Thrive by Kenneth Oppel

Thrive is the final installment in the Bloom trilogy opening where the second book left off. A cryptogen ship has just been shot down by the Canadian military. From the vessel three cryptogens emerge; a flyer with dazzling golden wings, a swimmer and a runner. All the cryptogens are wearing special masks to help them breathe, as Earth's environment is still somewhat toxic to them. After Anaya convinces both sides to stand down, the cryptogens are brought inside. 

Seth has also returned to Deadman's Island. He fills Petra and Anaya in on what happened to him and Esta when they were left behind: Sienna was captured by police,  how Darren stung Seth with his tail causing Esta to force him to jump from the boat after blasting him with sound and how the marine police captured Esta from the boat.

The three rebel cryptogens have been placed into the Vancouver Aquarium's biodome, now "a cryptogenic landscape of high black grass, berry-laden  vines snaking  from buried pit plants, and seed-spitting water lilies floating serenely on a pond so acidic no human would dare swim in it..." The cryptogen ship has also been moved into the biodome. 

Colonel Pearson has Anaya, Petra and Seth communicate with the cryptogens so they can learn what they are planning. Terra, the rebel cryptogen, explains to Anaya that there are not many rebels aboard their vessel of over seven hundred thousand aliens which is now orbiting Earth. She also reveals that there were ten rebel landings on the planet but refuses to reveal the locations of the other landings. Terra tells Anaya that they need to extract the code from the hybrid's blood to make a chemical weapon and that the final invasion is planned in a little over a month so they need to move fast. Once the weapon is made, it can be taken back to the alien ship and released there. This will allow the rebels to gain control of the ship, overwhelm the flyers who are in command and leave, preventing the invasion.

In Petra's communications with her cryptogen, she can't sense the alien's gender and decides to use the pronouns ze and zir (in a nod to the current gender ideology fad). She learns that the swimmer is a scientist who took part in creating the human hybrids and that there are thousands of hybrids on Earth. The swimmer tells Petra that they created the hybrids because they needed them as a safe place to keep the "substance" and also as translators.

As Seth communicates with the flyer, whom he calls the general, he is shown the battle on the cryptogen's planet in which the runner and swimmers are destroyed by the sonic blasts from the flyers. The general was wounded but tended to by runners who saved his life. This experience changed how he viewed the swimmers and runners. When those who treated him were all killed he was disgusted by what had happened and became a spy for the rebel cryptogens. The general was responsible for starting the rains on Earth that led to the changes in the ecosystem and to the human hybrids. He tells Seth that the rebels have come to form an alliance with the humans and fight against the invasion. He also tells Seth that they hid a code inside of the hybrids and they now need it. The code is to make a virus which will permanently destroy the flyers ability to use sound as a weapon. Seth also learns that he will never achieve his dream of flying as his body is too heavy.

Later that day, over dinner, Anaya reveals that Terra told her they can repair their damaged ship's hull but the levitation system is damaged. There is however a ship that crashed sixteen years ago when they first came to Earth, and if they can locate it, they might be able to salvage the part.  

Seth continues to be focused on helping Esta, who Dr. Weber reveals is being held in a detention center in the U.S. She is accused of murdering Dr. Ritter. When Seth protests that she's innocent and that he killed Ritter, Dr. Weber tells him he's considered an accessory to the murder. When Seth expresses his determination to find Esta, Dr. Weber promises to ask Colonel Pearson where she's being held.

Pearson arrives and reveals to the group that intelligence has discovered that at least two ships, one over North Korea and another over the Suez Canal have been shot down. Pearson refuses to tell the Americans anything, for fear of jeopardizing their ability to make the weapon. 

The next day Terra takes Anaya inside their ship to extract what they need from her body to make their weapon. While they are working on making the virus into a weapon, Terra works on locating the crashed cryptogen ship in the hopes they can use its levitation device for their own ship. The crash site turns out to be located in northeastern British Columbia, in a swamp, with the ship underwater. To recover the levitation device, Petra and the swimmer are flown out to the site in a helicopter. But the retrieval proves to be daunting as Petra and the swimmer must fight off giant squids while the helicopter is almost taken down by giant parasitic creatures.

