The Infinite Sea

Starred review from September 22, 2014
From an explosive start that reveals the boundless malevolence of Yancey's conquering alien Others, this gut-wrenching sequel to The 5th Wave careens on a violent course of nonstop action. Heroine Cassie, renegade soldier Ringer, and fellow survivor Ben have led a band of military camp escapees to a decaying hotel somewhere in Ohio. With winter approaching, they squabble over how to attempt survival, with Ringer questioning whether Cassie's refusal to budge until they know what happened to Evan, who helped them escape but who may be an Other, means she's fallen in love with the enemy. Reversals and double-reversals abound. At one point, Ringer admits to dizziness, a sensation readers may share. "Bluffs inside bluffs, feints within counterfeints. I'm in a game," she says, "in which I don't know the rules or even the object." Despite the gore, inhumanity, and senseless losses, Yancey manages an ending that both shatters and uplifts. While readers may not yet fully understand what the Others are up to, the title, an allusion to a speech made by Shakespeare's Juliet, is a clue to what's driving the survivors: love. Ages 14âup. Agent: Brian DeFiore, DeFiore and Co.

October 1, 2014
When aliens attack: the end of the world as we know it. Book 1 of Yancey's series saw 95 percent of the human population wiped out in a brutal alien attack that coordinated tsunamis, a horrific plague and teen soldiers bent on murdering any survivors. Just when readers might think it couldn't get worse, it does: The extraterrestrials bent on taking over Earth are now implanting carbon-dioxide-triggered bombs inside the throats of young children in order to wipe out any survivors. The first are easily extinguished in the prologue in an ominous tableau that no doubt is meant to foreshadow what will befall Cassie, Ben and the teen survivors from The 5th Wave (2013). What follows is a terse, streamlined volume packed with action and violence that will keep readers on the edges of their seats. At first it's hard to distinguish which character is narrating each sequence, particularly since Ringer, a secondary character in the first installment, takes over much of the page count in this installment. Her nickname says it all: She's tough, fearless, an expert marksman and a survivor-and the bad guys particularly have it in for her. Everything culminates in a 180-degree reversal that turns the series' cosmos on its end and will no doubt have readers impatiently screaming for the third. A roller-coaster ride of a sequel. (Science fiction. 14-18)

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November 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-The majority of the first-person narration in this second book in "The 5th Wave" series (Putnam) shifts between Ringer, a beautiful teen with deadly aim, and tough-but-tender Cassie, who thought she was the lone surviving human. A third-person viewpoint is used for Evan, an alien who has shifted his allegiance in the face of true love and Ben (Zombie), badly injured but still in command of the ragtag paramilitary group of creatively nicknamed children and teens. The action springs back and forth in place and time as readers learn why Poundcake no longer speaks, how Evan is related to super-strong Grace, and why chess is important to Ringer. The "infinite sea" can be made of snow, of tears, of the floaty feeling of semi-consciousness, and, more than once, it is a sea of blood. Yancey keeps the pressure on, as Cassie and Ben seek to protect the younger humans and outsmart the devious Silencers. Ringer struggles to maintain her humanity in the face of nanotechnology and Evan struggles with turning his back on what his species has been working toward for thousands of years. Yancey's writing can be melodramatic ("The world will be consumed by the crushing dark"; "The Others didn't invent death; they just perfected it"), but will keep action-craving readers enthralled. With a 5th Wave movie in the works, and alien questions left unanswered, expect readers to be interested in this series for the foreseeable future.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2014
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* While The 5th Wave (2013) was a sprawling apocalyptic vision of an Earth stomped to near submission by aliens, this sequel goes small, condensing its time frame to focus on a small band of despairing heroes. The result is an even better booka breathless, grueling survival story kicked off by a gut-wrenching concept: the Others using human children as IEDs to take out nests of survivors. Perspective shifts between Cassie, Zombie, Poundcake, Evan, and Ringer, with each character taking a turn in the spotlight, but the basic problem is communal: anyone who ventures outside their hideout disappearsor worse. Evan's deadly relationship with fellow alien-human hybrid Grace takes early center stage, and Yancey's ability to generate sympathy for a species that wants to destroy us, with maximum cruelty, is a wonder. Later, it's Ringer who dominates the narrative when she faces off with Commander Vosch and becomes a guinea pig for the 12th System. Yancey's prose remains unimpeachableevery paragraph is laden with setting, theme, and emotionand he uses it toward a series of horrifying set pieces, including a surgery scene that will have your pages sopping with sweat. The end, while confusing, seems to flip the script. Is there some Childhood's Endtype purpose to this? Or is it all sound and fury? Waiting a year for answers, now that's torture. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Promotion of The 5th Wave was stratospheric, and with the film adaptation coming, expect blanket awareness of this sequel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

October 27, 2014
The second book in Yancey’s the 5th Wave series offers an action-packed science fiction odyssey, in which Cassie Sullivan and her cohorts struggle to keep the Others from exterminating the human race. The belief that survival, taking risks, and keeping promises are the only things that matter comprises the philosophy Cassie employs as armor in her search for her brother, and her romances and interactions with the Others. The story involves a diverse group of characters with an array of nicknames and veiled identities, making it hard for listeners unfamiliar with the series to keep track of who’s who. Adding to the confusion are alternating narrators, which hinders the book’s ability to engage listeners and allow them to readily distinguish one character from the next. While Strole’s narration is clearly enunciated, her voices for the adults are not distinct enough. She fares better with the children. Yannette’s narration is straightforward and easy to listen to primarily because he portrays more fully developed and clearly written characters. Both Strole and Yannette’s presentations of the battles are invigorating, and there is a genuine interest in how each conflict will resolve. Ages 14–up. A Putnam hardcover.