The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Title:The Infinite Sea
Series: The 5th Wave #2
Author: Rick Yancey
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Release Date:September 16th 2014
Pages: Hardcover, 300 pages
Source: Library

Summary from Goodreads:
How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

Review

Rick Yancey you took my emotions on a roller coaster ride that lasted the entire book.  I was yelling 'Nooooo!' in some chapters and rooting for the characters in the next, To be honest, I did not like this roller coasters as much as I thought I was going to.  I was given hope at times just to have it snatched away from me, while I think it fit the theme and overall mood for the book it was not something that I really enjoyed.

Even though I typically love alternating point of views, I felt that during some chapters it was hard to remember who was the narrator.  There were also points in the book where I really wanted to know what was going on with some of the other characters but had to wait quite a few chapters until the point of view switched back.  The actual plot line continues to be scarily awesome! Yancey continues to effectively convey a desperate, dangerous environment that the characters have no choice but to face head on.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in The Infinite Sea, The 5th Wave was a crazy, high stress, alien invasion survival story that had me flipping through every page with such anticipation.  The Infinite Sea lacked some of the 'wow' factor; the story focused on heavy character development while the plot pace took a back seat.  I am still excited for the next book, while this one was not my favorite, I am still invested it the plot and the characters.

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title:Onyx
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Lux #2
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date:August 14th 2012
Pages: Paperback, 366 pages
Source: Bought

Summary from Goodreads:
Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

Review

Jennifer L. Armentrout has me sold on the Lux series.  Even though I was super hesitant to start the series, I am enjoying every minute of it!  The banter between Katy and Daemon has me laughing out loud.  Every time he is clever and plays to her bookish nature, I just love it.  How can you not laugh at the quote below.

"Wanna hear about them?  Although, I'm much better at the show part rather than the tell."

"Somehow, I believe you."
"If you didn't, I could always give you a teaser." He paused and I could hear the smile in his voice. " You bookish people love teasers, don't you?"

Onyx picked up right where Obsidian left off, strong tension between characters and crazy bad alien drama. It is a perfect blend of romance and action.  Similar to Obsidian, JLA makes references to bloggers/readers that just make me smile.  I also really appreciated the surprises in the story, there were a couple of things that I was just not expecting at all and I am really curious how they will play out in the rest of the series.  The book gives enough closure while still leaving more for book three. 

"You're a terrible liar.  You want this.  Just as badly as I do."
My mouth opened, but no words came out.
"You want this as badly as you want to go to ALA this winter." 
Now my jaw was on the floor. "You don't even know what ALA is!"

Although I really enjoyed Onyx, it was missing a little something.  At times the plot could of moved a bit quicker and the story could have progressed more but all in all it was a great book. 

Bottom Line

Obsidian is still my favorite so far however Onyx was still a enjoyable, fun read. It is full of sexual tension, evil aliens, and shocking moments.  I cannot wait to continue the series and see what develops between Damien and Katy! I highly recommend trying the series as long as you are okay with aliens. 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Obsidian
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Lux #1
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date:May 8th 2012
Pages: Paperback, 2nd Edition, 335 pages
Source: Library

Summary from Goodreads:
Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something... unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

Review

I have been very hesitant to read start the Lux series because I have heard such great things I was nervous about the books being over-hyped. I am happy to report that  Obsidian was a fantastic alien book, I look forward to finishing the series. I have a couple reservations but the main reason I did not give the book a full 5 stars was that a couple of parts were a bit predictable. 

My 5 favorite things about Obsidian

1. Katy is a book blogger.  I had no idea that Katy, the main character, was a book blogger so when I read that she was checking her blog comments and writing her Waiting on Wednesday posts I ended up grinning from ear to ear.  This is the first book that I have read that has a book blogger.  Later in the book she is super excited because she got ARCs in the mail!  I thought it was kind of a cool shout out to bloggers :)

" I'd rather read a book and stalk my blog comments"

Oh. Dear. Baby.  Jesus. How did he find it?  Wait.  More importantly was the fact that he had found it. Was my blog now Googleable?  That was awesomesauce with an extra heaping of sauce.

2. Bad boy Alien Daemon. Daemon is up there on the list of hot bad boys and man o man is he hot one second and cold the next.  He is arrogant, protective, sweet, and a jerk all in the same chapter!

" You look like you got more of a bath than the car.  I never thought washing a car would be so hard, but after watching you for the last fifteen minutes, I'm convinced it should be an Olympic sport."

3. Good Aliens vs Evil Aliens.  With everything else going on in the story there was still room for a couple crazy battle scenes between the good aliens and the bad aliens.  The battle scenes had plenty of unexpected surprises.  

4. Crazy sexual tension.  The sexual tension between Daemon and Katy if maxed out! Armentrout writing just brings you into the story so you can feel the frustration Katy feels towards Daemon all while waiting them to finally just kiss. 

 Grinning, he backed down the steps.  "I'll see you at noon, Kitten."

"I hate you," I hissed.

" The feeling's mutual." He glanced over his shoulder, "Twenty bucks says you wear a one-piece swimsuit."

He was insufferable.

5. Well developed relationships and characters.  Both Katy and Daemon are well developed, their characters have history and reasons for acting they way they do.  Not only are the both of them great,the friendship between Katy and Dee is sincere. The distant but loving relationship between Katy and her mother is also a nice addition to the book.    

Bottom Line

  If you want sexual tension, aliens, a bad boy, and an overall good versus evil book that is fast paced and well written than I highly recommend Obsidian.  If aliens are not your thing at all, I might avoid this one but you are missing out on a pretty great book.  

REVIEW #164: The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1) by Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave
Series: The 5th Wave #1
Author: Rick Yancey
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Release Date: May 24th 2011
Pages: Hardcover, 457 pages
Source: Audiobook from the Library

Summary from Goodreads:
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 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, 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.

So I always tend to get nervous reading a book with a lot of hype, so I procrastinated reading my copy of The 5th Wave. Then the library got a copy of the audio book and I felt compelled to check it out. I can honestly report, The 5th Wave lived up to the hype. It was full of GREATNESS.

The story is told from multiple POVs with the different story lines weaving together in a beautiful, intense manner that kept my emotions on a roller coaster. The story lines were mostly independent yet had threads connecting them to each other with what seemed perfectly seamless writing. This allowed for each main character to develop and to really connect with the other characters; I was able to see and connect with each character’s journey.

As for the characters, I loved Zombie. He felt so real to me, his actions seemed so honest. Even though he was tough and jaded, Nugget breaks him and gives him the ability to love again. The Nugget-Zombie relationship is one of my favorites! Cassie on the other hand was an extremely stubborn yet strong character. There were a couple points where her stubbornness got annoying but I felt like the situation she was in justified it. The villains/aliens were perfectly creepy; the way they developed the ‘waves’ and method of attacks were dark and evil.

The pacing was spot on; while it did slow in some parts the action would always pick back up full force. I felt like I was holding my breath for the last 50 pages as the POVs switched back and forth between Zombie and Cassie. The ending was excellent, Ahh I could breathe again. Yancey left room for so much more yet there was a great conclusion to this part of Cassie and Zombie’s journey.

The 5th Wave was an easy 5 star book. I highly recommend it if you are looking for an apocalyptic, alien invasion fast paced action story. (Caveat: There is some violence, a little cursing, and some intense imagery) Audiobook wise, it is now ranking as one of my top 3 favorite audiobooks. The narration was fantastic, it was so easy to keep track of the changing POVs and quickly sink into the crazy war they were facing.