Meanwhile Seth has learned that Esta is being detained at Point Roberts. This leads him to sneak away from the aquarium to rescue her, but he only succeeds in getting himself captured and back into the hands of the cruel Dr. Ritter who it turns out has survived. Back at the base, Terra, with the help of Anaya and Dr. Weber is successful in creating a virus that affects the flyers' ability to use their sound weapon. But are they too late?

The early arrival of the cryptogen invasion force throws all their plans into chaos. As the cryptogens attack new plans are needed if they are to use their weapon on the flyers and give the rebel cryptogens and Earth a chance.

Discussion

Thrive is a fitting conclusion to Kenneth Oppel's Bloom trilogy about human's overcoming an alien invasion. In this series,  the story focuses on a group of human-alien hybrids, bred by a rebel alien faction, determined to thwart their planet's colonization of Earth. The novel is filled with character-driven action scenes including an epic battle between humans, hybrids, rebel cryptogens and the invading cryptogens. The ending is predictable and upbeat, with a final battle between the cryptogens, rebels, hybrids and humans.

Thrive is arguably the weakest of the three novels, with the events almost anti-climatic. Readers know the humans will prevail in the end. And after so many gruesome creatures in the first two books, any new ones the humans encounter seem almost expected. But in Thrive, the three main characters, Anaya, Petra and Seth, finally come into their own, each facing their own fears and challenges. This is especially true of Petra and Seth. 

In Thrive, Petra steps up to do her part to help out. Initially she has been reluctant, still struggling to accept the physiological changes she's experiencing and wanting her old life and her human body back. But with the help of the swimmer and as the situation becomes more dire, Petra rises to the challenge, helping in the recovery of the levitation device, saving the swimmer's life, devising a way to spread the viral weapon when the rebel's plan falls apart, and attempting to rescue the trapped hybrids on the cryptogen ship over Point Roberts.

Seth also commits himself. Abandoned by his mother, Seth has struggled to belong, and is now forced to choose who he will fight for; humans or cryptogens. The commander of the cryptogens tells him the human hybrids were mean to inherit the new earth and that they will thrive in it. He is also told he will fly, something he has dreamed of all his life. But this doesn't fit with what Terra has told them back in the biodome. Unlike Esta, Seth notes the difference in the way the commander and Terra have presented what is happening and he's not sure who he can trust. He also has, in the back of his mind, "the general's sonic message...wanting to be opened." From this message, Seth learns the truth about the cryptogen commander and her intentions for the hybrids. He also learns that he must finally make a choice, a painful one because he learns the truth about the one person he has come to identify with but who is a traitor.

For Esta, there is only one choice, solidarity with the cryptogens. On the cryptogen ship, Seth, Esta, Darren and Siena are given accounts of what happened on the cryptogen's planet that are much different from what Terra has told Anaya . While Esta accepts what she is being told, Charles counters, "Even if we don't know whose story is true...we know one thing for sure. These guys are here to take over our planet. That does not make them the good guys. Are you okay with everyone dying but us?" After the general and the swimmer rebels are captured and killed by the cryptogen flyer commander, Esta tells her fellow hybrids they have to make a choice. She tells them the choice is obvious because the cryptogens are going to win, meaning the hybrids will be safe. And so she acts on what she believes.

Thrive is an exciting read, with lots of battles, gruesome creatures, evil cryptogens and human traitors. Young readers will enjoy the satisfying ending, in what is one of Oppel's best offerings to date.

Book Details:

Thrive by Kenneth Oppel
Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.  2021
405 pp.

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

The Infinite Sea is the second installment in the 5th Wave trilogy. In The 5th Wave, aliens who have been watching Earth for thousands of years finally decide to put into action their plan to remove the infestation of humans on the planet. They began by knocking out power with an electromagnetic pulse, then triggering giant tsunamis which wiped out the populations living near the coastal areas. This was followed by the third wave which was the red plague. The fourth wave saw the aliens consciousness inserted into the bodies of humans and then activated at puberty. The apocalypse is in full gear, with the Others working to eradicate the last of the humans. 

