Book Review: The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Pros: quick moving, suspenseful, action packed

Cons: no down time to consider the questions the book posed, didn’t feel emotionally connected to the characters

For Parents: swearing, some sexual content (mostly kissing, nothing graphic), lots of violence

Picking up immediately where The 5th Wave ends, Ringer leaves the group’s temporary shelter to hopefully find a safer place where they can spend the winter.  Meanwhile, Cassie still has hope that Evan survived the explosion and will meet up with her again, though each passing day makes that less likely.  Fear, paranoia, rage, hope, and love all come into play as the characters struggle against their new world.  And the big question remains, why?  Why did the aliens create such an elaborate series of ‘waves’ to annihilate humanity instead of one catastrophic event?

This is a very fast moving book.  There’s little time to think about what’s happened before the next calamity hits.  On the one hand, it makes for a suspenseful, action packed novel.  On the other hand, it doesn’t give you any time to consider the questions the book poses.  And I found that my emotional attachment to the characters wasn’t as strong as with the first book (though I suspect if I’d reread the first book before picking this one up that would have been different).  When bad things happened to the kids I didn’t feel it as deeply as I should have. 

I like that we got to learn more about some of the kids’ pasts.  Through POV flashbacks we learn how Poundcake got his name and why he doesn’t talk, we also learn a bit more about the aliens.

It’s the second book in a trilogy so the ending leaves you wanting the final volume, The Last Star, where all the questions will - hopefully - be answered.