The 5th Wave

YA dystopia has become a popular one from the past few years. The Hunger Games, for me, started it all off. The teenage girl, wrapped up in an undesirable location, compelled to compete in some sadistic game, then to save the country by being the face of a revolution. A lovely tale, original and phenomenal. Every other YA dystopian novel then becomes a rip-off. Divergent, The Maze Runner, Prodigy and the list is endless. Fortunately, for you eager people who want to read this review to hear positive things about the 5th wave, I’m a humble, mild fangirl who loves everything, no matter how cliche it is. Except for Divergent, sorry Divergent fans, I didn’t see what you saw. That REALLY was a rip off from the Hunger Games.

The 5th Wave is not off the hook, either. I saw sprinkle of the Hunger Games and a pinch of the Host. The idea of surviving on one's own had a Hunger Games element to it while I was reading. The aliens, but humans has a very Hosty feeling too. But as a stupid, blind, but mild fangirl, I bypassed it and simply enjoyed the story. The alien apocalypse is as cliche as all the other ones that have been told. Like the mothership and what not. Except for the actual aliens themselves, they looked like humans. So the first wave: cut the power, second wave: earthquakes, tsunamis and all hells breaking loose, third wave: disease, the plague, DEATH, the fourth wave: the Others were among the humans, but there was no telling who’s who. And now the 5th wave, I wonder what that could be…

Cassie Sullivan is the protagonist of this novel and I really love the way her parts are written. She’s sassy, witty and wise all at the same time. For a long time, she’s on her own. Her parents are dead, her brother has been sent off to a Wonderland programme and Cassie is entirely on her own. Sometimes she thinks she could be the last human on Earth. But then she encounters Evan Walker and of course he’s as beautiful as every other cliche love interest is, in these YA novels. In the Hunger Games, Peeta was supposed to be average-looking, but the movies glorified him as this good-looking baker’s boy who was going to steal Katniss’ heart. Film-making does that you know. But Rick went for the good-looking guy in the book as well! How very cheesy, but it’s what makes teenage girls’ hearts melt. You know, those crazy fangirls who scream at fucking anything. I am NOT one of them. I’m mild, normal, so normal. NORMAL. Like Klopp, I’m the Normal One. So Cassie meets Evan and he nurtures her and makes her strong again for like 3 to 4 weeks. And of course, he falls in love with her, what else was he going to do? Abandon her? Just be a good male and look after her without the intent of stealing a kiss? No, he was going to fall in love with her and she was going to let him, but she was not going to admit that she loved him too. Not right away. Like typical YA novels do. Apart from Twilight, that piece of shit. So they fall asleep with each other, holding each other and kissing each other. That is when Cassie’s perspective comes to an end.

Meet Mr. Benjamin Parish. Or should I say, Mr. Naive, Thick-headed, Stereotypical Jock. He had been Cassie crush in high school, but since it literally is the end of the world, and she’s met this new, beautiful “man”, she can forget about him. But we get to see Ben’s perspective. He is put through to the Wonderland programme where, the officials, or “authority” or government people have come to protect the children in this alien apocalypse. They will train and fight like soldier, to be protected from the big wide world. The power in this Camp Haven, as they say, is working. How the fuck did they get it working? Why did not one think of that? Ben, you idiot, you are among the aliens that have come to kill your ass. Ben is put into squad 51, with warzone names. Ben is Zombie now, there’s Ringer, Teacup, Poundcake, Dumbo and Nugget, who is Sammy, Cassie’s little brother. How very convenient for the plot to have Cassie’s little bro with Cassie’s old high school crush. She’s going to save Sams and reunite with Ben Parish. Not coincidental at all.

So by the end, we figure out that Evan is one of those alien people, but he’s also human. Like okay, Host much? He helps Cassie break into Camp Haven, she rescues her brother, encounters Ben and they try to escape from Camp Haven, because they all know the truth about the 5th wave. Do I dare divulge what it is? Nah, fuck off, go read the book. Evan dies in the end by the way, lol. Or does he?