Wren's Reviews > The Infinite Sea

Title: Infinite Sea
Author: Rick Yancey
Genre: Dystopian, YA fiction, romance, Science fiction, action

Note: My book ban was in the middle of this book. I might have forgotten certain aspects of the story.

Premise:
(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.

Plot: This is a plot that I didn't particularly like.
We start with Cassie being adamant about Evan finding her, and surviving the explosion. She is with Ringer, Dumbo, Sam, Poundcake, Teacup, and Ben. Together, they are holed in a hotel. Ringer goes out, and Teacup follows. We get her jumped, and we end up with them being carted off. We get Evan and him being healed by Grace another Other in a human person. She is, somehow, attracted to Evan. Evan escapes Grace with him getting more hurt. We switch to Cassie and her group. Evan arrives and is hurt. He has to heal. Cassie whines over him, babying him like he babied her. They end up having to leave their hotel after a little kid almost blows up the hotel. Evan saved them. Grace finds them. Poundcake sacrifices himself to save the others by blowing himself, and Grace, up. Ben wants to find Ringer who has been missing for a long time. They instead flee. And we get Ringer. She is getting enhanced by Vosch. She meets Razor a human soldier. They become friends and plan to get out. She ends up fleeing and getting Teacup. Sadly, she is betrayed by Razor, finding out everything is a plan. She also finds out a major secret. (I refuse to spoil this.) We have her recovering from her injuries. And Evan is coming out of an explosion. And Cassie comes to him.
That’s how the story ends, guys. A cliffhanger.
The plot is quite dull, actually. We get snippets of their lives before the waves came. We get Poundcake’s story. Bits of it at least. It’s interesting, but it isn’t amazing. I felt like his story was lacking something. I didn’t see much in his story. It was really more of a short story Rick Yancey could have put in as a short to go with the book not actually in the book. The backstories are interesting enough. The plot doesn’t have much. This book seems like a filler before the action comes.

Character Development: There are a surprising amount of characters in this compared to the first book 'The 5th Wave'. Of course, Cassie thought she was alone in the first book whereas she has friend and family with her in book two.
Ringer. Ringer is by far the best character in this book. She is brave and determined. And apparently part Asian. She’s smart and quick. She ends up turning into this more human…being. She acts like she’s emotionless in the beginning, but she ends up with romance. And a melted heart. I feel like Ringer is better in the beginning. She’s determined and many more things in the beginning. She turns into a mushy romance girl in the end and a superhuman. I don’t like how she ends up.
Razor. I don’t like him. At all. Why is he so perky? Why isn’t he broken? Why does he act like he is fine? He’s not fine. And where is the spark between him and Ringer? I don’t see it. I really don’t. What’s up with that?
Cassie. Oh, Cassie. What happened to you? I feel like you became less of Cassie and more of Evan’s girlfriend. That’s a title that seems to just swallow you, Cassie. I know this. I preferred you in the first book. I don’t know why you ended up like this. I think it’s the combination of Sam coming back and Evan disappearing. I really don’t like Cassie in this book.
Evan. Gosh. I feel like he’s the second best character. He loves Cassie enough to come back. He doesn’t give up. And what does Cassie do? Worry. Whimper. Whine. I feel like Evan has the strength the other characters don’t. This is a very good book for him. He is in pain. He is more human now.
These characters aren’t my favorites. I feel like they were all better in the first book. They seem more whiny in this book which is odd for me. I felt like the characters let me down.

Problems: Goodness. There are more problems than I would like mention. There are more than I expected.
It seems like many of the characters are being paired up. Ringer and Razor. Evan and Cassie. Is Ben going to get someone? I feel like it. It seems like it. I can’t say whether or not he will get someone. Maybe Evan will leave, and Ben will end up with Cassie. Let me remind you she liked Ben before the world ended. I don’t want that. I don’t want so much romance. This book had Cassie and Evan. It seemed like a good couple. Then…Ringer and Razor. Why? I liked Ringer emotionless. It’s better. She seemed like the only one who was actually caring about the world ending.
Another problem. The plot is dull. It’s boring. There isn’t much action. If there is, the action isn’t that amazing. It seems like the plot is revolving around love and romance. And less on survival and action.
There is also the problem on the backstories. As much as I love the backstories, they seem out of place. They don’t seem like they really fit. Especially Poundcake’s. Why is that there? They could have been extras.
This book has so much potential. It could have been more. But it seemed like just a filler.

Good points: I can only say that this story had a few good points. The backstories were amazing. I loved knowing more. Ringer’s Asian apparently. You find out her real name. Marika. I like her name. It’s a very nice name. It’s very pretty. I think that the backstories are very interesting. They don’t have much importance, though. They’re kind of useless really. But I like them nonetheless.
There isn’t much else I like. The characters were lacking. The plot is dull. There was too much romance. I felt like this book really fell through. I wanted so much from it, but I didn’t get too much out of it.

Score: 7/10
Recommended: If you like dystopian. If you want a filler. If you like this author’s work.