Bookworm Blurbs

I was assigned this book for a young adult literature class that I'm taking in the fall. I was definitely intrigued about it - I'm not a sci-fi fan, but I heard that it was comparable to the Hunger Games, and while that isn't my favorite series, it's definitely a good one. So I was really excited to start The 5th Wave. 

At first, I wasn't really impressed. It's well-written, especially for YA - it's not overly simplistic but it's not overwhelmingly challenging either. However, at first I didn't like Cassie, the main character. She's very snarky and frankly she's really unnecessarily nasty sometimes (which, looking back, I guess she's entitled to - after all, pretty much everyone she knows is dead). Also, as stated before, I'm not a big fan of sci-fi, so I found it really hard to get into the whole alien apocalypse thing. And on top of all of this, the first section is really scattered; it's a mix of Cassie's memories and the present and it can be difficult to differentiate between the two and remember exactly what's happening when the story does finally come back to the present. So for the first quarter of the book, I wasn't feeling it at all and was only really reading it because it was required of me.

But then, out of nowhere, it started to get really, really good. Soon enough, I couldn't put it down. Everyone is interconnected somehow, and I love books like that. My favorite character by far was Evan. At times, he was a little TOO perfect, but I just really couldn't help loving him; he's just wonderful. If you think about it, the plot is a little predictable, but if you just allow yourself to get engulfed in the story, you might not be able to predict it. 

I would recommend this book to anyone high school age or older. There is some pretty offensive language that I personally wouldn't allow middle school students to read. I would definitely recommend this to reluctant readers, especially boys. It's not a typical YA book at all and I think it could really appeal to reluctant readers in ways that other books might not. Definitely a good read!