The Last Star Review
The Others are nowhere and everywhere, they are killing us to save us, and they want the planet but also don't. In all the confusion, there is one clear thing: everyone has been betrayed twice. First, the Others betrayed us. Then we betrayed ourselves. There is one last decision for the survivors to make: save themselves or save their humanity.
Keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. This review is only my opinion, and you may have your own, different one. I would take into consideration what I say, but do not make a decision about the book solely based off of this review. Let's begin:
So, my hope that this trilogy would recover after the second book definitely didn't come true. The trilogy steadily went downhill even with the potential it had after the first book. It seems to me like Yancey had a great idea for a new type of alien book, wrote a good first novel, and then got lost and was unable to find the story and characters again.
Once again, this book was split into multiple perspectives- even more than the other two books. I understand why this needed to be done for this novel. After all, a lot of the characters were in different places and we needed to know what was happening with each of them. However, I got very frustrated with this at times because the characters would often think things that I don't believe they ever would have before.
The characters felt different than they did in the first book, especially Ben. It seemed like they were completely different characters sometimes. I get that what they experience would change anyone, but it would not cause them to change in the ways that I noticed. For instance, Cassie's whole purpose in the first novel is to get to Nugget, but she seems to push him aside a lot in this book for her maybe-alien sort of boyfriend. I don't see how a change that drastic would happen. The characters also contradict themselves a lot both just in this book and then with things they said/did before this book.
Speaking of Cassie's sort of boyfriend, I stopped liking their romance. It went from being cute in the first book to pretty toxic and obsessive. Neither Evan nor Cassie seemed to feel true love for the other. Evan is absolutely obsessed with Cassie in a creepy stalker way- not in a loving way. Cassie, meanwhile, keeps pushing Sam aside for Evan, but I didn't feel like she loved Evan. Their romance just didn't connect with me, and I don't think Yancey knows how to write a romance that feels real. There is another relationship that forms in this book between two of the main characters (I will not say names to avoid spoilers). I didn't feel this one either. Not only that, but it felt forced and random. The characters have been there and together since the first book, but there was no sexual attraction towards each other. Now, all of a sudden, they are in love and willing to die for each other? I don't buy it.
I said this with this second book, and I am sad to have to say it again. I was bored, say 80% of the book. I kept putting off this book after reading the second and had a gut feeling I would have to force myself to finish it. Due to that, I made the decision to listen to it as an audiobook on a long car ride so that I didn't have many other options on things to do. Well, I still somehow kept getting distracted (don't worry, I wasn't driving). I zoned out multiple times and then didn't even care enough to rewind. I figured I would probably still be confused anyway. That's another thing- I felt like I didn't understand what was going on even before I started zoning out. Being bored and confused for the vast majority of the book is perhaps the worst part of this novel. The ending was okay, but it didn't blow me away and I didn't get a true sense of satisfaction from it.
Overall, I was disappointed by this book and have decided that I personally wouldn't recommend this series to others. While the first book was decent, they only got worse until the trilogy came to an end with this unsatisfying, confusing, and mostly boring book. Sorry to everyone who loves this trilogy- it just wasn't for me! I don't connect with Yancey's writing style, and it felt more like a chore to get through this last book than anything.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Author: Rick Yancey
# of Pages: 338 (hardcover)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic (Aliens)
Series: The 5th Wave (Book 3)
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