*Starred Review* Yancey takes no prisoners in this tense conclusion to a trilogy begun with The 5th Wave (2013). Well, maybe the one prisoner: Ringer, aka Marika, is still under the control of the wily Commander Vosch, who has implanted her with the 12th system, a piece of alien technology that enhances her body. Meanwhile, Cassie and Ben, unsure of whom they can trust, reach an uneasy understanding with renegade Evan Walker and batten down the hatches with their ever-dwindling group of survivors and prepare to make a final stand. If the second volume of this series took the scope and range of the first and made it small, this third goes microscopic. The whole of the narrative occurs over just four brutal days, but boy, are they jam-packed. Loss and sacrifice intertwine with the underlying questions of morality, family, and human strength, and the resolutions of two apocalyptically doomed romances are appropriately understated, but no less electrifying. Yancey's prose remains achingly precise, and this grows heavier, tighter, and more impossible to put down as the clock runs out. As the focus narrows on our ragtag heroes struggling with the vestiges of their humanity at the very end of the world, this blistering finale proves the truth of the first two volumes: it was never about the aliens. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With a feature film out, awareness for this already-huge trilogy is at an all-time high. Come see how it all ends.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2016 Booklist

Cassie (The Infinite Sea) has learned she can't trust the alien Others or humans. But then her adversary, Ringer, offers Cassie a chance to save Evan and stop the evil Vosch. With only days until the Others start bombing cities, Yancey's ensemble must make their final stand. While lacking the atmosphere of the prior books, fans of the series will appreciate this conclusion. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Six weeks have passed since readers left Cassie, Ben, and their skeletal crew clinging to life at the end of The Infinite Sea, limping toward a final confrontation with the Others, inscrutable aliens who have engineered the near-extinction of the human race. Seven billion are dead. Those still alive cannot let down their guard. Silencers roam the countryside picking off survivors. This final installment of Yancey's 5th Wave trilogy again unspools from multiple perspectives, keeping readers as off-balance as the characters, who must adjust to a world where they can trust no one. Current events make it harder to read this dystopian epic as escapist literature when some plot elements-like the Others' use of suicide bombers not old enough to know what they're doing-are far from implausible. After hundreds of pages of violent, nonstop action, the ending provides both satisfaction and heartbreak. Ben perhaps gets to the heart of Yancey's theme when he says the only way to win against an irrational foe is to hold onto his humanity. "You're never perfectly safe," he says. "To live is to risk your life, your heart, everything." Ages 14-up. Agent: Brian DeFiore, DeFiore and Co. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.