Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Urgent, Stubborn, Paranoid
You know that saying, "Live each day as if it were your last"? Well, it takes on a whole new level of meaning when the world is ending.
In The 5th Wave, the author creates a tone of urgency through not just the novel's premise, but also his characters' immediate circumstances. At any given moment, you can just about guarantee that someone's in dire straights. "We can't stay here!" Cassie tells Evan when she freaks out at his house. (34.23) "They'll find us!" (34.25)
Urgency also drives the characters' plans for the future—which is where the stubbornness comes in, too. Cassie's focus on finding Sammy, for instance, is reminiscent of Ahab and his whale—though without the whole peglegged, psychopath thing.
She tells Evan,
"There's only one way in, and that's the way Sammy took. You can't go. I have to… I'm going to get my little brother." (73.16-73.17)
(Well, okay, then.) Zombie, too, isn't giving up on Sammy, even though everyone thinks his rescue mission is suicide. "I can't leave him," he tells his squad. "I made a promise" (62.27).
The paranoia is largely inspired by the Others, who have cleverly disguised themselves as humans. Cassie figures this out pretty early on, but her knowledge doesn't help her much; in fact, it leads her to kill the Crucifix Soldier, who's almost certainly human.
Other characters aren't let in on the secret till much later in the book, so their paranoia has a more inward focus. "How do you know when you're going Dorothy?" Ringer asks Zombie, using their code word for insanity (59.5). "Crazy people—they never think they're crazy. Their craziness makes perfect sense to them" (59.6).
Fortunately, Ringer isn't crazy. It's only in pushing through her paranoia that she's able to formulate—wait for it—her next urgent plan.
Phew.
Fingers crossed these guys get a spa day in Book Two. The tone of this book is exhausting.