The Infinite Sea

Gr 9 Up—Having survived the first four waves of alien invasion, Cassie and her brother Sam joined a group of child fighters from the alien compound just before Evan Walker, a Silencer, blew up the munitions hanger and himself with it. Now this group must try to survive the 5th Wave, though what that entails is not explained until near the end of the book. Cassie is convinced that Evan is alive because he promised to come back for her; her companies are focused on putting as much distance between themselves and the aliens as possible, a mission made more urgent when they discover a Silencer named Grace is hunting them. When Ringer is captured and subjected to alien experiments, she must use every ounce of strength and intelligence she has to survive and escape while the rest of her crew tries to determine her fate. Like most second installments of trilogies, this book must balance between revealing just enough to tantalize listeners and giving away too much. Unfortunately, the trend of multiple perspectives that works well in print narratives as engineered cliff-hangers does not transfer so well to this audiobook. With only two narrators voicing five different characters (Phoebe Strole as Cassie and Ringer, Ben Yanette for Zombie, Poundcake, and Evan Walker), listeners often spend a significant amount of time simply trying to figure out who the narrator is, rather than paying attention to what's happening in the story. However, once that is determined, there is plenty of tension to keep listeners clutching the arms of their chairs (or steering wheels).