"The 5th Wave" by Rick Yancey~ Astonishing Must Read!!

SUMMARY :

"Remarkable, not-to-be-missed-under-any-circumstances."—Entertainment Weekly (Grade A)

The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th 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.

"Wildly entertaining . . . I couldn't turn the pages fast enough."—Justin Cronin, The New York Times Book Review

"A modern sci-fi masterpiece . . . should do for aliens what Twilight did for vampires."—USAToday.com

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Penguins Young Readers Group
Pages:  480
Genre:  Alien Invasion/Sci-Fy
YA Fiction/Crossover for Adults
Author:  Rick Yancy
Website:  http://www.rickyancey.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Rick Yancey (http://www.rickyancey.com) is the author of several adult novels and the memoir Confessions of a Tax Collector. His first young-adult novel, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal. In 2010, his novel, The Monstrumologist, received Michael L. Printz Honor, and the sequel, The Curse of the Wendigo, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. When he isn't writing or thinking about writing or traveling the country talking about writing, Rick is hanging out with his family.

 
Some video of the book!!

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Every so often I pop into YouTube to see what the YA group is reading.  In the last couple of months I found that an inordinate amount of them were reading "The 5th Wave."  I had to get the book to find out what the storm was about.  When the majority of them are raising their hands and raving about a book...in the vein of "Hunger Games" and "Divergent..."  I pay attention.  I'm so glad I took the chance on this one.  It's a one-of-a-kind read for the YAs right now and a great crossover fiction for adults, too. 

Rick Yancey isn't an author I'm familiar with, but I'll be waiting for his next book, I can tell you.  He has a way with words that kept me on the edge of my seat.  His plot was well devised, and his development of characters was breath-taking.  I found myself relating to Cassie immediately as she wondered if she was the last human alive to fight the battle against an alien invasion.  Her courage and humanity was palpable.  Great characters ran throughout the novel; too many to list.  Suffice it to say you'll love them all.  Even the aliens were engaging in their own ways, and to say more about this would give away too much!

This is a novel unlike any I've read about aliens and human interaction, and I've read a few.  Easy to read and understand, for one.  I had no trouble featuring just what Yancey meant throughout the book.  It was horrifying at times, immensely touching at others, and filled with action and suspense.

As the book drove to the climax, I was riveted.  I found myself reading faster and faster to get to the conclusion.  And, I wasn't disappointed.  This is an extraordinary book that will hold your attention throughout and capture your imagination.  I felt it could all happen to us without a doubt.

Highly recommended.

5 stars                 Deborah/TheBookishDame

Giveaway & New Author Intro.: C.Y. Bourgeois ~ Author of "Visions of You"

Summary of the book:  Shelby Leight is a wise-cracking, lighthearted teenager, looking forward to a fun-filled senior year in high school. She already knows the pain of losing a loved one, but has worked her way through the grief to come out on the other side.
Then, in the fall of 1975, in the sleepy, picturesque town of Palmer, Alaska, the unthinkable happens. There’s a serial killer on the hunt and one of Shelby’s best friends has disappeared.
The sudden loss of her friend in such a violent manner awakens something in her, an ability to communicate with the dead….visions. In the midst of all this, Shelby falls in love for the first time only to discover the shocking truth about her boyfriend.
Can she accept him for who – what he is? Can her friends and family accept him?
Shelby has a vision of the killer stalking another of her friends and is desperate to stop him before it’s too late. Instead of an enjoyable senior year of high school, Shelby and her friends must come to grips with life and death – and all they hold – in their quest to find a monster before he kills again.



A nutshell excerpt:

You know how we make a smooth transition from an old year to a new year? How, despite the big fuss everybody makes on New Year’s Eve swearing the new one will be better than the last, nothing mind-blowing happens with the changing of the calendar? How life just marches on tossing things your way, here and there, for better or worse? Well, on January 1^st as we hung up our shiny new calendar, we looked forward with eager anticipation to a year that had to be better than the last. After all, we said, it can’t be any worse. Famous last words...



Even though it started out just like any other year, 1975 turned out to be quite a pivotal time in our lives. Not due to popular songs or oil pipelines; in part due to the ending of a long and brutal war that killed thousands of fathers, sons, and brothers along with my own, but mostly because of what happened later right here in the sleepy little town of Palmer, Alaska.


About the Author :

C.Y. Bourgeois is a freshman author and an avid reader. After having spent countless enjoyable hours over the years reading other people's narratives, she realized that she too has stories to tell.
C.Y. considers herself a native of Alaska, having lived there since the age of two. She and her husband recently moved to northernIdahowhere they now reside with their two dogs and three cats and where she is currently working on her second Shelby Leight novel, Visions of Mortality.

Find her on her website at:  http://www.cybourgeois.com/home


The Dame's Review :
This is a first attempt by an author who has a wonderful comedic streak!  I enjoyed her wit and she had moments when she caught me off guard. I really laughed out loud when I least expected to.  But, all in all, it's still a first-timer's attempt at writing.  Much of the writing itself is good; however, Ms Bourgeois could have made a much bigger splash had she taken time to get an editor who knew  how to help her craft her book better.  It was simply too wordy and weighty.  Which can be deadly in this era of the quick read and run...

The characters in this book are very good.  I liked Paul, the sadly creepy, "sanguine" teen aged boy; and  Shelby, the main character, a clumsy and slap-happy girl who sees the light visions.  Shelby is nothing if not charming; flying, screaming, generally "falling" with all caution to the wind in pursuit of a predator/serial killer of young girls.  And, Paul is the strong, gorgeous but mysteriously too different, hunk of the 1970's post-Vietnam era.  Fantastic characters...weighed down by too much fluff.

What's also really good about this book is the time setting.  I love that Bourgeois chose to set the cast in this post-Vietnam era.  Not much has been written in this time frame, particularly having to do with fantasy/syfy, so she's really found a niche if she can fine tune her work and snap up the space quickly.  The cult references to such things as "Lost in Space," and Springteen's "Born To Run," help the book, not only in cementing the era, but in buying Baby Boomer readers.  It's great fun to be pulled in to such a novel, speaking as a child of the '60s and 70's.  :]   Trekkies also get a shout out here.

In summary,  I wanted very much to like this book.  I did like a great deal about it, but I can't recommend it to my readers at this point.  C. Y. Bourgeois has promise.  She has a wonderful flavor to her storytelling.  A flare, really.  The only problem is that her light is hidden under a bushel....it has to be dug out to be appreciated.

That being said, this is actually a fun book to read if you know the pitfalls!  I'm offering a GIVEAWAY to anyone who is going to read it and review it for my blog within the next month.  Just leave a comment and your email to be chosen.

My advice:  Buy yourself a great editor, C. Y.   You're headed for some big times in writing if you'll just find the professional help you need. 


This time, it's a 3 stars.     Looking forward to next time....


Deborah/TheBookishDame