“We’re all dead, son. Some of us are just a little further along than others.”

For my fourth cannonball read review, I decided to read some Young Adult fiction.  YA is the ultimate mind escape for me, and a really good one can be an effective mini brain vacation.  A lot of buzz was generated by Rick Yancey’s novel The 5th Wave, and I decided to jump on the reading bandwagon.

Now, while my greatest fear is some sort of zombie/alien/vampire attack that forces civilization to live in caves again, I can’t help but enjoy any post-apocalyptic books.  And teen romance set against a background of doom and destruction?  Sign me up!  The 5th Wave focuses on the events after an alien invasion.  The events seem to take place only a few months from present day, as human technology (aside from alien technology) does not seem much advanced beyond the present.   The humans took to calling each part of the invasion of “the Others” as a “wave,” and the reader enters the events just after the 4th Wave.  The story follows teen Cassie, who is all alone in the woods with only her two guns for company.  Through Cassie, we learn about the alien invasion and the events that led her to a solitary existence.  But the story is not told just through Cassie’s eyes.  We jump point of views to a young soldier named simply Zombie, and also see events unfold through his view.  I won’t get into much more of the plot here, as there are some twists and turns along the way.

I tore through this book in a matter of days.  It was well-written, which is a nice change from some YA books.  The characters were not completely annoying and self-centered like those in the Divergent series (side note, I am dreading finishing up THAT series next).  And speaking of series, unfortunately I did not realize that The 5th Wave was the start of a possible trilogy.  Normally I refuse to read a series until it is complete (aside from A Song of Ice and Fire, obviously) as a rule, but apparently I need to do my research before starting new books!  Thankfully the next book is due out in September 2014, so I do not have to wait too long.