Teenager Cassie Sullivan spends much of the first novel searching for her younger brother, Sam, and in the process uncovers the horrifying 5th Wave. The 5th Wave is comprised of children who under the pretense of being "saved" and being trained to kill, not the aliens as they believe, but their fellow humans.  This is being done, Cassie discovers, in a huge military camp run by an "Other" named General Vosch. She also meets Evan Walker, a human hosting an alien consciousness, who falls in love with her and who does not wish to follow through with the plans to annihilate the entire human race. With the help of Evan, Cassie and a group of teens take out Vosch's base with a massive explosion leaving the fate of Evan unknown and the destruction of the base only a minor setback for the aliens.

The novel opens with a short prologue which recounts the event of a child being used as an IED to destroy a group of humans hidden in a farmhouse demonstrating that no one can now be trusted - not even small children who might be deadly weapons. This is a foreshadowing of what might be in store for Cassie's group of survivors.

The Infinite Sea picks up the story several weeks after the destruction of Vosch's base. It is winter and without food, many of the surviving humans face the reality of freezing and starving to death. Cassie's ragtag group of survivors is holed up in an abandoned hotel infested with rats. They have gone there because it was Cassie's prearranged meeting place with Evan after the attack on Vosch's Camp Haven. In the hotel are Cassie, Ringer, Teacup, Nugget (Sam), Dumbo, Zombie (Ben Parish) and Poundcake. Ben is not doing well, feverish from the bullet wound Ringer gave him when they escaped Camp Haven. Cassie continues to hope that Evan has survived the blast and will return.

Ringer is preparing to leave, to scout out the caves where they plan on moving to. As she travels along the highway, she thinks about Evan Walker and what he told Cassie, that the aliens are pure consciousness occupying a human body and that they don't need the planet to exist. The reason for the aliens needing a planet seems puzzling to her and doesn't add up. Ringer is outside Urbana and headed to the Ohio Caverns outside of West Liberty. In the woods she discovers another 5th Waver like herself only he's been shot dead. This can only mean a Silencer must be around. Ringer removes the tracking pellet from the dead kid and puts it in her mouth. But instead of shooting a Silencer, Ringer shoots Teacup. Just as she's about to finish her off, a black chopper arrives and Ringer decides to allow them to be captured.

Meanwhile back at the hotel, Cassie keeps watch on the parking lot while the others sleep. She is remembering a conversation she had with Ringer and Ben. Cassie remembers what Evan Walker told her about the aliens and about himself, that he began life as Evan and then at thirteen his alien consciousness awoke and then Evan came back into the picture again later on. He told her that the aliens no longer have bodies, it was the only way they could make the journey and that their consciousnesses were downloaded onto the mothership; some are still there awaiting the completed cleansing. The camps were set up to select the best humans for brainwashing so they could complete the annihilation. But Ben wants to know why they just didn't download enough of their troops into humans to wipe the remaining humans out. Evan proved however that there was a risk to this, that by becoming human they might actually take on a human identity.

They have decided to wait to see if Evan will show giving Ben time to heal from his wounds. However, things go bad fast when Cassie spots Teacup sneaking away after Ringer. Poundcake is sent after her. As they wait for Poundcake to return, Ben wonders why the aliens waited centuries to exterminate them when they could have done it earlier when there were fewer humans on the planet.

Soon Ben and Cassie realize that Dumbo is missing. Waking Sam and ordering him to lock the door to his room, Ben and Cassie begin working their way through the hotel. They decide to check the elevator shaft. Ben lowers Cassie into the shaft and she moves into the elevator car. After checking the lobby, gunshots ring out on the upper floor and Cassie races back up to her brother's room where she finds and shoots Evan Walker in the knee.

