A Review of THE FIFTH WAVE by Rick Yancey

I'll admit, since becoming a writer, I've gotten critical of everything I read. Instead of thinking, hey this is a good story, a little slow, but still fun--I'll think, hey they're cluttering the page with adverbs, why so much back story, is that adjective really necessary?

That's an example of my thought process. It's called the writer's curse, and I've got a bad case of it. Whenever I do book reviews on here, keep in mind that I'm very picky.

That being said, I loved THE FIFTH WAVE by Rick Yancey.

It starts with a quote from Stephen Hawking, which basically says that if aliens were to visit our world, the outcome would be similar to the Europeans discovery of the Native Americans--disastrous.

I've always liked the quote, and I was interested to see Mr. Yancey's interpretation of it.

The beginning of the book intrigued me. It wasn't the typical aliens vs. humans. We didn't see any aliens for half the book, didn't even know what they looked like, which I think added to the tension. The world's in shambles. Ninety percent of the population has been wiped out. Our heroine, Cassy, is alone.

The middle of the book sagged for me. I was interested in Cassy's story, and then we switch to another view point. While this story wasn't bad and certainly entertained, it wasn't what I wanted to read. I wanted Cassy's story, not someone else's story.

Finally we switch back to her story. We get hints of a romance, but for me, it was too slow. I don't read romance, but I like a little in my stories, and I felt this romance could use some TLC.

After that the book see-sawed. Her view point, the other guy's, her's again. My head spun after awhile. Just give me her story, dang it. She's the one I'm interested in.

The end of the book didn't feel satisfying. I needed more closure. Even if Mr. Yancey intends to write a sequel, I still want more closure than what I got.

You see? Told you I'm picky. In all, I enjoyed reading the book, and I will definitely read the next book. Until then, does anyone have suggestions of what I might read next?