Review--The Last Star by Rick Yancey

The enemy is Other. The enemy is us.

They’re down here, they’re up there, they’re nowhere. They want the Earth, they want us to have it. They came to wipe us out, they came to save us.

But beneath these riddles lies one truth: Cassie has been betrayed. So has Ringer. Zombie. Nugget. And all 7.5 billion people who used to live on our planet. Betrayed first by the Others, and now by ourselves.

In these last days, Earth’s remaining survivors will need to decide what’s more important: saving themselves…or saving what makes us human.

It’s been a rather long wait for Rick Yancey’s The Last Star, and I must say it was definitely worth it on some level. Though I will also admit that I am kind of left with a few unanswered questions. In a roundabout way, I guess I get what we saw in the final chapters, but there’s still that part of me that likes to have that clean cut, black and white answered ending. No questions, no doubts. And I do have some questions and wonderings, but I won’t get into those with you.

Once again we get right into the thick of things! I liked that we were able to just jump right back in, though it’s been two years since I read The Infinite Sea when it first came out. The delay in releasing this one about killed me, but thankfully I was able to read a recap of the previous book, and it just made me realize how confused I was over some of the details revealed. But anyway, we start things off with a lot of tension and chaos. Cassie is mad at Evan. He’s been keeping too many secrets from her and with their current situation it’s all just gotten to be too much. Her brother, Sam, still “hates” her. The Sam we met in the first book who was the scared little boy is gone and it saddens me that he had to grow up so fast! He’s five years old and been trained to be a super solider. It’s saddening, is all.

Evan’s plan is to blow up the ship that’s to come to Earth in a few days and destroy all the remaining major cities. Cassie thinks it’s a stupid plan, but there’s really no other option. Zombie aka Ben, takes Dumbo and they go off to find Ringer who has been missing for too long. And if you recall, Ringer has been changed by Vosch. She has her own set of super abilities and is nearly invincible. She’s made it her mission to kill Evan Walker.

A lot goes on in this book, but at the same time, you feel like it’s not enough. I think it’s because we were with so many of the characters; Cassie, Sam, Zombie, Evan, and Ringer, as well as the occasional “intermission” of characters scene, that’s a little harder to explain, but just go with it! We are with so many of the characters for the book that we have all these little missions outside the big one.

I feel like in order for me to really grasp what the heck just happened, I should’ve re-read the first two books, but again, I say I rarely have time for that anymore. I guess what left me befuddled was the whole alien aspect to it all. There was so much controversy to what I read that I can’t be sure what the heck just happened! And the “epilogue” section only proceeded to confuse me with a few details. But yet, I did still really enjoy this series! It’s scary and yet so incredibly told. Yeah, I’m contradicting myself here. Saying it’s an amazingly told story, but yet, I was still confused with some bits. That’s life for you I guess!

The ending here did leave me a little shocked, though I was definitely prepared for it. As the story moves along in its thrilling conclusion you can foresee what’s about to take place. And when it happens you are left on your own to deal with your emotions. The epilogue (because it does feel like one without being called one) kind of just mucks things up a little bit. It was both endearing and heartbreaking, and it still leaves you with the big question: what’s next? But since the series is over, I feel we’re just meant to make the ending of our own choosing.

I was aware from the beginning that this series was not meant to be a love story, but yet, I couldn’t help for a bit more between Cassie and Evan. I guess because of their initial connection I kept thinking their relationship could be a side feature. The fact that it wasn’t upset me some, but then when I look back on things, having romance play any pivotal role wouldn’t mesh well with the story at large. Even Zombie and Ringer’s little thing that started to blossom wasn’t a focal point, though I did wish to see something more between them too. I guess I’ve turned into a romantic without even realizing it! But again, the lack of romance in the story didn’t really take away anything, I guess in a way, we’re supposed to want there to be romance, but we have to understand, this is the end of the world! Romance has got to take a backseat on this one! Wayyyy in the back!

The Last Star was definitely an intriguing and exciting read! It’s a great conclusion to the trilogy, though I do still wish it wasn’t over. I feel like the way Rick Yancey ended things was the right way. It might not be what we all could hope for or expect, but when you take a step back and really think about it. It totally works. I would totally recommend reading this series! It’s quite thrilling and at times scary at how realistic it is, that if we were to be attacked by otherworldly forces, society would be pretty much doomed. And on that lovely morbid thought, I end this review!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars