The Infinite Sea – Review

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey
Book 2 in The 5th Wave trilogy
Genre: YA sci-fi (science fiction)
Pages: 300
Format: paperback, owned
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

* Warning — there MAY be minor spoilers for The 5th Wave.

After really enjoying The 5th Wave, I was expecting The Infinite Sea to just as good or better. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. 😦

the plot

The synopsis sounded great, but the story itself just wasn’t. It was really slow, and I feel like there was more planning than doing. Action scenes were short, and largely spaced out. The story felt flat, like it was dragging, and I only stayed interested in hopes that it would improve. 😐

I also want to mention that, once again, I was confused by the change in perspectives. It wasn’t sudden: I knew when it would happen. However, because the character names weren’t displayed when there was a switch, I spent time trying to figure out whose point of view I was reading from. That meant I was only skimming paragraphs, and therefore had to go back and reread. This is one issue I had from The 5th Wave that carried over to this book. :/

the characters

I loved all of the main characters in the first book, but in this one they fell short for me. 😐

Cassie was strong, determined, and could easily adapt to most of what was thrown at her. In this book, though, I thought she was too suspicious, slightly whiny, and desperate for Evan to reappear. Once he did, she seemed kind of clingy. It also felt like she was really slacking on her responsibilities as a big sister — while she remained very protective of Sam, after a little bit he decided he liked Ben more than her. That made me sad: Sam was adorable and loved Cassie, but after learning the truth he gravitated toward Ben and obeyed him first. What was worse was that Cassie didn’t even really try to make amends. She didn’t stop caring, but she didn’t try to fix the situation either. In The 5th Wave, she wouldn’t have let that happen. :/

In the first book, Ben got on my nerves because he seemed arrogant. In this one, he was overly flirtatious toward Ringer, cruel toward Evan, bossy to everyone else, and seemed too attached to the old life he had been pulled out of. I couldn’t stand him from an early point in the story. 😐

I can say similar things about Evan. He wasn’t cruel or flirtatious, but he was certainly bossy at times and seemed obsessed with sacrificing himself for Cassie. I get that he was in love with her, but more often than not it pushed him to being reckless and putting himself in harm’s way so Cassie wouldn’t be. I think that’s a bit much, especially since it also caused him to lose a lot of the personality he had in the first book. :/

Ringer was a much more major character in this book, so I was expecting her to grow on me. Unfortunately, she didn’t. She was bitter and overly ambitious, and disagreed with everything Cassie had to say. She only cared about herself and Teacup, and the former more than the latter. She wasn’t horrible, like I’m probably making her sound, but she was definitely unlikable. 😐

For the sake of length, I’ll only touch briefly on the side characters.

  • Teacup was whiny and ungrateful. She wasn’t very prominent for the majority of the book, only in the very beginning, but from just that I grew to dislike her.
  • Poundcake was in the background of Ben’s group. He didn’t talk at all except maybe once or twice, but more about his past was revealed and he even got a short section from his perspective. Through that, I grew to like him, and I have to say that I wish he was more involved. 🙂
  • Alex was a nice guy, but struck me as suspicious almost instantly. I won’t say whether my suspicion was right or not so I don’t spoil anyone, though. However, I will say that regardless of that, he was a decent character. 😉

the setting

Whereas in the first book “I could imagine what Cassie was seeing as easily as if I was looking out the car window on a vacation.” (from my review), I felt like the descriptions weren’t as vivid. I didn’t get the same apocalyptic imagery in my head while reading this. I knew the hotel Cassie and company stayed in was run-down and infested with rats and various bugs. I knew the camp Ringer went to was sterile and full of guards and camera. I knew they were in the midst of a brutal winter. I came up with the rest on my own. 😐

the relationships

All of the relationships went down the drain in this book. Sam drifted away from Cassie and closer to Ben, which bummed me out because they had been one of my favorite sets of siblings in a non-contemporary setting. Any friendships and romances that had been formed or were blossoming dissipated. While I can understand that the situation was rough and not the ideal time for relationships, I think that everyone’s suspicion was just gradually letting the Others win. This did get me my wish for Ben and Ringer to not get involved romantically, but it also got in the way of what I had hoped Cassie and Evan would become. :/

the twists

There were a few different things that I would consider twists in this book, but I was largely indifferent to them. I didn’t see any of them coming, but they didn’t shock or worry me. I hate to say it, but I honestly think I just didn’t care enough to be bothered by any twists. 😦

overall

The Infinite Sea was a disappointing sequel to a sci-fi book I really enjoyed. I was hoping to like this book, but it just wasn’t my bar of chocolate. I won’t be picking up the final book in the trilogy when it comes out. 😦

my rating: 2 out of 5 stars


Note — I wasn’t trying to be harsh in any way. I would still recommend this book to you if you enjoyed The 5th Wave. You might like it, even if I didn’t. 😉

Have you read this book, or the first one? Is either one on your TBR? If you’ve read either, what did you think? I’d love to know! 🙂

I’ll be starting A Darker Shade of Sorcery by William Collins next! 🙂

Until next time…

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2 thoughts on “The Infinite Sea – Review

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