The Good
+Liked the worldbuilding around time travel..
+Lots of action
+Liked Kimi
+Didn't see Kimi's twist coming
The Bad & The Other
-But it broke its own rules leaving plot holes
-No atmosphere and Tokyo felt like a generic big city
-Didn't like Parker at all
-Everything else was typical and predictable
After several false starts, I was finally able to finish Infinite Time. I didn’t stop before because it was awful, just typical. It’s the classic start to a chosen one superhero and I couldn’t care about it. It wasn’t interesting or new and I didn’t know the kid yet.
I found out soon enough Parker is the quintessential pale, skinny geek that’s bullied, can’t “get a girl” and has a shitty home life. It pushes hard how pathetic and awful his life is.
After finally passing the blah beginning, it picked up with the "dream". However, something else held it back this time. The story is set mostly in Japan but I didn't feel it.
There was no atmosphere or sense of culture besides Parker being unable to understand the language. I get why he kept referencing New York but I need something to work with. Little Tokyo in the East Village of New York is more authentic and it's not even an official Japanese Town.
From there it's a lot of action like a kung-fu gangster movie. Scarlet does drop some knowledge but it's always "we don't have time for this" so the training montage will come in the sequel.
I do like how their missions are time limited. It's an interesting take I haven't heard of before. But it wasn't followed through. It shows the clock throughout and I did the math, which didn't add up. Not enough time passed in the jumped-to time and too much in the current time. Beyond that there's a couple minor plot holes, like how'd they know certain things and catch up so quick but...
The biggest thing that held Infinite Time back was Parker himself. He seemed too young for 16, reminding me of the kids on Xbox live. In the conclusion when they mentioned his age again, I did a double-take. I'd completely forgotten he's in high school.
There was some instances that was either hard to believe or felt unnatural. Seemingly minor when quoted but it was hard to connect to him. The narrative felt as stunted as the protagonist which kept kicking me out of the narrative.
There is one thing though that pissed me off. It came at the very end.
"A thrill washes through me that is like nothing I've ever felt before. And to think, someday I'll have the right to as many of these kisses as I want!'
~pg. 131
NO! That's not how relationships and consent work. **SIGH**
Infinite Time and it's origin is cute and have no ill will towards it but meh. I won't continue the series and I can't recommend it as is.