I read The Fifth Wave last year and really enjoyed it, so I had high hopes for the sequel, The Infinite Sea. I wasn't disappointed.
The Infinite Sea is set in a post-alien-invasion USA. The first wave of the attack was a huge electro-magnetic pulse that wiped out every electrical item, booting mankind firmly back into the middle ages. The second wave featured kinetic missiles that sent earthquakes and tsunamis across the world, killing millions. The third wave, a super-plague, wiped out 99 per cent of those remaining. The forth wave featured aliens in human bodies picking off lone humans one by one.
As the fifth wave is deployed, a small band of survivors, Cassie, Ben, Zombie, Ringer and Teacup, have managed to find somewhere to hole up while they plot their escape. But when literally anyone you see could be a killer, who is there left to trust?
There are twists and turns and crosses and double-crosses. Characters are developed and the story is told from multiple viewpoints, which is always interesting. Some of the action scenes were clearly written with an eye to how they'd look in the movie adaptation, but do you know what? I actually didn't mind. They never felt like filler or randomness.
I really like Cassie as a character. To me, she has just the right blend of bravery, blind loyalty and that thing where you want to stick your head in the sand until all the nastiness goes away. Ben/Zombie's transition from high school jock to tooled-up soldier is now complete. We see a lot more of Ringer in this book and I liked that. She's utterly terrifying, but she has a really good story arc going on. And Evan. Aah...Evan. For me, Evan wasn't featured enough. I could have done with seeing a bit more of him and Cassie, but hey. You can't have everything.
All in all: two very enthusiastic thumbs-up.
9/10