The 5th Wave

Title: The 5th Wave

Author: Rick Yancey

Genre: Dystopia

Rating: 5/5

Cover: 8/10

Oh, my. Not so long ago, I was asking myself where were all the fabulous books this year. Well, here's one of them.

This book is described like a good read for people who liked Hunger Games. And, yeah, sure, it's dystopia, and it's dangerous, and kids fighting, but wow. Don'y scoff at it because you think 'been there done that'. No. Trust me. You haven't. There is nothing like this book out there. Nothing. It has the best characteristics of Hunger Games, and then a heap of its' own wonderful traits. Joined together to make a simply fabulous book. It literally had me on the edge of my seat throughout the book, always trying to guess what was going to happen next, or what was happening then to the other characters.

Because that's part of the book's charm: it has multiple narrators. And while the first switch might come as a bit of a shock, by the end of the book, you can guess in the first paragraph which character is narrating. The switching narrators gave the book an entirely different feeling; more embodied, more full; something that wouldn't have been possible if the story had been told only from one person's POV, so the changing really does add that extra edge to the plot.

I really liked Cassie's fresh voice. Reading her thoughts, it many times made me laugh, because what she says and what she thinks are so in tune with what we adolescents think and say now, that the contrast it creates is just... it's mind-boggling. Cassie's world is destroyed and in ashes. And yet she comes out with some snarky comments that you could hear if you went out for a stroll in the street, and that's just great, because it reminds us that even though her situation is very different from ours, she's still just a teenage girl trying to make sense of a mad world.

Definitely read it. Though, word of warning for fans of future-based dystopia: this isn't in the future. It's very much based in the present world, only their world has alines. There is no special tech, no floaty cars or anything like that. Just your average BMWs, guns and good old-fashioned punches.