Luceat Lux Vestra

Release Date: May 7th, 2013 from the Penguin Group

Series: The Fifth Wave #1

Summary from cover:

"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. just one rule applies: trust no one. 

Now its 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 Earths' last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan 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."

Let me just say that this is the first book that I've read that has had something to do with Aliens. Overall, I think that Yancey has a beautiful way of writing descriptive text; it can be seen throughout every section in The 5th Wave. I had high hopes for this because I've heard so many great things about it (and many not so great things), and I wanted to experience the book that is being made into a movie before its debut. (Release date for that is January of 2016)

I will say this: I did not like this at first. I just didn't. I felt that the beginning was just slow and uneventful. That was it's biggest flaw. As the story progressed and there were the other narratives, I couldn't bring myself to think, "Man, I can see this happening". I understand that this is a work of science fiction, but even with that the selling point for me is being able to see whatever is happening in the book...happening. It wasn't until the last two hundred pages or so that I really got into the action packed scenes and the fast paced story line. Having the ending of the book be the only point of interest is highly disappointing. 

As for protagonists, I absolutely adored Cassie and her little brother. Cassie reminded me of myself in certain situations where she used her sass. She felt real. She wasn't perfect. She fought with her parents, lied to her little brother (with good intentions), and had a hard time trusting people. Most importantly...there was evidence that she was a teenager before this tragic event happened! I have read many books where the author makes it seem that the protagonist (who is a teenager) is a full-blown adult at 16-17 years old. Now, I don't mean that they have responsibilities or needed to "grown up fast", but those characters just seem too mature for their own age to the point where they would suit being adults better than teens. With The 5th Wave, I loved that Yancey actually made Cassie a teenager who has made mistakes and learns lessons throughout her hardship to make her life better...or in this case to make sure she lives to see another day.

The love interest really got to me too. I didn't really detect instalove, the one thing that I notice in many books, and what happened wouldn't even be considered love in my opinion. Nothing was really rushed, and what seemed rushed was just a subtle hint to something greater. The romance was just a crush that slowly developed due to the constant interaction between the two characters. In honest, I found the whole thing really cute until everything got a little creepy out of nowhere. (You'll know when/if you read it.)

Sadly, the book was extremely predictable. Despite this, I was still able to enjoy what I could and had a wonderful time experiencing this book as my first Science Fiction work.  I can't wait to read the second book in this trilogy when I get the chance to so I can see how the story progresses.