By Sarah Kay/Gator Galaxy Staff

The day the mother ship arrived, the world really split into two: those who believed the aliens and the ones who couldn’t pack up their things fast enough.

Waiting for contact made the speculations grow desperate and wild. Author Rick Yancey doesn’t just say, “Oh look! Aliens are here to take earth and kill you.” In a certain sense, he makes the invasion realistic and it makes you think, “This could be how it really happens.”

The first wave: An electromagnetic pulse that knocks out all power and sends civilization back into a  preindustrial mess.

The second: A massive metal pole, sent from high above orbit into a major fault line causing a tsunami that drowns all of the world’s coastlines.

The third: A bird born virus that wipes out 99 percent of the surviving population.

The fourth: Humans implanted with alien consciousnesses, that now stalk whatever survivors remain.

Once the first wave happened, everything snowballed. Young Adult books often don’t make it so bad things continuously happen to good people. More often than not, readers see authors giving happy endings, not disaster and chaos. In this short time span, you get four perspectives in first person, set in a rotation.

Cassie, the doubtful 16-year-old tomboy is willing to do anything to protect the ones she loves. Sam is her innocent and adorable brother. Ben is the high school football star that Cassie has loved from afar, and Evan is the mystery hunk who looks like a teenage lumberjack.

After her parents die-her mother from the plague, her father shot by a soldier that may not even be human-Cassie, armed with the M16 her dad gave her, is fulfilling the promise she made: find Sam after he was taken away on a bus full of kids.

Wounded by an alien sniper, she is rescued by Evan. When being alone is the only way to survive, Cassie is forced to trust Evan who’s story that doesn’t quite add up. Not far away, Ben, haunted by the memories of leaving his sister behind, is recruited to lead a unit of child soldiers to go after “the infested” – humans with alien consciousness. These paths converge into one final piece that ties everything together, bringing to light what the 5th wave really is.

This book is possibly a realistic representation on how young people experience the world. It brings raw emotions to the table, questioning humanity and what it is that makes us human.