Book Review - The Infinite Sea

The Infinite Sea
Author: Rick Yancey
Series: The 5th Wave #2
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopian | Young Adult
Release Date: 16th September 2014
Publishers: Penguin
No. Pages: 336
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
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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.

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

The 5th Wave and I didn't particularly become best buddies, I had my issues and they affected my enjoyment, but overall, it was a dent, enjoyable and quite good read, but The Infinite Sea was, lets just say way beyond anything I had imagined, and that's not a compliment. I was hoping that The Infinite Sea would make up for The 5th Waves shortcomings, that it would improve upon my issues, but it felt as though everything I had enjoyed was ripped away from this sequel and there's very little left that I enjoyed. This will not be a pretty review..

So where did it go wrong? I suppose, really, it went wrong when I somehow, in the space of 24 hours, lost all and every connection I had to the characters completely, and I don't mean 'oh, she's annoying, be quiet girl' I mean, 'whoops, they're dead, ah well, what's next' kind of level, which is definitely not what I wanted from the sequel. Maybe I had myself some expectations, maybe hoping that this novel would have more action, more tension, more dramatics, more of the things I loved previously, but I really felt as though there was little to get excited about. Characters fell flat, lost their development and relatability and really became unlikable, frustrating and at times, almost worth the jail time murdering them would bring me. There was much less interaction with the characters, they're frayed relations were almost ruined anyway and the characters that did interact spent most of their time arguing. So much for my messages of love, hope and working together, showing off human nature at it's best..

Don't get me started on the lack of anything happening either, I mean, what actually happened in this sequel? I've just finished reading it and I can't remember anything interesting happening at all. Was some of the next roll out of the 5th Wave, or was it a secondary version? Can somebody explain to me why we spent a large amount of pages with Ringer drugged on playing chess? I'd like to know where my action was, were my tension and surprise was, were the air of mystery and danger ended up, but there seriously was a large amount missing in The Infinite Sea. No great battles, nothing at all on a level with what was fantastic about The 5th Wave, The Infinite Sea just felt like a nothingness of nothing, with a side order of nothing. Not development of plot, just some answers that could have been give in the 5th Wave, too many questions in comparison to answers, even at this stage, and not a single connectable romance in sight. Am I meant to be supporting Cassie/Evan? Ringer/Razor? Ringer/Zombie? I have no idea at this point, and I don't think I want an idea.

The Infinite Sea felt like a jumble and a mess of lyrical prose that had no effect on me whatsoever, unnecessary poetry and talk of chess, really, quite frustrating moments of plot jumping and untangible notions and really, a huge handful of confusion. I can safely put my hand on my heart and confess to not having a clue what's happening in this series anymore, and I seriously wonder whether I ever did at all.. It's safe to say that I won't be continuing this series and neither will I ever wonder whether I'll be missing out. This series, The 5th Wave is not for me, but if you're into confusing, technology, human destroying, weird clingy 'romances' and mind fuckery, then yes, this might just be a good series for you..