How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.
Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.
Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve read The 5th Wave, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from The Infinite Sea. As a result, I found the first ~2/3 of The Infinite Sea to be rather confusing, especially since nothing seemed to be happening in terms of plot progression. Thankfully, the latter portion captured my interest a bit more, if only because of the many twists, turns, and promises of desolation and desperation that it contained.
The Infinite Sea consists of multiple shifts in perspective, including Cassie, Poundcake, and Ringer. I wasn’t a huge fan of Cassie – her infatuation with Evan Walker was more annoying than it was in the first book, as it seemed to plague her every thought, so I was glad that her narration only took up a small portion of the story.
Ringer’s narration, on the other hand, took up the majority of the book. At first, I wasn’t too fond of this switch: she was very straight-forward and distant in The 5th Wave, so I loved seeing the reasons for this coldness. Ringer is determined, intelligent, and very, very angry, so I can’t wait to see where she goes next.
My favourite POV definitely belonged to Poundcake, even though it was absolutely heartbreaking to read about his backstory and the reasoning behind his nickname.
As with The 5th Wave, I loved the themes that Rick Yancey chose to explore. Over the course of the novel, I found myself thinking intently about the importance of hope, the nature of humanity, and the instinct to protect the young against all costs. More than that, though, I loved how these philosophical musings were tied into the aliens’ grand plan, even if they did raise more questions than answers.
Overall, I’m incredibly conflicted about The Infinite Sea. Although there were several aspects that I really enjoyed, it felt rather unfocused and seemed to contain more filler than substance. Here’s hoping that the next book is much better.
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