Category Archives: Science Fiction

Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

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Ever since The 5th Wave came out a couple months ago, I’ve heard nothing but people raving about how un-put-down-able it is. I didn’t know much about it other than it was about aliens (which, enough said, right? I mean ALIENS!) and was apparently The Awesome. It’s been way too long since I’ve read an alien book that I absolutely loved (like, decades-long. Hm. This is a problem.), so I was super excited when my library got a copy right before I was about to leave for a couple weeks of various travels. Traveling times are always great reading times, so I tucked this one into my luggage (along with several other books, obviously. My luggage was heavy.) and started reading a few days later.

Guys. PEOPLE WEREN’T WRONG.

The Plot (from Goodreads):

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.

My Thoughts:

I’m going to try to give away as little as possible of the plot in this review, because I honestly feel that going into this book knowing essentially nothing about it is the way to go. It made each reveal thrilling and satisfying, and made it impossible to stop turning pages. It’s been a while since a book has led me to stay up way past my bedtime, because I simply could not put it down. But this book was one of those books that reminded me how much I love reading, and how much I love the sci-fi genre in particular. This was the alien apocalypse book I never knew I always wanted.

So let’s get into it. The 5th Wave follows two primary points of view, Cassie and another guy whom I will let you discover as you read (he is not, as the blurb suggests, Evan Walker — although Evan does get one short POV section, as does one other character). Both eighteen-year-old protagonists have survived the atrocities of the first four waves of invasion, and both have suffered heavy losses. Their stories run parallel for most of the book, with neither of them ever being aware of the other’s existence (either pre- or post-invasion), but there are common threads in each of their narratives that keep the stakes climbing for both of them. It’s brilliantly executed, and kept the tension ratcheting up throughout the story.

Each of the characters in The 5th Wave was a fully-realized person. You can see how Cassie progressed from normal high school senior to semi-automatic-toting survivalist, and the same is true for all the main characters, from children to teens to adults to aliens. I felt like I knew these people, and it made me that much more invested in their struggle for survival against staggering odds.

I loved — loved — the logic of the waves of invasion. Both the order of events and the execution were — with one minor exception — flawless. (I took issue with the birds. I have questions about the birds. But the rest of it is so well done that I don’t really care.) The aliens took a sculptor’s approach to the eradication of humanity, removing massive chunks at the start, then pulling out their fine tools to whittle down the survivors. It was terrible, but fantastic at the same time.

And as far as the story itself, it was a constant adrenaline surge from beginning to end. Rick Yancey didn’t pull any punches. Each loss hurt, and victories came at a price. There were no characters who felt safe, no challenges I was sure could be surmounted. It’s one of the reasons this book is so hard to put down — you just don’t know if they’re going to make it. In a story where 97% of the human race is dead at the beginning, survival and success are very much not guaranteed.

Overall, The 5th Wave was a thoroughly entertaining roller coaster of a book that kept me up all hours of the night. The premise is fantastic, the characters felt real, and the twists and turns of the plot kept me constantly on my toes. I loved it.

Throwback Thursday (March 28) – The Host

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Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

Here’s how it works:
  • Pick any bookish or literary-related media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago.
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

In honor of the movie releasing this week (which I am totally seeing opening night), today I am featuring that other book by Stephenie Meyer which is not about sparklepires. Here’s the Goodreads synopsis:

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

I’ll be honest – I really, really enjoyed this book. Say what you will about Stephenie Meyer and her writing (which, in my opinion, improves LEAPS AND BOUNDS between the Twilight Saga and The Host), but the woman knows how to keep the pages turning and the tension high. Yes, even when she’s writing about stalk-y sparklepires. But I like The Host so much more because it’s about ALIENS. And I love me a good alien story. Plus, while there is a love triangle in The Host – which is actually more of a love square – it’s different than in most books. The conflict is real and the solution is not obvious. HIGH FIVE for a love triangle where one of the choices is not infuriatingly stupid.

When I first read The Host – in about a day, because I couldn’t seem to stop reading it – the characters and the story stayed in my head for days after. I thought about them all the time, the choices they made, and what they would do next. To me, all technicalities aside, that’s the mark of a good story. If you think a clean alien romance might be up your alley but you’ve been putting this one off because it’s by That Twilight Lady – give it a shot. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Also, here is the movie trailer. WHO ELSE IS EXCITED? JUST ME? NO? OKAY GOOD.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!


Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer (@marissa_meyer)

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I’ve had Cinder by Marissa Meyer sitting on my shelf for months. It’s been calling me, but I kept putting off pleasure reading in the name of review books. Then I started getting burned out, and realized that perhaps I needed to read something for me instead of for other people. (Whether you blog for fun or work in publishing professionally, I think this is a pretty universal concept. All obligation-reading and no pleasure-reading makes Jack a dull boy. Or something.) So I went on a tear of pleasure reading while I took my blogging break, and it was fabulous. The last book I read before I plunged back into the blogosphere was Cinder, and it was an excellent one to end on. Fairy tales and CYBORGS! What more could you want in a book?

The Plot (from Goodreads)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Thoughts

First, I just want to say how much I love the idea of this series. Each book in the futuristic sci-fi Lunar Chronicles is a retelling of a classic fairy tale, and I think that combo is magical. Cinder, obviously, is Cinderella. The sequel, Scarlet, is Little Red Riding Hood. And still to come are Cress (Rapunzel) and Winter (Snow White). Each book will continue the tales of the characters from the prior book while introducing us to new re-imaginings of the fairy tale characters, and while I have no idea how Marissa Meyer is going to pull that off, I’m thrilled about the concept.

Now, talking about the book itself, Cinder was a fun protagonist. She was Cinderella meets Kaylee from Firefly, with robot parts. And I liked that although, like the fairy tale, Cinder’s romance with the Prince was definitely part of the story, her main motivation was not love, it was independence. Cinder was prepared to pull herself up by her mechanical bootstraps, and I appreciated that about her.

Prince Kai wasn’t the most fleshed out of characters, although I liked him well enough. No, I didn’t fully understand what made him so very appealing to Cinder, but he wasn’t unappealing. I just didn’t quite love him. But that’s okay, since as I said, the love story was not actually central to the plot. I’m okay warming up to Kai over several books while I stay invested in the rest of the plot. Even Cinder ends the book not entirely sure about how she feels about him, so it’s all right for me to feel the same way.

I really enjoyed the way the fairy tale elements were woven into the story. There’s still an evil stepmother, and an evil stepsister. There’s a prince, and a ball. And there is the classic running-away-down-the-steps scene, although with a twist.

But at the same time, there’s an evil queen who rules a race of people who live on the moon, with mind control powers. There’s political unrest. There’s a mysterious plague. There’s androids and hovers and cyborgs. So while it is recognizable as the fairy tale that inspired it, it also brings a lot of freshness and imagination that makes it stand out from the crowd.

I will say it’s a bit predictable. I called the big “twist” ending somewhere in the first 50 pages. But it didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the book. I still loved to see how everything unfolded. The thing with fairy tale retellings is that we already know all the bones of the story, so I don’t think a surprise ending is all that important. What matters is the creativity of how the tale is told, and how it differs from the original. The characters and setting and how they can hold my interest, even if I know (more or less) what’s coming. And I think Cinder accomplished that in spades.

If you are looking for a fun, imaginative new series that puts an exciting sci-fi twist on the stories you grew up with, I’d highly recommend Cinder.

Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis (@bethrevis @PenguinTeen)

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I’ve had Across the Universe by Beth Revis sitting on my shelf for months, because a murder mystery on a spaceship sounds like pretty much the best thing ever. But I got bogged down in life and review books and burnout, so it just sat there, unread. I even went to an author panel with Beth Revis (who is delightful, BTW) and got it signed, but still hadn’t read it. However, listening to her talk about her books made me even more excited to pick it up. So finally, over the holidays when I decided to re-embrace pleasure reading, I cracked it open.

The Plot (from Goodreads):

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed. She expects to awaken on a new planet, 300 years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed‘s scheduled landing, Amy’s cryo chamber is unplugged, and she is nearly killed.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense.Godspeed‘s passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader, and Elder, his rebellious and brilliant teenage heir.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she? All she knows is that she must race to unlock Godspeed‘s hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

My Thoughts:

I haven’t actually read a lot of YA that was purely sci-fi. Everything has been dystopian with sci-fi elements, or fantasy with sci-fi elements. So I was excited for this book, which takes place in a more realistic near-future, where the technology is advanced, but not so advanced that it’s almost magical. And from the first few pages describing Amy’s internal conflict as she undergoes the (cringe-inducingly painful) cryogenic freezing process, I was swept up in this book.

Across the Universe alternates narrators between Amy and Elder, and at first it took me a little while to get used to Elder’s POV, because he’s just so different from Amy. He’s been raised on a mono-ethnic society where everyone fills the role they were born into, and nothing more. He doesn’t question that most people are confined to one area of the ship. He doesn’t wonder about Eldest’s harsh treatment of anyone who might be a bit different. He’s been raised to lead his society, and it seems perfectly reasonable to him when Eldest insists that Hitler had it right. But at the same time, Elder is lonely. He longs for connection, for understanding. And he’s curious, even though he’s not supposed to be. He wants to understand everything about this ship he’s supposed to run, even though he’s been told it’s not necessary. And by grasping those few threads, he slowly became a character I could relate to, in spite of his differences.

