Summer Reading - 2013 Edition (3)

Among my friends, I'm known as the book person. As a result, whenever someone is looking for a book recommendation they come to me. This time of the year, this happens a lot since summer is fast approaching and a lot of my friends are typically seasonal readers--as in they read when they have time to do so and that time is often summer. Like I did last year, I thought I would post these recommendations--by genre--here on the blog as well. Up this week, some fantasy and science fiction recommendations.

- The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey - Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few weeks, then you've probably heard all about how amazing The 5th Wave is. And I'm here to tell you that it is even better than everyone has been saying it is. Basically, the story takes place after aliens have wiped off most of Earth's population, and the world as we know it is gone. Even if you aren't into aliens, you will like these books. These books are not the kind of aliens you imagine. And the story is awesome and filled with action. Seriously, read this book.

- Breathe by Sarah Crossan - Picture a world where everyone lives in a dome where oxygen is controlled and rationed because there is no longer enough oxygen in the planet's atmosphere. Now add three teenagers being stuck outside the dome, with dwindling supplies of oxygen, trying to make it to a Resistance stronghold. Sarah Crossan's Breathe felt incredibly realistic while I was reading it and for that reason it makes a great dystopian. If you are looking for a book that will make you think about what could happen in our planet's not-too-distant future, than I strongly recommend Breathe.

- Possession trilogy by Elana Johnson - Here's the thing about Elana Johnson's Possession trilogy, I wasn't entirely convinced after reading the first book, Possession. But then I read the second book, Surrender, and I was sold. There is just so much happening in these books and a certain level of complexity that makes you really think while you are reading. Bonus side: the final book, Abandon is going to be out in just over two weeks so you won't even have to wait too long to find out how it all ends.

- Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth - If you haven't been living under a rock you should have heard about Veronica Roth and Divergent at this point. Between the movie being made and the final book, Allegiant, coming out in September, this trilogy is practically everywhere. But this trilogy totally deserves this attention because it is that good. Divergent is a fast-paced and action-packed dystopian story. This is the kind of book you will pick up and not want to put down again until you have read it all. So if a page-turner is what you're looking for, then Divergent is the way to go.

- The Chemical Garden trilogy by Lauren DeStefano - This was on my list of recommendations last year and I still stand behind it a year later. Though I will admit I still have to read the final book, this is a series I have loved so far. Lauren DeStefano's writing is reason enough to read this series. Reading these books will transport you to another world and another place. If nothing else, they will provide you with the perfect escape for a few hours. And on the plus side, the entire trilogy is out so you can read all three books back to back if that's what you want to do.

Like I've said every week, this is not an extensive list by any stretch of the imagination. If you are looking for some more dystopian or post-apocalyptic recommendations, you are free to check out my recommendations from last year. And if this is not the type of book you are looking for, be sure to come back next week for my last batch of summer reading recommendations

Blog Tour - The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

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 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.

Before I say anything else, I will say this: this review is going to be different from the way I normally write reviews. With Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave there is so much going on, and the way I normally review books would simply reveal too much of the story. So bear with me.

Here's the thing about The 5th Wave, until I had a copy of the book in my hands all I really knew about the book was that everyone was freaking out about it, saying how amazing it was and how everyone needed to read it. Typically with books like that, I will sort of avoid them like the plague because by the time I get around to reading them, I'm always afraid they won't live up to what everyone has been saying or I've just become sick of hearing everyone gush about them. But with The 5th Wave all that hyping and gushing and screaming on rooftops that this book is amazing is completely warranted. Heck, at this point I'm joining in.

Going in, I knew based on what everyone had been saying that The 5th Wave was good. And it was, there is no doubt about it. What surprised me though, was just how affected I was by the story. Despite it revolving around an alien invasion of sorts, the story felt incredibly real. The different waves of the invasion and attack that are described in the story are completely realistic--who knows when a massive electromagnetic wave is going to shut down all power and networks or when earthquakes are going to cause massive tsunamis world wide? In this sense, the book really resonated with me. I could really believe in the story and in what the characters were going through. I won't lie, a good 90% of the time I was reading, I was thinking about how all of this could just as easily have been happening to me.

Just like the story resonated with me what, what the different characters went through affected me in much the same way. Without saying too much for fear of spoiling it for anyone, all the main characters in the book are put in extremely difficult situations where you almost need to re-evaluate your moral code. It felt to me like any moral code that might have existed before this whole thing started had to be thrown out the window if you wanted to have any chance of surviving. Because of that, I questioned a lot of the characters' actions while at the same time thinking that I probably wouldn't react the same way if I were ever in their position. And once it was revealed what the 5th wave actually was? Well I started questioning everything again, because there was no other way around it.

Just to clear the doubt, Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave is just as amazing as everyone has been saying it is. This is the kind of story that just affects you and resonates with you, and the characters will make you want to question everything you have ever known about the human race. This is not a light book by any stretch of the imagination. But it's a book that will have you thinking for a long time after you finish reading.