Book Review
Title: Infinity Son (Infinity Cycle #1)
Author: Adam Silvera
Genre: YA/Fantasy/LGBT
Rating: ***
Review: I have heard some very mixed things about Infinity Son which is why I have put off reading it but personally all the Adam Silvera books I have read have been four or five star books for me. They Both Die at the End was in my top 10 favourite books of 2018/19 and I have re-read it multiple times so I finally decided to read this one with the sequel being released this year. The opening to Infinity Son was actually quite interesting as we are introduced to twin brothers, Emil and Brighton who are about to turn 18. We can see Emil is the more level-headed of the two as Brighton is obsessed with the idea of becoming a Celestial. In this world, Celestials are people who have superpowers and they generally get them by the time they are 18 although they are instances of a few Celestials gaining their powers when they are older but Emil has long ago given up this dream. As they are waiting to celebrate their birthday at midnight a block party is attacked by a Specter, a person who has stolen their powers by drinking the blood of a mythical animal normally a phoenix. The Specter is being chased by some Spell Walkers, they are a vigilante group former seen as heroes until the Blackout where some Spell Walkers destroyed a building killing hundreds and they are gradually being hunted down and arrested. Brighton with his love of Spell Walkers believes they were framed but Emil sees the truth of things, he also sees the wonder in his brother’s eyes when he sees the Specter and hopes his brother is smart enough to never walk down that road. After escaping the block and return home, Brighton learns someone else also recorded the events of the block party and she is getting more views than he is which is something big for him as all Brighton wants is to get out of the Bronx and to be someone famous, a hero in his own right but this isn’t to be especially at a meet and greet he is holding where only 7 people turn up. Emil is content to live a normal, ordinary life where as Brighton isn’t but they are leaving for college in a few days and they meet up with their friend, Prudencia who Brighton has feelings for but would never pursue without powers but they are never going to emerge and this might be a defining point for the brothers.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Emil who is working in a failing museum in order to fund college, get the break of a lifetime when his boss catches him giving a tour of the phoenix room which isn’t his job and tells him he has a position for him as they museum is going to be home to a hatching phoenix egg and the phoenix Gravesend will also be staying with them for a month after her birth and Emil quickly accepts. After attending a political rally with his brother and Prudencia, they run into some Specters and Brighton seemed awed by them and wants to know more about how they obtain their power. Even after pulling Brighton away, the trio are followed by the Specter onto the train where he displays the ability to phase through solid object which is a Celestial ability which Specters haven’t been able to steal before and when it looks like Brighton is going to get hurt, Emil unlocks his own power but he wields phoenix flames which is a power known to belong only to Specters, however, Brighton and Prudencia know he would never harm a phoenix in order to obtain power but the fight is all over the internet now. Emil collapses shortly after they get away so Brighton and Prudencia take him to a Celestial hospital for treatment and his mother is obviously called but Brighton doesn’t mention his powers or that it is all over the internet as he believes that is something his brother has to deal with forgetting that they are a team. We then switch from the perspective of the twins to a known Spell Walker; Maribelle and I have a feeling things aren’t going to be as black and white as people have been making it.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, when Emil wakes up in the hospital, he confesses to his mother what happened on the train and flees, as he is planning to run away in order to keep his family safe. However, he is unaware that both the Spell Walkers and the Blood Casters are coming for him. Brighton obviously follows his brother and they are lucky that Atlas arrives for them first but the shape-shifter Blood Caster, Ness and the sadistic Blood Caster, Stanton aren’t far behind them. The Spell Walkers manage to keep them safe and remove them to the haven, Nova while others are out collecting their mother and Prudencia but Emil is completely overwhelmed by what is happening to him. It gets worse when the Spell Walker inform him that they believe him to be the reincarnation of one of the first Specters, Bautista as he had the grey sun phoenix blood within him which would explain the grey and gold flames that Emil proceeded. In addition to this, his mother tells him that he isn’t her son but a baby that was abandoned the very same day that Brighton was born and they took him in. However, when they are debating the theory, they realise that Emil wasn’t born in the same place Bautista died but Emil knows that grey sun phoenixes doesn’t reincarnate in the same place as it is a defence mechanism so they aren’t attacked and being reborn in fire would also explain why he was burning up when Brighton’s father found him on the street. Knowing this the Spell Walkers ask Emil to join their cause but he doesn’t really want to fight but they explain that if he leaves Nova, he will spend the rest of his life running from the Blood Caster who are creating Specters and even if he doesn’t want to fight, he can help them figure out how to remove a Specter’s abilities once and for all. Finally, it is Brighton who gets through to his brother’s panic and asks him to sleep on it as he can do so much good with his powers and I already know that Emil is going to accept the offer of working with the Spell Walkers. In Maribelle’s perspective we also learn she is trying to figure out what really happened to her parents and there was one survivor from the Blackout, a little girl who she has been trying to track down and she seems to be working with the Blood Casters but they prioritize getting Brighton and Emil to safety over taking the girl.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Brighton suggests that Emil’s hero name should be Infinity Son as he could potentially be reborn over and over which fits the title of the novel. After some thinking, Emil decides to join the Spell Walkers and begins training with Iris, Maribelle and the other and at first it doesn’t seem to be going well as it takes a lot of energy for him to call his powers and his physical abilities are lacking. However, after about a week of training he is showing signs of improvement which Brighton has been documenting in order to try and change the public perception of the Spell Walkers and the others decide it is time to take him on an actual mission. They also decide to bring Brighton along to document the mission as they are going to collect the Specter that attacked them on the train for information on Luna’s Blood Caster operation but when they arrive, they are outnumbered and outmatched especially when Orton begins showing signs of burnout which is the point where the power, he has stolen begins to eat away at him. This usually happens shortly after they have received the phoenix power not two weeks later but it might be the case that Orton was already a Celestial and the different power took time to cancel each other out which means it might happen to Emil but he also shows signs of the phoenix’s healing ability during this fight. Emil feels responsible for the death of Orton and five of their acolytes which Brighton doesn’t share and it was apparent during his therapy session with Eva. However, here Brighton gets the idea of using social media to change the perception of the Spell Walkers from warriors to people by documenting their personal origin stories which gains them a lot of support but also a lot of hate. We also see during Brighton’s chapters that he has a taste of power in some sense and he wants more which is what has led every Blood Caster to take the power from phoenixes and I hope the same doesn’t happen to him. Through Ness we learn more about the Blood Casters and the role each of them plays and the hints at a bigger plan at work. We also get the sense that Ness uses his shape-shifter ability to hide his true identity as when this drops during a fight for ownership over a hydra he is instantly recognised making it seem like he is someone famous or very recognisable which would also explain why he hides so often but their battle doesn’t go as planned and he knows he has to make it right soon or face the consequences.