The story picks up with Evan's narration. He reveals that as a child he remembers dreaming of owls but when he turned thirteen the dreams stopped. The alien in him had awakened, ready to use the gifts the owl had given him and his life as a thirteen year old boy became a lie. Evan apparently has survived the blast and has been rescued by another Silencer, a tall, blonde woman with icy blue eyes named Grace. Grace tells him that he has sixteen broken bones including a broken ankle, a fractured skull and second degree burns. Evan met Grace when they were sixteen. Evan was already struggling with the knowledge that every person he met would be dead in two years time. It was the first time either of them had met someone like them.

"They all understood the risk in donning the human mantle. Sharing a body with a human psyche carried with it the danger of adopting human vices -- as well as human virtues. And far more dangerous than greed or lust or envy or any of those things -- or anything -- was love."

Grace asks Evan how he came to be at the base and learns only the bare details of what happened. She and Evan journey to her house in her sector on Hwy 68 where she takes him to recuperate. It will take almost  three weeks for his ankle to heal sufficiently for him to use it again. When Grace leaves to get supplies, Evan makes the decision that he must neutralize her. He can't wait three weeks for his ankle to heal and he can't take Grace with him to meet Cassie and the other survivors.  Grace will never let him go and she wouldn't think twice about killing him. So when she returns he strangles her and leaves her for dead.

But traveling along Hwy 68 Evan soon discovers that he has not killed Grace as he suspected and that she is tracking him. Evan starts a huge bonfire in the middle of the highway with the intention of drawing  the 5th Wave so they will attack. This happens and during the gunfire, he manages to escape from Grace and find his way to the hotel when Cassie is hiding. By the time Evan arrives, he sees Ringer leaving to look for the caves. Evan realizes that his enhanced body is giving out and he is becoming more like a typical human.

At this point in the novel Yancey provides some of the backstory to Poundcake because his actions are important in this part of the novel. Poundcake came to be picked up by the school buses after the death of his mother from the plague. She had been sick for days while Poundcake and his baby brother had to fend for themselves. Running out of food, Poundcake left to search for food for him and his baby brother. He searched in all the nearby grocery stores but managed to find only a piece of cake wrapped in plastic. When he returned home, Poundcake found his brother gone and his mother violently ill, the plague now infecting her brain. Six weeks after her death Poundcake began walking along the abandoned highways and was eventually picked up by a school bus filled with children and soldiers. Poundcake has never uttered a word after his mother's death.

Evan storms into the hotel but is shot by Cassie after she runs up the stairs from the lobby. Dumbo tells Cassie that Evan has a broken ankle, a stab wound in one leg, a bullet in the other, covered in burns and is running a high fever. Ben's abdominal wound has been repacked by Dumbo but he's furious at Evan and wants to leave the hotel. Cassie's five year old brother Sam also wants to go with him. In his lucid moments Evan tells Cassie he saw Teacup and Poundcake heading north and he tells her not to go after them warning her about Grace. Poundcake returns but does not have Teacup nor Ringer and because he never speaks, Cassie's group has no idea what has happened to Teacup and Ringer. Ben believes that Teacup has caught up with Ringer who has taken her to the caves.

The next day the group hears a helicopter overhead and twenty minutes after it passes by, a friend of Sam's, Megan appears in the hotel wearing shorts, a thin T-shirt and flip flops, tells them her throat hurts and then collapses. Puzzled at her sudden appearance and her strange clothing given the onset of winter, they believe Megan may have a tracker but Cassie can't find any evidence of one. What Cassie does see is a little girl bruised and abused by the indifference, cruelty of the Others. Ben asks Cassie to check the girl's throat which she has done and finds only that it's red. Evan tells them that she is not implanted with a tracking device but that her throat is rigged with an incendiary device rigged to blow when it detects CO2 - the child is a bomb. Evan tells them its almost impossible to remove the bomb without detonating it. This leads Ben to want to simply kill the girl and it is his attitude that makes Cassie realize that he has lost a great deal of his humanity. But Ben can't kill little Megan and he asks Cassie to cut the wire to the bomb.

