Not Our Cup of Tea Reviews

By: Rick Yancey
Published by: Speak
Released On: May 7, 2013
Series: Book 1, The Fifth Wave
Purchase: amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks
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Rating: 2 out of 5 stars, not my cup of tea

Synopsis: 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.

So, I’m going to be an outlier on this review. Many, many reviewers loved this book (Wendy Darling of Midnight Garden wrote a 5-star review). And even though I didn’t love it, I will admit that I thought the writing was quite good. What I wasn’t expecting was how it was told. I didn’t want a war/invasion/survival story. Don’t get me wrong, I knew it was going to be an alien invasion story, but the aliens are in a massive spaceship hovering over Earth, and yeah, it’s a survival story in the end. The whole time I was reading it, I wished it was more of a science fiction story.

Nonetheless, the characters were well drawn, but somehow (given my personal bias regarding this genre) I never connected to the protagonists, Cassie, Ben or even Evan. I didn’t buy into the romance because it felt rushed and rather manufactured. Also, there was a part with Cassie and Evan that left me absolutely eye-rolly (it starts on page 369 in the hardcover for those of you who are curious). I did like the little brother, Sammy. His story held my interest, but there wasn’t too much of it.

As for the twists in the story, I saw them coming from the very beginning. I’m not surprised the movie was a critical flop, because while the stakes were high, it was hard to connect to the characters and therefore their stories. Now if you’re looking for a really well told science fiction tale, read ILLUMINAE by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Or if you’re looking for a survival story, I say go back and read Lord of the Flies by William Golding.