History Literature / TheFifthWave

* Jerkass: Reznik's [[{{Understatement}} kinda this]].

''The Fifth Wave'' is a young adult sci-fi apocalyptic thriller trilogy by Rick Yancey, who has also written the AlfredKropp series and the ''Literature/{{Monstrumologist}}'' series. The books are:

* BadDreams: Cassie has them often, occasionally compounded with a CatapaultNightmare.

* The Lost Star (2016)

As you can see, only books one and two have been published so far.

* Untitled (2015)

* AgentPeacock: Cassie mentions Evan Walker's perfectly manicured nails numerous times. This is the apocalypse; who has time to do nails, again? However, [[spoiler: his job is to wander the land shooting people.]]

* AlienInvasion

* BadDreams: Cassie

* BerserkButton: Do not take Cassie's brother. She will hunt you down and destroy you.

Literature/TheFifthWave is a young adult sci-fi apocalyptic thriller trilogy by Rick Yancey, who has also written the AlfredKropp series and the {{Monstrumologist}} series. The books are:

The Fifth Wave (2013)

The Infinite Sea (2014)

Untitled (2015)

As you can see, only books one and two has been published so far.

Literature/TheFifthWave is a young adult sic-fi apocalyptic thriller trilogy by Rick Yancey, who has also written the AlfredKropp series and the {{Monstrumologist}} series. The books are:

As you can see, only book one has been published so far.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: [[spoiler: the Silencers]].

* MysteriousPast: Played with. Evan does give a backstory, but leaves one thing out. [[spoiler: He's a Silencer]].

* SadistTeacher: Reznik

* TookALevelInBadass: In Cassie's backstory, she's your average schoolgirl. Now, she's a gun-toting {{badass}} who kills aliens.

TheFifthWave is a young adult sic-fi apocalyptic thriller trilogy by Rick Yancey, who has also written the AlfredKropp series and the {{Monstrumologist}} series. The books are:

[[quoteright:317:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/17315727_1555.jpg]]

-> But if I'm it, the last of my kind, the last page of human history, like hell I'm going to let the story end this way. I may be the last one, but I am the one still standing. I am the one turning to face the faceless hunter in the woods on an abandoned highway. I am the one not running but facing. Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity's last war, then I am the battlefield.
-->-- '''Cassie'''

TheFifthWave is a young adult sic-fi apocalyptic thriller trilogy by Rick Yancey, who has also written the AlfredKropp series and the {{Monstrumologist}} series. The books are:

The Fifth Wave (2013)

The Infinite Sea (2014)

Untitled (2015)

As you can see, only book one has been published so far.

The series is a [[YoungAdultLiterature young adult]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt apocalyptic]] [[ScienceFiction science fiction]] that follows humanity's last attempts to stop an AlienInvasion, in particular the children. It does this through dual sixteen-year-old protagonists: Cassie and Ben, a.k.a. Zombie.

Cassie lives alone with her [[{{BFG}} M16]] and [[IWillFindYou her younger brother's teddy bear]], [[ParanoiaFuel hiding from the Silencers]], trusting no one. Until she meets the [[MysteriousPast gorgeous and mysterious Evan Walker]], who she begins to fall for in spite of having doubts about his humanity. Through detailed flashbacks we see what happened to her from the time [[NotUsingTheZWord the Others']] space ship first went into Earth's orbit through the four waves of desolation that have nearly wiped out humanity: [[ApocalypseHow an electromagnetic pulse that disables all electronics, massive tsunamis and earthquakes, airborne plague, and the aforementioned Silencers, who appear human but are tasked by the Others to kill everyone they meet]].