Cassie realizes that the Ben Parish she crushed on a year ago is dead and gone just like the school girl who desired him is also gone. With the help of Evan, Cassie manages to extract the bomb from Megan's throat. Evan tells Cassie that the bomb is a test, that if they didn't blow up it either means that the bomb was defective or that they might have a Silencer with them. Ben figures that they know Cassie and the other group are at the hotel possibly indicating that Ringer and Teacup have been captured. Cassie suggests that they blow up the hotel using the bomb and they hit upon using the CO2 canisters from the soda fountain from the diner next door. They decide to rig the canisters to dispense the CO2 slowly within the confined space of the elevator and blow the hotel. Ben and Poundcake go to the diner to get the canister, while Dumbo watches the hall and Sam goes to care for Megan. This leaves Cassie alone with Evan who tells her that they have to go to the last place anyone will look - Grace's house on Hwy 68. He draws Cassie a map and then tells her that the way to end it is Grace - that she is the doorway and that Cassie can finish it. This doesn't mean much to Cassie at this time however, she has little time to ask him more because Grace shows up at the hotel.

What follows is a battle between Grace and the four humans, Cassie, Ben, Dumbo and Poundcake.  Evan tells Cassie they must leave and go to the house he told her about and that he will take care of Grace. Ben, Cassie, Dumbo, Sam and Megan all leave. However, Poundcake, who has been fatally shot by Grace scrabbles back into the hotel, knowing that Sam has dropped the baggie containing the IED that was in Megan's throat. As Grace coldly tortures him by shooting him repeatedly, realizing that he's mortally wounded, Poundcake confronts her with the IED, shoots her in the back and blows up the hotel with him, Grace and Evan in it.

The novel then switches over to tell the reader what has happened to Ringer after she is captured by General Vosch. Under Vosch's direction, Ringer also known as Marika has a hub placed in her that will enhance her body. This is a kind of nanotechnology - "a microscopic command hub affixed to the prefrontal lobe of her brain" that control the 40,000 units, 10 arrays of four thousand that enhance each of the different systems of her body.

While Ringer is recovering, she is kept company by a man named Razor. When Ringer tries to teach Razor a chess game, Razor teaches her a game, chaseball,  he invented which is really a secret way to communicate. He plans on helping her escape which she does. They commandeer a Black Hawk helicopter and Razor and Teacup parachute out while Ringer with her enhanced body dives out of the helicopter and free falls to earth. She meets up with Razor who takes her to the warehouse and there Ringer meets Vosch who tells her this was all a test. He also tells her that there are no alien consciousness inside any humans because it was too risky. Instead they used a program, inserted into unborn children and activated at puberty. Evan is a human who is enhanced but the program in him has crashed and he's now off the grid. If there are others like Evan, enhanced, off the grid, this could be a problem. Vosch needs Ringer to help him find Evan. His only hold on Ringer is Teacup who is alive.

Ringer tells all this to Razor. After several days, Ringer along with Razor are brought back to Vosch who asks her if she's solved the mystery. She tells him that Evan falling in love causes unpredictability. Evan doesn't yet know the truth, but he knows enough to stop the aliens and he's off the grid. Razor sets Ringer free by killing Teacup, thereby allowing her to flee from Vosch.


Review:
The Infinite Sea was a thrilling novel, that captures the reader from the horrific prologue to the very last page with its surprising ending. Readers may find that the initial chapters narrated by Ringer are somewhat slow, but the pace evens out and the twists and shocking revelations keep the story truly enthralling.

Like its predecessor, The Infinite Sea tells its story through the eyes of a group of teenagers, possibly one of the few groups of surviving humans on the planet, who are trying to figure out how to stay alive and how to outwit the aliens. They each have their own ideas as to what the key element is to survival. At the beginning of the novel, Ringer believes the key is rage but later on she comes to realize that it is something else.

The Infinite Sea is another novel with several strong female characters; in the first novel it was Cassie Sullivan, in The Infinite Sea, it's Ringer or Marika (we learn her real name). Cassie is a somewhat minor character in this novel which focuses more on Ringer who is now a major character. Ringer takes on the qualities of a superhero near the end of the novel, physically enhanced to match her strong personality. She's become a weapon, but it as it turns out, a rogue one. We also learn more about Evan and General Vosch. Yancey also provides his readers with some backstory for other minor characters such as Grace and Poundcake to flesh out the story.

