Review: The Fifth Wave

The Fifth Wave
by Rick Yancey

Book Description:
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.

Review: 

An excellent read.  This book feels real.  Cassie has to deal with being alone, trying to decide if anyone can be trusted.  When she realizes that anyone could be one of them... how can she trust anyone ever again?  Then Cassie meets someone that she desperately wants to trust... 

Her devotion to finding and saving her brother is admirable and heartbreaking.  Seeing in the alternating chapters what is happening inside the camp he's been taken to... I found myself wanting to yell through the book to the characters letting them know what was going on with each other.  Though I could see where things were going most of the time, Yancey's writing still kept me on the edge of my seat.  

For older readers looking for a thrilling, can't put it down type of science fiction read. 

Movie Review: The Host

The Host 
2013
Chockstone Pictures
Rated: PG-13
125 Minutes

Movie Description: 

A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race’s mission of taking over the Earth, ‘Wanda’ (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans.

Review: 

Overall I pretty much loved the movie. I thought they did a great job adapting it to the screen...but I know that part of my reaction came from having read the book first. I read some reviews that thought the movie didn't have enough action and was too focused on the emotional relationships between characters (with too much kissing...LOL), but those people have obviously never read the book. The book itself delves pretty deeply into the relationships between the characters precisely because the author was trying to define what makes us human, and what love truly looks like.

Visually, the movie was stunning. The alien creatures were fascinatingly both beautiful and well, alien. Their appearance once they took over the human hosts was well defined through calm demeanor, slower movements, and sort of a 1950's vibe in clothing and interpersonal interactions...I loved, too, how the Seekers were only ever in white and drove around in pure silver vehicles. It induced an almost clinically cold feeling when you were watching their scenes.

I thought Saorise Ronin did a fantastic job as Melanie/Wanderer.She was almost like two different people when she was acting the memories of Melanie's life and then when she was actively inhabited by Wanda. They did a great job with her voiceovers (everytime Melanie spoke inside Wanda's head). There was no awkwardness like the actress couldn't quite match up the timing. It really was as if she had two personalities interacting throughout the movie.

While at first I had been unsure of the casting for Ian (Jake Abel - who I tend to think of as an actor who plays not-so-good guys...) I found myself completely sucked in by his character...again. Ian is the first ever adult book crush that I had. *Spoiler Alert* In fact, one of the biggest problems I had with the movie was that they altered the scene that absolutely melted my heart where Ian holds Wanda in her true form and still finds her beautiful... I missed that moment!

*Spoiler Alert!*
The only other problem I really had was the transition from Wanda being in Melanie's body to the new girl at the end. While I was reading the book because I was so emotionally invested it did not feel quite as jarring or perfectly poised to solve all of the characters' problems... but when you see it in the movie, it almost feels like a cop-out. Oh, you are choosing to sacrifice yourself and leave so Melanie and her family can be happy? Oh, Look! We found a new body for you... you have to take it or she'll die... and look, now you and Ian can live happily ever after... It just was too...pat...an ending. (And Emily Browning, while I love you in everything else you've done, I wasn't quite feeling you in this role...sorry!)

However, aside from those small issues, I found myself totally sucked into a fabulous story again and I will absolutely be buying this on DVD when it comes out. :)

Ender's Game Movie Blog

So, I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but... Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is my ALL.TIME.FAVORITE.SCIENCE.FICTION.BOOK....EVAH!!

I LOVE Ender's Game.  It is an amazing book with great characters and a cool concept. 

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut--young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is.

If you've never read it, I HIGHLY recommend you give it a shot.  You don't like Sci-Fi, you say... I will prove you wrong.  Try this book.  It will change your life.

So. Why am I gushing at you like this??

Well...they are currently filming the Ender's Game MOVIE!! *squee!!*

They've lined up an awesome cast and they've even created a really cool blog that lets you see stuff from the movie sets. 

Check it out sometime if you get a chance! Let me know if you think they're going to do a good job with the movie...

Review: 172 Hours on the Moon

172 Hours on the Moon
by Johan Harstad

Book Description:
It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever.

Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune.

Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan.

Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.

 

 

Review:

I was very impressed with this science fiction thriller.

 

 

Though it is a little slow starting, the tension eventually builds into a spine-chilling ending. This is the book for someone who doesn't need a happy ending. This is the book for someone looking for realism and just a touch of horror.

This book has many characters and changes perspectives quite frequently, though you could say that Mia could be considered the "main character." It actually makes it a little easier as the story goes on to be not quite invested in any specific character...

 

 

Whatever your suspicions may be along the way, the author manages to surprise readers with a bleak ending that will give you just the hint of nightmares for a few days...

Movie Teaser Trailer for "The Host"

I am beyond excited to finally be able to share the teaser trailer for the movie adaptation of one of my favorite books, Stephanie Meyer's The Host.

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

It's a fantastic reimagining of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. I *cannot* wait until this movie comes out... in March 2012 (such a long time to wait!!)