The Last Star
Author: Rick Yancey
Grade: C+
The invasion happened in waves. Power, destruction, plague, violence… the last book in The 5th Wave series is about the final step of the invasion. Once again we follow Cassie, Ben, Evan and their friends as they fight to stop it while keeping their humanity (and a reason for saving humanity itself) in tact.
I was really excited for this book. The 5th Wave was enjoyable and I really liked Cassie and her quest to reunite with her younger brother. I was not so big on the second one but was willing to chalk it up to sequelitis. Unfortunately this one had some big problems for me.
I’m going to try to stay away from spoilers but I might have some vague ones:
The big ending was fairly predictable in terms of death. Yet someone who was thought dead didn’t stay dead and I kind of thought they should have.
In terms of the invasion itself the book left me with more questions than answers.
But probably the biggest disappointment:
I can’t help but feel like Cassie herself was lost. I really liked her in the first book. She wasn’t perfect but I liked being inside her head and her story and view. The sequel was where she really started to lose it but this one it was almost like she was playing second fiddle to Ringer and even Ben. (Never big on Ringer to begin with.)
And when the ending came about part of me was like, “Did I miss something? Why did she do that?”
She just felt so disjointed that I almost completely disconnected from her which is a shame.
Rick Yancey definitely does try to make bigger statements on humanity on our nature and mortality itself and some of it worked for me but some of it also felt like threads of deep thoughts that were being spoken by vessels I really wasn’t big on anymore in terms of character.
Overall the series itself is average. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it or that it wasn’t an easy read but I was hoping for more.
Recommend: The 5th Wave for sure. After that I’m fifty-fifty.