We also learn more about the aliens through Vosch, especially the reasoning behind the strategy used to cleanse the earth of humans. 


One of the great themes of these novels is that of courage, perhaps best exemplified by Poundcake who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his friends from Grace.  Another strong theme is that of love, its unpredictability and how love can lead to the most unpredictable of actions. This happened in the first book between Evan and Cassie, with Evan helping her rescue her brother and destroy Vosch's base - something he finds remarkable. In the second book, the unexpected love that develops between Ringer and Razor lead him also to act in an unpredictable manner, something which Vosch did not foresee.

Because of the ending, readers will have a certain expectation as to what the plot might be like in the third novel, so it will be interesting to see if that expectation is met. The Infinite Sea is young adult fiction crossover into adult fiction with strong appeal to a wide age range. The writing is great, captivating and Yancey moves between narrators seamlessly. 

The 5th Wave is currently in development for a film adaptation which will be released in January, 2016.

Book Details:
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons     2014
300 pp.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

I may be the last one, but I am the one still standing. I am the one turning to face the faceless hunter in the woods on an abandoned highway. I am the one not running, not staying, but facing.
Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity.
And if this is humanity's last war, then I am the battlefield.

The story opens with Cassiopeia Marie Sullivan's first person narration which describes the waves of the alien invasion and then her hiding in the wilderness. She is one of the last survivors of the human race. It began with the appearance of a huge green ship in orbit around the Earth. For ten days nothing happened while people speculated, fretted, and wondered why the aliens did not make contact. The attack came in waves. 

The first wave was a electromagnetic pulse that knocked out everything - cell phones, electricity, car and airplane engines. Nothing worked. Cars stalled on the roads, planes plummeted to earth. Half a million people died. The second wave was the creation of an earthquake that caused a massive tsunami. Forty percent of the earth's population lives within sixty miles of a coastline. Three billion people perished. The third wave was an Ebola-like outbreak, spread by Earth's three hundred billion birds. The fourth wave was the "Silencers" or those who are aliens inhabiting human bodies whose job it is to kill the remaining humans.

Cassie's father, mother and younger brother Sammy had stayed through the first three waves, barricaded in their home. However, when her mother died from the Red Tsunami, Cassie's father decided to leave and head for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, over one hundred miles away. When they arrives at a refugee camp twenty miles from their home, Cassie, Sammy and their father waited to see what would happen. Then one day a grey drone appeared, followed later by troops who separated the children from older teens and adults. This resulted in Cassie becoming separated from Sammy. She then witnessed the mass murder of all the adults but manages to escape.

The novel picks up the story with Cassie's current situation, hidden in the forest. Cassie realizes that she cannot stay hidden forever, that she will eventually be hunted down and that she wants to keep her promise to Sammy to come get him. She decides to make her way back to the Wright-Patterson Base where she believes Sammy has been taken. However, despite her care in traveling, she is shot and wounded by what she suspects is a "Silencer" - an alien who looks like a human who kills those who remain. Seriously wounded, Cassie is surprised when he lets her go. However, further into her journey, she becomes stranded during a snowstorm and is rescued by a stranger.

Meanwhile, although Cassie assumes seventeen-year old Ben Parish is dead, he is in fact barely alive, suffering from the Red Plague. Ben is a boy that Cassie liked prior to the alien invasion. He narrates his story beginning with his arrival at Wright-Patterson Airbase after the soldiers clean out the tent city next to the base where he has been staying. They save his life and he is encouraged to find the will to fight against the aliens. He learns from the doctor there that the aliens have infected certain people and that these people are now activated into hunters to kill the remaining humans - the fifth wave of the invasion. The preceding four waves were merely to whittle Earth's 4 billion population down to a manageable size for annihilation.

