The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

GoodReads Summary: 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.

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Publication date: 07/05/13

As a sci-fi fan I am always on the look out for a YA sci-fi book that will blow me away, and last year that book was Partials by Dan Wells. This year, Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave has conquered that spot, and even though it's only April I just know that nothing is going to take its place.

Sometimes Cassie feels like she is the only survivor left on Earth. She has lost everything, expect for her brother - and that is what drives her, the promise she made to find him. Yancey does a brilliant job of capturing the voice of a 17 year old girl. Armed with sarcasm and a dry sense of humour, Cassie's character really spoke to me. The 5th Wave is not only told from Cassie's POV, though. We also hear from a young man whose revenge is fueled by his guilt over abandoning his sister at the mercy of the Others. Evan, a mysterious and complex character, and Sammy, Cassie's brother who for someone so young is incredibly brave and intelligent.

But it's not just the main characters that make an impact, Yancey has created a wonderful set of secondary characters that are both well developed and crucial to the plot. It's obvious that Yancey is an incredibly talented writer, the tone of the story switched between sarcastic, and humorous to serious and philosophical. Each each character had a distinctive voice, and had deal with their own moral dilemmas and challenges.

The romance developed rather quickly, but I can't say it's the worst romance I've ever read. To me, it was just there.

I could go on about my love for this book, but I wont. Instead I'll leave you with this: The 5th Wave plays a toll on every emotion. In a world where you have to constantly look over you shoulder, and no one is quite who they seem who can you trust?

I am the one not running, not staying, but facing.
Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. 
And if this is humanity's last war, then I am the battlefield.

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