The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave is about the 5th wave of an alien invasion. On the back of the book it reads:

"THE 1ST WAVE 

TOOK OUT HALF A MILLION PEOPLE.

THE 2ND WAVE

PUT THAT NUMBER TO SHAME.

THE 3RD WAVE

LASTED A LITTLE LONGER, TWELVE WEEKS... FOUR BILLION DEAD.

IN THE 4TH WAVE,

YOU CAN'T TRUST THAT PEOPLE ARE STILL PEOPLE.

AND THE 5TH WAVE?

NO ONE KNOWS. BUT IT'S COMING."

This is what drew me in to the book. I wanted to know what this 5th wave was but was pulled deeper into the story when I met Cassie (for Cassiopeia) in the first section of the book.

Cassie was a normal 16 year old who spent her days dreaming out boys, gossiping with her best friend and fawning over her little brother. That was before the first wave hit. Now Cassie is a girl desperate to survive the invasion long enough to get her brother back from the people who put him on a big, yellow school bus full of children before killing her father while she watched from her hiding spot. All she has to go on is rumours of a camp said to be located at an old military base, a promise she made to find her brother again and his bear (who she has mixed feelings about). Her narration is full of sarcasm, wit and raw emotion which leave you wanting her to fulfil her promise.

Cassie is not the only person we hear from in the book. 

We read about what happened to Ben Parrish, also referred to as Zombie, who was Cassie's crush in high school. We hear about what he goes through when he gets rescued from his camp when it is under attack and cured of the disease that has taken out billions before him. He talks about his training and his horrible Drill Sergeant but also his squad who he cares deeply about. The squad is made up of Flintstone (who is Ben's age, "with his big head and unibrow"), Tank ("the skinny, quick-tempered farm boy"), Dumbo ("the twelve year old with big ears"), Poundcake ("the eight year old who never talks"), Oompa ("the chubby kid with crooked teeth"), Teacup ("the meanest seven year old you'll ever meet"), Nugget who is Cassie's little brother, and later Ringer who is the best shot in the camp. We find out a little about what happened to Ben when the first wave hit too and what happened to his family that left him alone in a world that no longer belonged to the people who lived there.

You also get to see Cassie's brother's story after he get on the school bus. Sammy get taken to Camp Haven, the same place that Ben was taken to . We see Sammy go through the same routine as Ben before being assigned to the squad of Private Zombie and being given the nickname of Nugget. We see Nugget and Zombie form a bond over those they have lost and when Zombie is given his first mission as a recruit, he promises that he will come back for Nugget. 

We also hear a little bit from the "Silencer", who later turns out to be Evan Walker. When we hear from Evan he has just shot Cassie in the leg and has watched her dive under a car to get away from him. We see him asking himself why he didn't kill Cassie after stalking her for some time. When Cassie comes out from her hiding place to confront Evan, he runs because he knows that he cannot kill her. Later he saves her from freezing to death and nurses her back to health in his farmhouse. Thus begins the cycle of mistrust and deceit between the two but it ultimately ends on a high note.  

The plot of this book is like nothing I have read before. Yes, it is an alien invasion and yes, there is fighting and conflict but there is also love and personal conflicts for all of the characters. It is also interesting how all of the separate stories in the book intertwine and come together at the end. Though the ending is in a way a happy one, I wouldn't consider it to such a thing. Yes, the group got away from the camp with only one suspected casualty. Yes, the death camp got destroyed. Yes, everyone kept their promises and are all together. But the conflict is not over, the aliens are still trying to destroy the human race and still have a cargo plane full of recruits and lots of equipment. There is still a threat that they group want to be safe from. 

Rick Yancey's writing is incredible. He makes you feel like you are listening to his characters talk to you and gives them all their own personalities. By the end of the book you don't feel that these characters are characters anymore, they become people. People that you don't want to let go of. He also writes in a way that makes you question your assumptions throughout the book. He slips in metaphors that you have to go back and re-read to fully understand. Rick Yancey is truly a writing genius. 

As soon as I finished this book I picked up the next one to continue reading about all of these incredible characters that Rick Yancey has created and to follow their stories further. The Infinite Sea is what I am currently reading and so far the book is almost as good as the first. 

A book by an author you've never read before

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

What can I say about Eleanor and Park? This has been running through my head since I finished reading the book. This is one of the few book that I have had mixed feelings about. I don't know if this is has anything to do with it taking me three weeks to read or not.

Whenever I read anything from this book it was always so sweet and relatable. These were two people my age who had found each other when they least expected it. Not only were they falling in love but they were both trying to discover who they wanted to be at the same time.

Eleanor was one of five children and was incredibly insecure. At times I felt that Eleanor's insecurities got in the way of the story. Yes, she was self-conscious; yes, she had an unhealthy home life; yes, she was a hormonal teenage girl but there comes a point where 
this being mentioned all of the time can become a bit too much. I understood it being address because it was a large part of who Eleanor was and was ultimately the reason for the ending but I felt that is was brought up too often. 

Park's background on the other hand was only briefly addressed throughout the book. I felt this allowed you to focus more on the development of the two's relationship. What little we found out about Park's family made us understand who he was and there was no more than those few details needed. It allowed me to realise that when he was with Eleanor he felt like they could end up like his parents and he liked the idea of this. 

The two's relationship was admittedly a strange one but sort of expected. Both were outcasts for different reasons but in a way found comfort in each other because of this. They bonded over their love for comic books and music and ultimately fell in love in the process. 

The ending just summed up the book for me. It was both sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. Park had written letter after letter to Eleanor with no reply and continued to do so even after he admitted to himself that no reply was ever going to come. He was slowly continuing with his life but never forgetting about Eleanor. Park did get his reply though in the form of a postcard that was "just three words long". In my opinion this simple reply seemed to remind him why he has fallen in love with Eleanor in the first place.

It has been speculated about what those three words were, however. People have questioned whether it was the long awaited "I love you" or if it was something else entirely. It could be "I miss you" or even something as simple and reassuring as "I am ok" for all we know. The author is giving readers no answer though meaning that we are all left to find our own answer to what could be on the postcard. 

What do you think those three words could be?