Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends.

Best of all, everything feels totally real, and that makes it all the more riveting. The plot flips back and forth with so much action and so many expert twists that readers will constantly question whom they can trust and whom they can’t. The 500-plus-page novel surges forward full throttle with an intense, alarming tone full of danger, deceit and a touch of romance. The suspension-of-disbelief Kool-Aid he serves goes down so easy that every piece of the story-no matter how outlandish-makes perfect sense. As in his previous efforts ( The Monstrumologist, 2009, etc.), Yancey excels in creating an alternative world informed by just enough logic and sociology to make it feel close enough to our own. She then embarks on a mission to rescue her brother. Cassie escapes, only to see her dad (and everyone else) brutally executed by their so-called protectors. Cassie, her dad and the rest of the adults are then divested of their weapons and marched into a bunker by their protectors.

Together, the three wait out the titular fifth in a military base for survivors until school buses arrive to take all children to safety, including her brother Sam. Sixteen-year-old Cassie, her brother Sam and her dad survived the first four gruesome waves of the attack. The challenge? Surviving the genocide of the human race when aliens attack Earth in the not-too-distant future.

The 5th wave book 4