As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, I was finding Infinity Son to be predictable but enjoyable and it doesn’t differ in entertainment and originality from other debut fantasy novels so I am not yet understanding why this book has so much hate and dislike within the community. From an acolyte at the docks, the Spell Walkers learn that the Blood Caster will be attempting to steal the hydra from the arena and they get Emil on board by telling him he might have the chance to save the life of a phoenix if they get to the Blood Casters first. Once at the arena, Wesley takes out the guards but Stanton clocks the Spell Walkers almost immediately and chaos erupts as the hydra and phoenix continue to battle in the background but Maribelle is single minded in her determination to get June for information on her parents murder. While Emil holds June he realises that Maribelle is willing to kill her and lets her go so she can get away which makes Maribelle furious as this has been her sole purpose in life but they manage to capture the shape-shifter and they quickly learn that Ness is actually Senator Iron’s son, Eduardo. Things get difficult here as Brighton wants to film the interrogation but the others won’t allow it and Emil thinks on how nothing is ever enough for Brighton especially since the brawl at the beginning of the novel. Emil sneaks into the interrogation where he prevent Maribelle from beating up Ness and Ness agrees to talk with Emil. He explains to Emil that his father used him and if the Spell Walkers revealed he was alive then nothing would stop Senator Iron from taking them down and wiping them all out. He also explains to Emil the chances of them meeting as often as they have in the past couple of weeks is basically impossible but it has happened and I am getting Renegades vibes with a possible enemies to lovers romance between Ness and Emil.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Emil and Ness seem to make a genuine connection where they learn what Luna’s real plan is and he even gives them information to stop it knowing that it might cost him his life if he ever falls back into Luna’s hands. Luna is planning to make herself immortal as she has been experimenting with ghost blood which is evident in June’s abilities. She plans to combine to blood of a hydra, ghost blood and the blood of a phoenix to create what she calls the Reaper potion. However, it is more complicated than this as the hydra must not have been decapitated before, the ghosts have to be bound to her life and the phoenix must be in its first birth. This means she needs the hydra from the arena which they have, the ghosts of the parents she murdered which the Spell Walkers are going to try and prevent and the century phoenix, Gravesend and this is her first birth. The Spell Walkers get the cemetery with Brighton in tow but things don’t go their way completely. Luna is there in person and when the ghosts are called and trapped in an urn, a fight erupts but Emil manages to get his hands on the urn and discovers he has the power to fly and flees with the urn. However, Brighton makes a stupid mistake in taking a shot at Luna which leads him to be captured. When Emil learns this, he wants to go after his brother but the others had to prioritize the mission first. We get to see how Brighton tries to take on Luna but he doesn’t realises he has taken brew which gives the illusion of him having powers and they torture him in order to get the urn back. This causes a divide as Eva and Iris believes Brighton is worth sacrificing for what they could prevent Luna doing but everyone else sides with Emil so they use Ness to phase into Iris to get the urn before taking off to rescue Brighton. Once there they trade the urn from Brighton and more information is revealed but it seems like in the moment where Emil tries to get the urn back now Brighton is safe that Ness betrayed them but I can’t wait to see how the final portion of the novel plays out.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, there is a lot that comes together. While this book wasn’t amazing it definitely has a lot of potential as there are still a ton of unanswered questioned between the political intrigue, the magic system, the way between Celestials, Specters and the human individuals and obviously there were a lot of reveals regarding the characters that I hope are really explored in the sequels. I have to say that Adam Silvera knows how to write compelling characters and one thing I did pick up on during my reading of Infinity Son was that the world-building and the development of the world and magic system was lacking but I don’t think it comes from bad writing but most likely from the fact that Silvera usually write character driven novel i.e. They Both Die at the End and fantasy novels tend to plot or world driven (with amazing character work too) and it hasn’t quite gelled here. However, I believe with some development, Adam Silvera could become a good fantasy writer. I think that if Infinity Son was 100-150 pages longer and certain aspects of the magic system and the war as well as the resurrection aspect of the novel were delved into a little deeper this would have been a solid 4 star book, possibly a 5 star book but I am definitely going to pick up the sequels in the future.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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