Scan barcode
buffalo666's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
asparagushead's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
littlered1110's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Blood, Vomit, and War
Minor: Suicide
ssnows's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
bookishlucy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
That being said, I did guess almost every single plot twist.
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and War
nxssistr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Den Anfang empfand ich als recht schleppend. Ich bin zwar großer Fan vom Schreibstil und den Figuren, jedoch lesen sich die ersten 150 Seiten wie eine umfangreiche Exposition. Und klar, ich kann absolut nachvollziehen, dass diese Informationen relevant sind und der Autor fädelt sie gekonnt in die Handlung ein, dennoch brauchte ich einen Skip von 70 Seiten, um richtig einzusteigen. Dazu sei jedoch auch gesagt, dass ich den Film bereits kannte und die Informationen dementsprechend nicht ganz so umfassend brauchte, um dem Roman folgen zu können.
Ab Seite 160 konnte ich dann nicht mehr aufhören zu lesen. Die Geschichte hat mich eingesogen und nicht wieder losgelassen. Egal aus welcher Perspektive das nächste Kapitel erzählte, die Seiten haben sich wie von selbst umgeblättert. Perspektivwechsel sind riskant in Bezug auf den möglichen Verlust von Spannung, doch der Autor hat dieses Problem gekonnt gelöst. Wäre der erste Teil nicht so zäh für mich gelesen, wäre es ein fünf Sterne Buch.
Die Geschichte selbst war hart, noch um einiges härter als der Film. Was Menschen und vor allem Kinder in dieser Story sehen, hören, erleben und tun müssen ist nicht nur schlimm, sondern absolut grässlich. Ich als Leserin hatte mit vielen Szenen sehr zu kämpfen. Der Schreibstil brachte mich an dieses unvorstellbare Szenario außerordentlich nah heran und ich finde das großartig und abstoßend zugleich. Die Abgründe sind nicht nur auf dem Spektrum der physischen Brutalität. Die Figuren wirken so menschlich, dass man sich selbst in ihnen sehen kann. Es geht um Menschlichkeit, Traumata, Selbstverlust und Fanatismus. Dieses Buch hat das Potenzial nicht nur Figuren sondern Menschen zu brechen. Es ist nicht einfach eine postapokalyptische Story über Massenmorde, was schon hart genug wäre. Es ist eine moralische Geschichte, die vor nichts Halt macht. Auch und vor allem nicht vor Kindern.
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury
siennakt30's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
lindasoderlundd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Pregnancy
optimisms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
This is getting exhausting. All I want is a YA dystopian that doesn't suck. Is that too much to ask?
I picked this up once, almost 10 years ago, and read a few chapters before growing bored and forgetting about it. Since then, I've wanted to go back and read it but it was never high on my TBR list. The only reason I've read it now is because none of the audiobooks I wanted were available immediately, but this one was, and I thought, "It can't be too bad, right?"
Wrong. This book is bad. Not bad enough to warrant just 1 star but...bad. One of the worst books I've read in a long time.
Initially, I was going to try to write this chronologically, but it just became a rambling incoherent rant so I'm structuring it like I have for a few others:
Things I sort of liked:
- The character of Zombie – to a point. I liked seeing his side of the story, with the military setting, the friend group, the training sequences. It's very reminiscent of the feel of "Ender's Game", though it doesn't do it nearly as well; it ultimately just made me want to read "Ender's Game" instead (which I promptly did!).
- The invasion & first four waves are kind of boring but interesting enough. It's also a bit nonsensical, though – for instance, why go to all the effort to create the tsunamis first if the flu kills 97% of humans anyway? There's not really anything original. To paraphrase a review of the movie, "It's science fiction with none of the ideas."
- The first 30% was a solid 3 stars to me. Nothing amazing, but entertaining enough. We had two promising main characters with a lot of potential to drive the plot forward and make an interesting story. I was hopeful that as the action picked up, so would the plot and my enjoyment. Alas, it was not to be.
- The one good twist. Most of the twists in this book are laughable, so obviously telegraphed that I would barely call them twists. But there is one twist I enjoyed,
Things I disliked:
– Cassie is boring and so is her family (also, of course her family likes to read, it wouldn't be a YA book without a self-insert for the reader). Her skill set is questionable – as someone with a black belt, her references to karate made me roll my eyes. And actually, all of the characters are boring, even Zombie. No one really has any personality to speak of.
- The structure of the first 20% is bizarre. The book starts in the present for a few chapters, toys with a few small flashbacks, and then suddenly jumps completely to the past and stays there, working up chronologically back to present day. But because we've already seen the present, nothing in the past is surprising.
- The scattered attempts at teen-speak. These were so cringey. No one, no one talks like that. It was mostly a problem with Cassie, which just made it feel like she was a caricature of what Yancey thinks teen girls are like. It felt sexist and infantilizing.
Things I hated:
- The love story. The insta-love. I honestly can't think of a YA love interest and couple that I hate more than I hated reading this. During the first section of Cassie's POVs with Evan, I really considered DNF-ing, which I have literally never done on purpose. That's how much I hated it. The minute Cassie meets Evan, the book takes an immediate nosedive. The writing itself would be right at home in r/menwritingwomen. Cassie's characterization completely devolves as she becomes emotional to a fault, illogical, too trusting, and above all, horny. Literally as soon as she meets him, she's talking about how he's just so beautiful and handsome and strong. She even has a paragraph where she says, "I can't decide which of his features is best: his chocolate brown eyes, his strong hands, his soft lips, etc etc etc." It was so incredibly obnoxious.
- Evan is simultaneously the perfect guy and the world's biggest creep.
- This book seriously stretches the boundaries of what is believable and realistic. The story is thick with plot armor and ridiculous contrivances. Of course
- The logic of the 5th wave is either completely non-existent or else so incredibly convoluted that I can't make any sense of it. I can't be bothered to figure out which it is.
- The ending just sucks. It's so boring. There's nothing surprising, nothing interesting. It goes on way too long. There's a deus ex machina – two, actually. I cannot express enough how much I didn't care what happened to anyone.
So...yeah. I have no big conclusion. Don't read this book.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Medical content