Stuti's blog for depleting ships

3.75 or 3.899992First the darkness came for the othersand I lit my candle.Drowned were the others in the next wavebut I swam it out.Then the others cried their livesand I shut my eyes.And the Silence felled the othersbut I swallowed my howls.Finally, the others took my heartand it was the fifth wave. On the surface, [b:The 5th Wave|16101128|The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave, #1)|Rick Yancey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359853842s/16101128.jpg|19187812] isn't quite different from the multitude of alien invasion books out there. What sets it apart is the subtle way [a:Rick Yancey|3377941|Rick Yancey|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1267926830p2/3377941.jpg] has incorporated the feeling isolation, desperation, the need for compassion and the strife of the last ones, developing them expertly through multiple characters' voices. The story is cool enough, but a bit similar to what we've probably already read but then he also takes the old apocalyptic theme and gives it a new flavor and leaves me, Holy Shizzeballs.From the first line, it is daunting.THERE WILL BE NO AWAKENING.And then Cassie comes in and she's allBecause if I am the last one, then I am humanity.And if this is humanity’s last war, then I am the battlefield.And me goes:The story moves on and people die and birds are the culprits, which is very awesome because they shit everywhere and so they must be conspiring to ruin us humans. Huge green eyes blink and ka-boom! you're dead. And aliens go shoot-em-all and people die some more and they all speak in the language of literacher. This truly was cool. All the sci-fi I've read lately with a few exceptions were crappily written and this was a good change in the pace.Then the fifth wave comes over.It includes killing innocents, suffering consequences and losing your mind in a cunning mental onslaught, where you try and try and try to figure out whom to trust and innocents who could have survived one more day die in the crossfire. Do you survive or let the other person? Must it really come to this choice? Is the strength in numbers more important or safety in isolation?The multiple characters in the book give it a nice edge, especially counting in the book's predictability. You figure it all out and wait for it to happen but at the last moments, it changes the POV's and sometimes, it's feels a bit manipulative, like the author knows subtlety isn't his forte and is trying to surprise you by dropping it on you just when you are finally invested in the incumbent storyline. Sometimes, the writing is abstract and it helps in setting the atmosphere. Sometimes, the same lines are repeated a bit differently and they acquire varied meanings, something which would have been very cool if the repetitions were used scarcely and assiduously. The two main characters, Cassie and Zombie, feel like they are living parallel lives. Zombie's voice is too similar to Cassie's and he reads like her placed in another situation. Strangely enough, after the Zombie chapters started, I felt more connected to him, felt the will to hope crush out of him, mainly because Cassie gets involved in romance and it fucking metamorphoses her.Suddenly, Cassie becomes an annoying, stupid, lovesick teenager. Not the determined, hard girl I felt for in the beginning. I get the romance, I get how it might have come about. After being alone for so long and then somebody comes in and cares for you, you are bound to develop some feelings for him, no matter how puke-inducing they might be, no matter how creepy the love interest might be and you are bound to transform and get giddy. It just bothers me how much she changes and it becomes truly awkward. Especially towards the end of the romantic parts, her voice becomes weird and all over the place. I blame [a:Rick Yancey|3377941|Rick Yancey|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1267926830p2/3377941.jpg] for that, not Cassie, though. I think he needs to work on his annoying, stupid, lovesick teenager a bit more.Plus, he also makes her goHiding behind a tree like a girl.And that makes me go all, Da Faq? da faq? Thankfully, the portion ends and she goesIt isn’t exactly like shooting a can from a fence post.It’s actually a lot easier: His head is closer and a heck of a lot bigger.And I goEvan, Cassie's romantic interest, is just creepy and lemme say it, I hope he dies. He is disturbing and he spies and reads your diary. He loves you before he talks with you and he is the definition a non-Meyer Edward Cullen, especially when he goes“I’ll do whatever you say, Cassie,” he says helplessly. I don't like my men helpless. Speaking of which, Zombie has a friend, Ringer, who is the antonym of helpless. But she is not constructed properly and I hope Yancey takes her up in the next book.The story in targeted towards young adults and so there are kids and they are soldiers. Seven-year old soldiers, which is not plausible but I loved it because ummm... they are kids and they shoot adults. Being a teenager gives you such a mentality. And the plot, mixed in with the sometimes haunting writing is all veryA night sky full of criesHearts filled with lies......Now I've lost itI know I can killBut the book has a rather tamed quality about it. And that's what bars me from giving this book the four stars it very well deserves. I expected a wildness, a randomness, craziness after all the comparisons to the [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358275334s/2767052.jpg|2792775] and it failed in the delivery.And I think there's this scene right out of The Hunger Games-I pull off his shirt. He’s looking up into my face; I avoid his gaze. While I tug off his boots, he unbuckles his belt and pulls down the zipper. He lifts his butt, but I can’t get his pants off—they’re plastered to his body with tacky blood.“Rip them,” he says. He rolls over onto his stomach. I try, but the material keeps slipping through my fingers when I pull.“Here, use this.” He holds up a bloody knife. I don’t ask him where the blood came from. I cut from hole to hole slowly; I’m terrified of cutting him. Then I strip the pants away from each leg, like peeling a banana.[b:The 5th Wave|16101128|The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave, #1)|Rick Yancey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359853842s/16101128.jpg|19187812] isn't one I automatically loved; I had to work for it. And despite all the problems I had with this book, I really would recommend it to all, even readers who are ambivalent towards the sci-f- genre. Especially them.Cross-posed on Books behind Dam{n}s