Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Teenager Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is renowned. But his whole world is suddenly turned upside down on the night his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters - immortal vampire-slayers who risk everything to save humanity - and he quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one that's filled with all kinds of evil. However, before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students start turning into flesh-eating members of the undead. Nick knows he's in real danger and he soon has a lot more to deal with than starting high school: he's under pressure to hide his new friends from his mother and his chainsaw from the principal while trying to impress the girl he has a crush on - all without getting grounded, suspended...or killed.

I didn't like Infinity. There were parts of it that I quite enjoyed, but the majority I found tedious and vaguely confusing.

By far the strongest part of the book is the character of Nick. His dialogue, both internal and towards other characters, is sarcastic and funny. He cares deeply about his mother; and shows the usual inclination of teenage boys of wanting to date girls, but doesn't know where to start. He's pretty realistic in the way he's written, and I enjoyed how Kenyon represented him.

"His mother hesitated before she continued grilling him. 'Is he a good boy?'

'No, Mom, he's Satan incarnate. In face, once it's over, we're going to get liquored up and tattooed, then find some cheap hos and have a good time with his trust fund.' "

However, I found Nick's attitude towards his situation baffling. He accepts Acharon without batting an eye, and yet thinks Bubba and Mark are freaks for believing in werewolves and zombies despite the evidence of his own eyes.

Speaking of zombies, the whole plot involving the zombies being created from a videogame might have been intriguing if that had been the central plot in a YA tale about zombies. Here it became a complete mess that went on for far too long around which Kenyon tried to shoehorn in hints about Nick's future.

I was of the belief that this YA series about Nick would lead handily into the Dark Hunter adult series written by Kenyon, and that you didn't need to have read any of the Dark Hunter novels to pick up what was going on here. Either I was wrong or I am pretty dense, because I had no real idea what kind of demon Caleb was and whether he was good or bad. I didn't know what the hell was going on with Simi, and that deal with the BBQ sauce was humour that went very awry for me. Maybe it makes more sense having read some of the Dark Hunter novels, but here Simi was just an unexplained oddity that came out of left-field.

I also don't understand if Nick is going to be a Dark Hunter or if he is a whole other type of mystical being. The way the gods interact with the immortals was never handily explained. In fact, I spent half of the novel going 'huh?' which I don't believe is the desired effect.

I found some of the curse words used: 'Oh Dusseldorf' very quaint and unrealistic. As though teenagers would say something like that as a curse! Certainly the teenagers I know have real potty mouths...

I just want to make mention of a small extract towards the end of the novel:

" 'To infinity then.'

Nick frowned at Bubba's words. 'What's that mean?'

'It's something my dad used to say when I was a kid. To infinity, meaning you'd see something through to the end.' "

Seriously, is it just me who now has Buzz Lightyear in their head? *grin*

So, ultimately, I found this book a disappointing mess of different themes and subplots that required a stronger hand to sort it into a book that would have been fun to read. I doubt I'll be following any more of Nick's adventures. What is sadder is that I probably won't try the Dark Hunter series either, thanks to this poorly-written novel.