The 5th Wave Audible – Unabridged

The 5th Wave Audible – Unabridged ridged
Author: Rick Yancey ID: B00CDWRUQ0

The Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey. After the first wave, only darkness remains. After the second, only the lucky escape. And after the third, only the unlucky survive. After the fourth wave, only one rule applies: Trust no one. Now, it’s the dawn of the fifth 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.
Done.
Audible Audio EditionListening Length: 12 hours and 45 minutesProgram Type: AudiobookVersion: UnabridgedPublisher: Listening LibraryAudible.com Release Date: May 7, 2013Whispersync for Voice: ReadyLanguage: EnglishID: B00CDWRUQ0 Best Sellers Rank: #23 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Children’s Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy #35 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Children’s Books > Fiction
There is something about alien invasion that I find so utterly terrifying, yet so compelling. When I first heard about The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, I knew without a doubt that I had to read it. Previously, I had read Yancey’s Monstrumologist books and found myself utterly impressed with his writing style – pacing and plot were not sacrificed for syntax. Yancey’s science fiction novel absolutely lived up to the expectations I held for it – namely that it would be strongly written, make me think, and have me invested in the characters.

The Others have attacked humanity through different waves. The first wave of attacks leaves people without use of electricity. The second wave results in coastal destruction. The third wave brings plague. The fourth wave involves the Others, the aliens, hunting the last specks of humanity. So, what does the fifth wave of attack have in store? Yancey’s plot weaves loss, fear, and questions of what comprises humanity in an epic, pulsating story. Told through a variety of point of views, The 5th Wave is about a girl, Cassie Sullivan, who decides to save her brother Sammy despite the insurmountable odds against her. Along the way, she meets Evan Walker who is a bit of a mysterious loner dude, but he just may be Cassie’s only shot at rescuing Sammy.

Cassie Sullivan is hardcore. With an M-16 she follows the mantra, if something is shooting at you, shoot back. She was not always that way though. Before the invasion, Cassie was a frizzy haired girl that no one noticed. Yet, she adapts to her new life. Straight up, Cassie is incredibly compelling. I rooted for her to come out okay and unscathed for the whole of the book. I loved that she used her brains before she uses her M-16.
As a mother of teens, I often read YA as a means to see what they are reading as well as have informed discussions about the books to enhance their learning. Over the past few years I have enjoyed commercial staples like The Hunger Games and Divergent, discovered hidden gems (such as the criminally over-looked Unwind) and endured moronic drivel like the Twilight series. As others have mentioned, I had high hopes for The 5th Wave based on stellar reviews and what appeared to be an interesting premise.

Although the book started out promisingly, I had to force myself to complete it as it became more and more derivative and tedious – borrowing from TV shows like Falling Skies and books like The Hunger Games (and even The Passage) in a manner that bored and annoyed me. There is so little in the way of original thought here, I am stunned that the book has been so well received. Characters that seemed intriguing when they were fist introduced quickly become so predictable that you could almost anticipate their actions and statements before you turned the page.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the whole concept of the aliens and their mission in the story is not fleshed out enough to make it interesting or compelling. In fact, I found myself saying "oh please" out loud once or twice as the whole invasion seems constructed as a way for the characters to have certain experiences as opposed to a well-developed concept about these invaders and the larger implications for humankind.

While I do realize this is meant to be YA material, I still thought the book was far too one-dimensional and would bore most savvy young readers who have come to expect more for the whole dystopian genre.
"Do you know why we will win this war? Why we cannot lose? Because we know how you think. We’ve been watching you for six thousand years. When the pyramids rose in the Egyptian desert, we were watching you. When Caesar burned the library at Alexandria, we were watching you. When you crucified that first-century Jewish peasant, we were watching. When Columbus set foot in the New World…when you fought a war to free millions of your fellow humans from bondage…when you learned how to split the atom…when you first ventured beyond your atmosphere…What were we doing?"–quotation from The 5th Wave

Why, Mr. Alien, you were watching us and twiddling your symbolic alien mustache of course! Yet that six thousand years of creeping on humanity doesn’t seem to have done you much good. Since your plan to kill the Earthlings and take possession of the planet (if that even IS your plan–unfortunately, Rick Yancey has left your intentions vague), well, that plan kind of sucked.

Yancey’s alien species has decided to destroy humanity in waves–1st wave, 2nd wave, 3rd wave, 4th wave. Almost 7 billion humans, dead. Now it’s the 5th wave, a wave that will challenge what it means to be human. Here’s my question, though: if the aliens are oh-so-smart thanks to millions of years of evolution and as evinced by their fancy mothership, why are they killing humanity in waves? Why are they reverting to methods that allow plucky teenagers to fight back? Why can’t they simply exterminate all humans in a single blow?

…I don’t know if there are any answers to those questions, so my first issue with The 5th Wave is a basic logic fail. Sorry, but I do not accept these premises!

Considering the 7 billion death toll, the aliens are deadly, but to me, they were never scary.
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