Parish, along with many other children, are trained to be soldiers and are told that they can help fight back against the invaders. They are tagged with a small capsule that allows them to be tracked and are told that the aliens are inside some humans and that with the use of a special headset they can be detected and will glow green. Those who are not infested will be red. From the very beginning all of their training reinforces this understanding, giving them no reason to question otherwise. Parish, who used to be a high school jock and who is deeply depressed over the loss of his sister and his family, is gradually trained into a proficient soldier. His unit includes a young woman named Ringer who is a crack shot, several young boys named Dumbo and Flinstone, a young girl named Teacup and a little boy named Nugget who is in fact, Cassie's brother, Sammy.

When their training is complete, Parish, who now goes by the name, Zombie, along with his unit (excepting Sammy) are sent on a mission into a city. They are given special headsets that glow green indicating a person is infested with an alien and are told to take out anyone who registers as "infested". However, Ringer begins to realize that the situation doesn't make sense and soon figures out that they are being used by the aliens as the 5th Wave - humans who are trained and duped to kill those humans who have survived the previous four waves of attack. Ben and Ringer must decide what to do as Ben knows he needs to return for Nugget whom he promised he would not leave behind.

During the time that Ben and Sammy are at Wright-Patterson Airbase, Cassie awakens to finds herself being cared for at an isolated farmhouse in Ohio. Her caretaker is a handsome young man, Evan Walker, who claims to be the sole survivor of his family. The house is Evan's family's farmhouse, but soon many things about Evan just don't add up. Cassie soon begins to realize the truth of what he is too. This is complicated by the fact that Cassie begins to fall for Evan, all the while struggling between attempting to trust him and wanting to kill him for who he is and what she's sure he's done.

Cassie tells him she must go back to get her brother, even if it means her dying in the process. Evan who is in love with her, decides to debrief her on the base so that she will have a reasonable chance of succeeding. How will Cassie sneak into a death camp for humans, that is surrounded by drones and soldiers controlled by advanced alien technology?

Discussion

Rick Yancey is an adult writer whose previous works have been immensely popular. The 5th Wave which is the first in his new YA series, feels like a mix of original Star Trek (Return to Tomorrow) and the television series V which ran in the 1980's and deals with humans battling malevolent aliens intent on taking over Earth. Of course these storylines - the aliens so advanced they have no physical body and are only a consciousness, and the alien invasion that sees a few good aliens side with their human prey, are a common trope in science fiction literature and movies.

The novel is narrated in several voices; 16 year old Cassie, Sammy, 17 year old Benjamin Parish who is a boy Cassie had a crush on before "The Arrival", and Evan Walker, a mysterious stranger who helps Cassie. The first part of the novel, narrated by Cassie is excellent, capturing the reader's interest with the fascinating backstory of the appearance of the aliens and their gradual assault on Earth. However, the novel slows considerably when Yancey goes into great detail regarding Ben Parish's training at Wright-Patterson. Readers will find this part of the novel slow going, but the detail here is important, because the author is setting up the events that lead to the climax of the novel.

All of this is used to create a twist in the plot which leads to a heart-pounding climax and sets the stage for the next novel. It's like a game of chess now; with the aliens in check and the humans awaiting their next move. And the odds are stacked against the humans.

Cassie is the strong-willed, courageous heroine in this novel. Her relationship with Evan is the dominant one is this first novel. It creates a great deal of suspense because the reader knows who Evan is but doesn't yet know his motive for helping Cassie and because Cassie isn't completely certain who he is. The end of the novel sees Cassie meet up with her crush, Ben Parish, who has changed considerably since their high school days, only months ago. He is now a hardened soldier bent on revenge. Yancey has set up the possibility of a love triangle between Ben, Cassie and Evan in the next installment.

My only complaint about this book was when Yancey first switches his narrator. The novel is broken into different sections separated by black title pages. The second section, titled Wonderland is confusing because the reader assumes they are still reading the narration by Cassie when in fact the story is now being told by Ben's point of view.

Like many recent young adult novels, The 5th Wave is long, a whopping 457 pages. But those pages are filled with a mixture of horror, suspense, romance, grit and action that keeps the reader engaged throughout. The reader wants the humans to win, but the odds against them are so high that this creates the tension necessary for the next book!

Book Details:
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Toronto: G.P. Putnam's Sons   2013
457 pp.