The 5th Wave Book Review

The first time I encountered "The 5th Wave" was through the movie's trailer and my first thought was 'Chloe Grace Moretz versus an Alien invasion?!' You could say that my interest was ticketed, it is Chloe Grace Moretz! After a little research, I found out that the movie is based on a Young Adult novel by Rick Yancey. 

I got a copy of the book and started reading. I've read a lot of Young Adult books, but not one with aliens. I'm actually not a big fan of aliens. Paul knows how much I hate it, when the TV is on 'Ancient Aliens' (Paul insists on the show, even as background noise). I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading, but I really loved the tone of the book. 

I liked the spunky lead character, Cassie. I love reading her thoughts and I like how she tells the story. She's not your typical damsel-in-distress. Cassie is your tough-Alien-apocalyptic chic. I love how she was surviving alone, inside her tent, living on cans of sardines and going to a nearby store to stock on water, every few days. I love that as she is fighting to survive, she is also fighting for her humanity. 

Then, things start getting weird. The reader is introduced to to different characters with weird enough story arcs, but the one that I can't seem to wrap my head around SPOILER ALERT is what the 5th Wave actually is; the creation of child soldiers (like 5 years old kids) by the enemy to kill what is left of the human race. 

Once you get past the cruel and gruesome training the child soldier goes through things get pretty interesting. Not sure though if a SPOILER ALERT Romeo-and-Juliet / Alien-Human story is going to work but that seems to be among the sub-plots in the novel. Thankfully it's not where the whole story evolves around in. 

It's funny because you want to condone the cheesy romance between the strapping handsome stranger and the beautiful lead character but you can't stop yourself from reading it. 

Once you get around the romance (that you secretly don't want to read) and the child soldiers, it's pretty exciting stuff. 

Opening across the Philippines on Jan. 20, 2016, “The 5^th Wave” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.