Review: The Infinite Sea

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

Series: The 5th Wave

Author: Rick Yancey

Publication Date: September 16, 2014

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Synopsis:
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.

My Review:

I was quite stunned with the brilliant short story that worked as a prologue in this book. It sets the readers up to let them know what part of the year the characters are preparing for. Plus, it was just amazingly written. I felt ready to start the book after reading the little story, but unfortunately, I realized it would be a while before I found something else I liked about this book.

Obviously, the rest of the book wasn't as great for me. To be honest, I was expecting a lot better, especially because of how much I loved the first book in the series, but Yancey did not wow me this time. Don't get me wrong... there were some great things about the book, but overall, I felt like a lot of it was just filler material while we await the concluding novel in the series.

We start off with the narration of a character that I was not expecting to see narrate until later in the story, and to be honest, I was very much confused during this section of the book. Even though it was the beginning, it felt out of place, and it took me a while to recover.

Just like The 5th Wave, the book's narrators change in each section. I liked that. I love how I was able to experience what pretty much all of the characters are thinking and feeling at different times during the book.

There are some kick-ass moments in the book, but most of the time, I felt like Yancey was going for the shock effect. I kept thinking to myself, "Is this for real" or "WTF?" I certainly felt like he was trying a bit too hard this time around.

Again, there are some romantic scenes in the book, and there are little disputes amongst the members of the main group of teens, but I expected that. All because life as they know it is ending doesn't mean that all of the characters are going to get along, right? Right. I respect Yancey for that, and it definitely made the book feel more realistic. 

What I didn't understand is why the sudden shift? I don't want to spoil anything about the book, but I felt very confused when I finished the book. I felt like the leader of the group was almost set in stone at the end of The 5th Wave, but now I feel like that title is up for grabs yet again, and I don't like the direction that Yancey is taking this series.

I know I'll read the concluding novel. I want to see how everything ends, but right now, The Infinite Sea seems like a book I should have put off for a bit because it just made me rethink everything about the series.