Tuesday Reviews: The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Title: The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Release Date: September 16, 2014

Format Read: Hardback

Rating: 4.5 stars

Description from Goodreads: 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.

After finishing THE 5TH WAVE, I wasn't too sure whether or not I wanted to continue with the series or not. I get attached to characters, not to plot, and (This is a spoiler for book one. But if you're reading this review, you've probably already read book one. Anyway, here's your chance. If you haven't read THE 5TH WAVE, skip to the next paragraph.) since Evan was my favorite character in the book, and he didn't exactly look like he'd come out of things alive, I was ready to stop reading the entire series.

Thankfully, I expressed my thoughts on this to a friend, who assured me that I should keep reading because the series got better***

So I read book two.

And let me tell you, INFINITE SEA >>>>> 5TH WAVE

EASILY FIVE TIMES BETTER THAN BOOK ONE.

While the POVs were still inconsistent, I was able to enjoy it so much more this time, because THE INFINITE SEA didn't switch between Cassie and Ben and back and forth a bajillion times. In this book, we get POVs from Cassie, Ben, Ringer, Poundcake, and one other character that I shall refrain from spoiling for you. One POV may be five chapters, while one may be a hundred pages, but this time it was much more enjoyable due to CLIFFHANGERS at each POV end, and the way that it swapped between more than just two characters.

I also feel like, with THE 5TH WAVE being such an original alien invasion story, THE INFINITE SEA was more of an adventure. Because we didn't know where the story was supposed to go. There were no guidelines to follow, because this isn't your typical, green-alien-from-outer-space invasion book, this is new and fresh, and just because the aliens showed up, that didn't mean that the next step was going to be a full out humans vs aliens war. So there was the element of surprise with everything that happened, which made the reading experience so much fun. 

Also, the character development, just from one book to another, was spectacular. I could feel each of the kids grow, even the secondary characters whose POVs we didn't get to see from, and it was just as heart-breaking (because circumstances) as it was enjoyable (because good writing on Yancey's part).

All in all, THE INFINITE SEA was another solid read from Rick Yancey. I did enjoy it a lot more than 5TH WAVE, but I'm saving that five star review for the last book, because I know it's going to be worthy of it. If you read THE 5TH WAVE, you absolutely must continue on with book two. It's definitely necessary, and you'll be missing out on some of the most original storylines I've ever come across.  Four and a half stars for THE INFINITE SEA, and I'm now moving on to THE LAST STAR.

*SCREAMS*

Happily,

Stephanie

***SPOILER ALERT: EVAN LIVES *DANCES*