Infinity Son by Adam Silvera

Infinity Son (Infinity Cycle, #1)

by Adam Silvera

From the author of the INTERNATIONAL NO.1 BESTSELLER THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END.

Balancing epic and intensely personal stakes, the New York Times bestselling Infinity Son is a gritty, fast-paced adventure about two brothers caught up in a magical war generations in the making.

Growing up in New York, brothers Emil and Brighton always idolized the Spell Walkers—a vigilante group sworn to rid the world of specters. While the Spell Walkers and other celestials are born with powers, specters take them, violently stealing the essence of endangered magical creatures.

Brighton wishes he had a power so he could join the fray. Emil just wants the fighting to stop. The cycle of violence has taken a toll, making it harder for anyone with a power to live peacefully and openly. In this climate of fear, a gang of specters has been growing bolder by the day.

Then, in a brawl after a protest, Emil manifests a power of his own—one that puts him right at the heart of the conflict and sets him up to be the heroic Spell Walker Brighton always wanted to be.

Brotherhood, love, and loyalty will be put to the test, and no one will escape the fight unscathed.

Praise for Infinity Son:

'A magnificent addition to the ranks of Young Adult fantasy' Waterstones

'Silvera shoots off his plot like a gun and writes action sequences as if they were car chases — relentless, quick-cutting, sparks flying' New York Times

'Silvera has created an exciting fantasy series opener. Fans of Cassandra Clare … will love this magical book that embodies it all.' School Library Journal

Reviewed by thepunktheory on

2 of 5 stars

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Full review on my blog coming soon!


I picked this book up, read a chapter or two put it back down for a couple of weeks, only to repeat it several times until I was finally finished. What was the problem? There were several.
First of all, the world-building. The main problem here is that it's basically non-existent. Author Silvera throws into a world with powers and stuff like "gleamcraft". I still don't know what that's supposed to be. There are so many terms invented just for the book but we never get an explanation of what any of it means. That was both confusing and annoying!

I might have overlooked that, hadn't there been so many other issues.
One of those being the characters. They are mostly walking clichés, have no depth and I can't be bothered to care for a single one of them. The only character that is somewhat fleshed out is annoying as hell and a total prick. I rolled my eyes SO many times while reading Infinity Son!

On top of that, the pacing of the novel was really weird. The book dragged on for a bit and then sped through things that might have been important and explanatory, had they been given more room. The way the story was told felt really off-balance to me.
While at first it took forever and five days to get going, the ending came super abrupt and it felt cut off in the middle.
However, what annoys me most is that I'm still kind of curious about where the story will go now. Maybe we'll finally get some of that desired world-building in the next book?

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 June, 2020: Finished reading
  • 4 June, 2020: Reviewed
  • Started reading
  • Finished reading
  • 4 June, 2020: Reviewed