Zombie is in a military camp that may be the last hope for humanity, being trained as a soldier in a squad with [[ChildSoldiers members as young as seven]]. And when a five year old boy, Private Nugget, is assigned to their group, Zombie must do his best to protect him from not only the [[ColonelKilgore sadistic drill instructor]], but the horrors of war that are encroaching around them, [[InnocenceLost slowly strangling what little innocence they have left]].
----
!! The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey Contains Examples Of:
* ActionGirl: Both Cassie and Ringer.
* AgentPeacock: Cassie mentions Evan Walker's perfectly manicured nails numerous times. This is the apocalypse; who has time to do nails, again? However, [[spoiler: his job is to wander the land shooting people.]]
* AliensAreBastards: Subverted(ish). At first they appear to be universally evil. But then [[spoiler: Evan turns out to be one, and explains that a lot of the Others actually thought they could live with the humans side by side, but were outnumbered by those who thought the [[KillEmAll humans had to all be killed off]]]].
* AlienInvasion
* BadassBoast: See above.
* {{Backstory}}: In the first hundred or so pages, Cassie repeatedly flashes back to explain what has happened to her from when the spaceship first appeared in the sky onwards. Zombie also flashes back several times.
* BadDreams: Cassie
* BattleCouple: Cassie and Evan kick serious ass together at the end.
* BeAllMySinsRemembered: [[spoiler: Evan]].
--> '''[[spoiler: Evan]]:''' [[spoiler: I am a shark, Cassie. A shark who dreamed he was a man.]]
* BerserkButton: Do not take Cassie's brother. She will hunt you down and destroy you.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler: Evan]]. So much.
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Vosch]].
* BloodBrothers: Zombie and the rest of his barrack, especially Ringer.
* BondingOverMissingParents: Cassie and Evan. Well, bonding over missing parents plus the apocalypse.
** Also, Zombie and the rest of his barrack.
* BreakTheCutie: Every single sympathetic character, but special mention goes to Private Nugget [[spoiler: a.k.a. Cassie's brother, Sammy]]. He's five years old, and subjected to horrible humiliation, not to mention physical peril and abuse, in an attempt to make him into a ''child soldier''.
* BrokenPedestal: Zombie gets to quite admire [[spoiler: Vosch]] before finding out the reality of the situation.
* TheChessmaster: Commander Vosch. [[spoiler: By the end of the novel, you realize that he is successfully manipulating the remaining human youth into bringing about the extinction of their own species by convincing them the humans are the aliens and vice versa]].
** Ringer also seems to be a little [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] in training.
--> '''Ringer:''' Chess, Zombie: defending yourself from the move that hasn't happened yet.
* ChewingTheScenery: Commander Vorsch, being a humongously LargeHam.
--> '''Vosch:''' You are the human clay, and I am Michelangelo. I am the master builder, and you will be my masterpiece.
** Also, the sadistic drill sergeant Reznik.
* ChildSoldiers
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Zombie takes Private Nugget under his wing and protects him from their sadistic drill sergeant. It's really rather sweet.
* ColonelKilgore: Reznik, all the way.
* CrapsackWorld
* CuriousQualmsOfConscience: [[spoiler: Evan]].
* DaddysGirl: You get the impression that Cassie was this [[spoiler: before her dad was brutally killed by the Others [[ImpersonatingAnOfficer impersonating the military]]]].
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: The Others. Lampshaded by Cassie.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Everyone, by necessity, since this is, you know, ''the apocalypse''.
* DeadpanSnarker: Cassie.
--> '''Cassie:''' In case you're an alien and you're reading this: BITE ME.
* DesolationShot: Several, most memorably one at the beginning of an abandoned convenience store.
* {{Determinator}}: Cassie.
--> '''Cassie:''' When the moment comes to stop running from your past, to turn around and face the thing you thought you could not face--the moment when your life teeters between giving up and getting up--when that moment comes, and it always comes, if you can't get up and you can't give up either, here's what you do: crawl.
* DividedWeFall: Exploited magnificently by the Others when they use the Silencers to make sure that the humans are ''very'' divided indeed.
* DoubleConsciousness: [[spoiler: Evan Walker]].
