The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave
Author: Rick Yancey
ISBN: 9780141345833
Publish Date: May 2013

Synopsis:

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. 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, until Cassie meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be her only hope for rescuing her brother and even saving herself. Now she must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up. Cassie Sullivan gets up.

My Thoughts:

This book has been given a lot of attention, both negative and positive. Where do I stand on this? Somewhere in the middle.
The 5th Wave is a post apocalyptic, alien invasion novel told from various points of view (which seems to be a lasting trend these days.) Ultimately the story is mainly about Cassie who has had everything she ever cared about taken from her by the Others, and she is on a mission to get some of it back, starting with her brother.

I love the whole sci-fi, alien invasion thing, even the smattering of romance was nice touch despite the cliches. The world building was good and the characters were well written and believable, the action was high and suspenseful, but something just didn't do it for me. I started out not being able to put it down, but as I progressed it seemed to lose steam and I was left with a feeling of 'been there done that.'
Don't get me wrong it still was a thoroughly enjoyable book that has left me wondering what will happen in the next installment, but it just seemed to be lacking something that I can't quite put my finger on.

Tempest by Julie Cross

Title:               Tempest
Author:           Julie Cross
ISBN:              9781447206453
Publisher:       Macmillan Childrens Books
Published:      January 2012
Age Group:    Young Adult

Synopsis:

 The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

My Thoughts:

I really wanted to love this book and I am certain there are a lot of people out there that will love it.

It took me longer than I would have liked to finish this book. I picked it up because I loved the concept behind the book, but I ultimately found the way it was written to be confusing and at time frustrating, this may have something to do with my bad habit of never reading chapter titles. 
The action starts very early into the book, which isn't a bad thing, but I felt it lacked the initial 'getting to know you' stage and as a result I found it difficult to relate to or care about the characters.
Despite all that there were some action fuelled scenes that were well placed and managed to keep me turning the pages long enough to finish the book.
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Will I read the sequel? Maybe. I am interested to find out more about the mysterious red-headed little girl. 

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Title:               The Knife of Never Letting Go
Author:           Patrick Ness
ISBN:             978-1-4063-1025-2
Publisher:       Walker Books
Published:       2008
Age Group:     Young Adult

Synopsis:  

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

My Thoughts:

It didn't take long for this suspenseful novel to grab me. I found myself being whisked away and left blind to my surroundings, unable to predict the twists and turns that lay ahead. It was an emotional read and not for the faint of heart. It made me laugh, it made me want to cry, it made me angry and it filled me with hope. It is jam-packed with action, murder, violence, betrayal and mystery.

The spelling errors, despite being justified, make it a bit of frustrating read and it took me a few chapters to get used to it but it eventually drew me deeper into the story. At times I wanted to grab the characters and slap some sense into them but that is just a part of what makes this book such a compelling read.