Amy almost acts as the voice of the reader, since she comes from a world very much like ours and wakes up in one very much not like ours. She questions the society that has evolved on the Godspeed, she questions the leadership of Eldest, she questions the way Elder has been conditioned to a different set of moral standards than what she believes. She’s a bit of a reluctant heroine in the story, as she wasn’t even sure she wanted to go on this mission, and definitely didn’t want to be awakened early. Her slow acceptance of her unfortunate circumstance almost mirrors the stages of grief (in many ways, she is grieving), and her progression through the story was fascinating.

I’ve heard some people disappointed that there wasn’t much of a romance in Across the Universe. I wasn’t really in this group, because I was more intrigued by the mystery element (AND THE SPACESHIP) than the potential romance. But if you are among the group hoping for an epic space love story, prepare to alter your expectations. While there are hints of romance, they are not the main focus or driver of this story.

As far as the mystery element of the story, Across the Universe kept me guessing. It dropped just enough clues that the ending was surprising, but satisfying. And I appreciated that once the truth comes out, it’s all in shades of gray. The villains are not purely evil (maybe a bit sociopathic, but not evil). The good guys are not purely good. Everyone involved in the murders and their resolution had motivations that, viewed the right way, were justifiable. (No, the murders themselves were not justifiable, but the reasons behind them were, to a degree, understandable). I’m all about nuanced villains and heroes, and I thought Across the Universe delivered both in spades.

Across the Universe was an imaginative and thoughtful story, with a fabulous space setting and complex characters. The ending tied up the murder mystery, but left the bigger question of the fate of the Godspeed open, which is what I assume is explored in the sequels, A Million Suns and Shades of Earth. I’ll be excited to pick them up and find out what happens to Amy, Elder, and the rest of the people on the ship.

Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (@jodimeadows @harperteen)

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I’ve heard good things about Incarnate by Jodi Meadows for months. Between the unique premise and the gorgeous cover, I knew I’d get to it eventually, but with the sequel, Asunder, releasing tomorrow (!), I thought it was about time I finally plunged in. Now I see what all the fuss was about.

The Plot (from Goodreads)

New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

My Thoughts:

Jodi writes in an engaging prose that sucked me in from the first page. This was vital, since her world is so different from our own. The concept of the million souls being reincarnated over and over is presented in an organic fashion that made the fantastic premise seem completely believable. Right away, I was in Ana’s head, experiencing the self-doubt she feels under the cruel treatment of her mother, and cheering for her to strike out on her own.

When she meets Sam, I instantly liked him. He was kind and compassionate with her. I loved the interaction of Ana, flabbergasted that anyone would actually like her, and Sam, who’s determined to break through her walls and get to know her, even if she’s different. It was amazing to see his treatment of Ana contrasted with the way most of the people of Heart treated her. There were some who were accepting of her, like Sam, but many others whose reactions ranged from cautious to downright hostile. It was an interesting look at prejudice and preconception, especially in this society whose members have known each other for millennia. Obviously, as a reader I wanted everyone to be instantly accepting of Ana, but at the same time, I could see why they weren’t. She had replaced their friend, an established member of society. Even though it wasn’t her fault, it would be hard not to blame her.

One of my favorite aspects of the book was the use of music. I’m not sure how musical Jodi Meadows actually is, but she writes like someone who has a deep understanding of the joy of making music. She perfectly captured the feelings of sitting at a piano, creating a new melody, becoming lost in the notes. I loved the role it played in the development of Ana’s character and her relationship with Sam. I haven’t read a lot of YA where the characters who were musicians actually felt like musicians.

Then there’s the fantasy elements — dragons and enchanted stone and, of course, reincarnation. I thought this book was a really unique combo of fantasy elements with a distinctly sci-fi feel (although there’s very little that would actually classify this book as sci-fi, it just had that vibe, if that makes any sense). It made me keep wanting to peek behind the curtain, as it’s hinted over and over that there’s an explanation for everything happening beyond “because it’s magic” or “because that’s the way it is.” I can’t wait to see what it is.

Incarnate was an original and romantic story that transported me to a beautifully unique new world. I loved the characters, the setting, and the many questions it posed about both its own fantasy world and our own, and I look forward to finding out what happens to Ana in Asunder.