* EmbarrassingNickname: Private Nugget, even for a five-year-old.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: [[spoiler: the Silencers]].
* GallowsHumor: Cassie throws out some gems.
--> '''Cassie:''' I don't move. I wait behind my log, terrified. Over the past ten minutes, it's become such a dear friend, I consider naming it: Howard, my pet log.
* GenreSavvy: Cassie lampshades tropes all the time, and she ''has'' been able to survive an [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt alien apocalypse]] that has [[KIllEmAll killed off 99% of humanity]].
* GhostTown: Pick a town, any town, in this book.
* TheGovernment: Commander Vosch claims he is a part of this.
* GrewASpine: [[spoiler: The Silencer, a.k.a. Evan Walker, kills people so the Others can colonize, even though he completely disagrees with it. By the end of the novel, he stands up to the Others and does what's right]].
* GreyAndGreyMorality: Surprisingly.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Evan]].
* HormoneAddledTeenager: Yup. In a flashback, when everyone is scared the aliens are going to kill them, what do the teenagers do? Have sex under the bleachers.
* HotBlooded: Reznik.
* InnocenceLost: Every non-adult character.
* IWillFindYou: Cassie's main goal is to find and rescue her five-year-old brother.
* Jerkass: Reznik's [[{{Understatement}} kinda this]].
--> '''Reznik:''' Private Zombie, did your mother have any children that lived?
--> '''Ben (Zombie):''' Sir! Yes, sir!
--> '''Reznik:''' I bet when you were born she took one look at you and tried to shove you back in!
* JustBeforeTheEnd
* KickTheDog: Anything that Reznik does, but especially the scenes where he viciously bullies Private Nugget.
* KillEmAll: The Others' motto.
* LoveTriangle: Played with. Cassie had an unrequited crush on Ben (now Zombie), as evidenced in flashbacks, but they are separate for most of the novel, and she develops a relationship with Evan. [[spoiler: Then at the very end she joins with Zombie and there is a bit of ShipTease]].
* MamaBear: Cassie's kinda this for her little brother Sammy
* MilitaryScienceFiction: Zombie's plot line.
* MundaneLuxury: Cassie finds Evan's home ''awesome'' after having slept in a tent and lived off of cans for months.
* MysteriousMercenaryPursuer: The Silencers, except for the mercenary bit.
* MysteriousPast: Played with. Evan does give a backstory, but leaves one thing out. [[spoiler: He's a Silencer]].
* NearVillainVictory: By the beginning of the novel.
* NeatFreak: Evan. His house is ridiculous levels of tidy, especially considering the [[BuffySpeak whole apocalypse thing]].
* NotUsingTheZWord: Surprisingly averted. The Others are called aliens several times.
* [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Heroine]]: Cassie, all out.
* PsychologicalHorror: Has some aspects of this.
* PunchClockVillain: [[spoiler: Evan]] at first.
* [[spoiler: PuppeteerParasite]]: The Others. [[spoiler: They appear in x-ray scans as a sort of tumor on the brain]].
* RedemptionQuest: Zombie wants to destroy the Others to make up for having failed to save his sister.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Evan's a Silencer]].
** [[spoiler: Not all the Others wanted to KillEmAll]].
** [[spoiler: The ChildSoldiers are being manipulated into killing off the last human survivors]].
* SadistTeacher: Reznik
* ScavengerWorld
* SmallGirlBigGun: Cassie and her precious, precious [[{{BFG}} M16]].
* TheSquad: Zombie's barrack.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: The Silencers. Used to chilling effect early in the novel when [[spoiler: Cassie finds an injured soldier dying in an abandoned convenience store, but doesn't know if he's a Silencer or not and so shoots him out of fear. It turns out he was perfectly human]].
* TookALevelInBadass: In Cassie's backstory, she's your average schoolgirl. Now, she's a gun-toting {{badass}} who kills aliens.
** Also, Zombie. Unlike Cassie, though, he actually becomes progressively more badass throughout the book.
** Any of the child soldiers, really.
* TheVietnamWar: mentioned.
--> '''World:''' You be America, alien invaders, and we'll be Vietnam.
--> '''Others:''' Yeah, okay, right.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: Vosch]].
* TheVirus: The third wave.
* WalkTheEarth: Cassie at the beginning of the book.
* WeaponOfMassDestruction: Several.
* WorldOfCardboardSpeech:
--> '''Evan:''' I had it all wrong. Before I found you, I thought the only way to hold on was to find something to live for. It isn't. To hold on, you have to find something you're willing to die for.

