. Throughout the first half of the book we are constantly told that humans have been scattered so much that you could be alone for miles. But when all of these characters end up in the same spot by basically pure chance it feels frustrating, like we were lied to the entire time. To be clear, I don't dislike this part of the book, I just think it is inferior to the first half and what it could have been.
This book is very polarizing and I feel like you're either gonna love or hate this book. If you're a fan of Ender's Game this book is probably good for you. Proceed with caution and just remember that a major change in tone will happen and you're probably gonna have to reread certain parts.
By Eli Khuri-Reid
This is a well written review and I can see that you put a lot of thought into your opinion on different sections of the book. I have read Ender's Game and really liked it, but based on the way you described the plot I probably will not want to check it out. I also very much dislike having to reread large portions of books in order to understand the story so there's another reason I won't be checking this book out.
ReplyDeleteI like your commentary on the parts of the book that you found good and the fact that you contrasted them with the not-so-good parts. I usually like this type of story, but you made Fifth Wave sound pretty cliche and boring (except for the first part). I might check it out so I can agree or disagree with you. Good, well-written critical post!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I especially liked the part when you talked about what you described as the "small world" effect. I have also read books where characters just seem to meet by chance. This effect probably occurs because the author wasn't able to come up with a way to continue their story naturally. At least you found part of this book interesting, so it wasn't a complete waste in reading it.
ReplyDeleteNice review! The way you displayed your thoughts through your writing was brilliant and your opinions were very cohesive. I liked the structure of your post and how you described the plot so well. However, it would be easier on the eyes if you split the post up into paragraphs instead of just one long block of text. Overall, the way you dissected the lessons to be learned and the different moods of the book was awesome.
ReplyDeleteNice job! I have read this book before (or at least the first 3 quarters before I gave up), and I wholeheartedly agree with your point about how confusing the book was. The flashbacks that the main character had is what I remember being the most confusing for me. This review was well-written and gets to the point. However, Ender's Game should not be insulted by being mentioned in the same review. The two books are nothing like each other unless you highlight the small detail of "evil aliens". Also, one small suggestion is to make more paragraphs. My eyes were getting pretty confused there. Other than that, great post!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I agree that books that are too confusing can be disappointing, as it was with Ender's Game for me. The concept of the book seems very interesting, and based on this review, I might want to read it. The thing about the book switching perspectives seems like it might be a cool shock to me, so I think I would actually like that. As long as it doesn't stop what's going on with the main characters for a very long time, I would be fine with that. This review is very well written! Good job!
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