* ParanoiaFuel: The Silencers. They could be anyone, anyone at all, and they want nothing more than to kill you.

* GenreSavvy: Cassie lampshades tropes all the time, and she ''has'' been able to survive an AlienApocalypse that has [[KIllEmAll killed off 99% of humanity]].

* GenreSavvy: Cassie lampshades tropes all the time, and she ''has'' been able to survive an {{alien apocalypse}} that has [[KIllEmAll killed off 99% of humanity]].

Cassie lives alone with her [[{{BFG}} M16]] and [[IWillFindYou her younger brother's teddy bear]], hiding from the Silencers, trusting no one. Until she meets the [[MysteriousPast gorgeous and mysterious Evan Walker]], who she begins to fall for in spite of having doubts about his humanity. Through detailed flashbacks we see what happened to her from the time [[NotUsingTheZWord the Others']] space ship first went into Earth's orbit through the four waves of desolation that have nearly wiped out humanity: [[ApocalypseHow an electromagnetic pulse that disables all electronics, massive tsunamis and earthquakes, airborne plague, and the aforementioned Silencers, who appear human but are tasked by the Others to kill everyone they meet]].

* TheyLookLikeEveryoneElse: The Silencers. Used to chilling effect early in the novel when [[spoiler: Cassie finds an injured soldier dying in an abandoned convenience store, but doesn't know if he's a Silencer or not and so shoots him out of fear. It turns out he was perfectly human]].

Cassie lives alone with her [[{{BFG}} M16]] and [[IWillFindYou her younger brother's teddy bear]], hiding from the Silencers, trusting no one. Until she meets the [[MysteriousPast gorgeous and mysterious Evan Walker]], who she begins to fall for in spite of having doubts about his humanity. Through detailed flashbacks we see what happened to her from the time the Others' space ship first went into Earth's orbit through the four waves of desolation that have nearly wiped out humanity: [[ApocalypseHow an electromagnetic pulse that disables all electronics, massive tsunamis and earthquakes, airborne plague, and the aforementioned Silencers, who appear human but are tasked by the Others to kill everyone they meet]].

* BreakTheCutie: Every single sympathetic character, but special mention goes to Private Nugget [[spoiler: Cassie's brother, Sammy]]. He's six years old, and subjected to horrible humiliation, not to mention physical peril and abuse, in an attempt to make him into a ''child soldier''.

* DaddysGirl: You get the impression that Cassie was this [[spoiler: before her dad was brutally killed]].

* DesolationShot: Several, most memorably one at the beginning of an abandoned 7-Eleven.
* TheDeterminator: Cassie.

* EmbarrassingNickname: Private Nugget, even for a six-year-old.

* InnocenceLost: Every major non-adult character.
* IWillFindYou: Cassie's main goal is to find and rescue her six-year-old brother.
* Jerkass: Reznik.

* TheSquad
* TheyLookLikeEveryoneElse: The Silencers. Used to chilling effect early in the novel.
* TookALevelInBadass: In Cassie's backstory, she's your average schoolgirl. Now, she's a gun-toting [[LittleMissBadass badass]] who kills aliens.

Cassie lives alone with her [[Main/BFG M16]] and [[IWillFindYou her younger brother's teddy bear]], hiding from the Silencers, trusting no one. Until she meets the [[MysteriousPast gorgeous and mysterious Evan Walker]], who she begins to fall for in spite of having doubts about his humanity. Through detailed flashbacks we see what happened to her from the time the Others' space ship first went into Earth's orbit through the four waves of desolation that have nearly wiped out humanity: [[ApocalypseHow an electromagnetic pulse that disables all electronics, massive tsunamis and earthquakes, airborne plague, and the aforementioned Silencers, who appear human but are tasked by the Others to kill everyone they meet]].

Cassie lives alone with her {{BFG M16}} and [[IWillFindYou her younger brother's teddy bear]], hiding from the Silencers, trusting no one. Until she meets the [[MysteriousPast gorgeous and mysterious Evan Walker]], who she begins to fall for in spite of having doubts about his humanity. Through detailed flashbacks we see what happened to her from the time the Others' space ship first went into Earth's orbit through the four waves of desolation that have nearly wiped out humanity: [[ApocalypseHow an electromagnetic pulse that disables all electronics, massive tsunamis and earthquakes, airborne plague, and the aforementioned Silencers, who appear human but are tasked by the Others to kill everyone they meet]].

Cassie lives alone with her [[ActionGirl M16]] and [[IWillFindYou her younger brother's teddy bear]], hiding from the Silencers, trusting no one. Until she meets the [[MysteriousPast gorgeous and mysterious Evan Walker]], who she begins to fall for in spite of having doubts about his humanity. Through detailed flashbacks we see what happened to her from the time the Others' space ship first went into Earth's orbit through the four waves of desolation that have nearly wiped out humanity: [[ApocalypseHow an electromagnetic pulse that disables all electronics, massive tsunamis and earthquakes, airborne plague, and the aforementioned Silencers, who appear human but are tasked by the Others to kill everyone they meet]].