Urban-Fantasy | Nerdy Book Reviews

Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Series: Chronicles of Nick #1

Genre: Urban-fantasy, Demons, Young-Adult

Published: May 25th 2010 by St. Martin’s Griffin

At fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is the stuff of legends. . .until the night when his best friends try to kill him.

Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.

Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.

But before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh eating zombies. And he’s next on the menu.

As if starting high school isn’t hard enough. . .now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal, and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that?

My Review:

Exciting and engaging from the first moment, ‘Infinity’ has a real air of mystery that draws you in and really ensnares you in the action. Nick is a character I have heard from people time and time again that they don’t like him. Honestly, I’ve never had a problem with him, his sarcasm has always humoured me and whilst he can be a little cynical and offensive, his intentions are never bad. Nick is frankly a very likeable character and he unravels deeper in this novel in his own way that creates a greater understanding and might make him more likeable to you.

“What rock you been living under not to know that?”

Some people would probably call that rock “reality”, but Nick valued his life enough to keep that sarcasm inside.”

It clearly felt strange to read this book alongside the Dark-Hunter series, which is Kenyon’s adult series where Nick is first introduced. We jump back in time to when he is much younger and not yet as heavily involved in the Dark-Hunter world; well actually he’s entirely oblivious for the start of the novel and his understanding of the world is rather entertaining to see, especially when reading this alongside the Dark-Hunter series two very different worlds are seen. However, I wouldn’t say it is necessary to read the Dark-Hunter series because this clearly stands on it’s own as a series and whilst those who read the Dark-Hunter series will clearly be able to appreciate Kenyon’s style and versatility to move into young-adult and a separate series that develops Nick (who is primarily a secondary character in the Dark-Hunter series) as his own individual, those who haven’t will still gain equal enjoyment and may be encouraged to venture into the realm of adult books.

Kenyon has to be applauded for venturing into using a male protagonist because so many authors stick to the same female protagonist that becomes a little expected at times and I find a very different experience comes from male protagonists. Most of her adult novels take on a dual tone with male and female perspectives interspersed for each half of the couple and generally the female tone is more dominant, this is all in Nick’s perspective with intermingled scenes from others who are generally the ‘bad’ guys or mysterious creatures who are all part of the paranormal world. I really enjoyed the humour Kenyon managed to really put into Nick’s narrative and it was clear whilst being a teenage boy, his relationship with his mum was really developed and he clearly loves her deeply. The dynamic of their relationship was really evolved and nice to see that Kenyon didn’t put Nick as shying away from his emotions even as a teenage boy and presented him as very much a guy with an attitude who loved his mum.

“I swear you’re the lippiest child on the planet.”

Onto the actual plot, we get lots of characters, but they’re all introduced at different points in a way as not to confuse you so I felt like the plot slowly revealed itself which really allows the smooth flow of the story. The plot is a little slow to start with, but this is all character introductions and setting the scene which allows Kenyon to set this novel aside as a separate series that you are not expected to know any of the characters. Once we get into the bulk of the story and the zombies, demons, vampires and everything else that is hectic, mayhem and paranormal things really get exciting with enhanced cow prods and rocket launchers, there is humour, action and excitement galore. I don’t think I found a point of this novel to be boring once we got past the mundane introduction.

“But once you let me live … your big mistake … now I know you think I’m too cute and fluffy to kill.”

Overall, ‘Infinity’ is a novel that I urge all fans of Kenyon and fantasy young-adult fiction to pick up. Nick is a character that I think is likeable if you enjoy sarcasm and aren’t easily offended, so don’t be intimidated for him because beneath the surface is a “mummy’s boy” who is humorous and caring he just needs to find the straight path. I’ll be looking out for the next book in the series and whilst the recent read of ‘Seize the Night’ has confused by view of Nick and some of the relationships he has with characters, particularly Simi in this novel, but I’m sure Kenyon will enlighten me in the future of both the Dark-Hunters and the Chronicles of Nick since I feel they will both lead to a pinnacle point where they intertwine.

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Title: The Ravenous Dead

Author: Natasha Hoar

Series: Lost Souls #2

Genre: Urban-Fantasy, Adult

Expected Publication: July 16th 2012 by Carina Press

Plot:

This time the dead are hungry…
Rachel Miller doesn’t just see dead people, she rescues them. As a member of The Order of Rescue Mediums, she spends most of her time helping stubborn spirits move on from the world. But after she learns the details of three brutal murders, she knows the culprit can only be a reaper, an undead monster that relentlessly stalks its victims to feed on their souls.
A reaper once consumed the soul of Rachel’s mentor as she watched frozen in fear. Now, Rachel is in the role of teacher to Kit Elkeles, a rodach just learning to control his wraithlike powers. After Kit and Rachel rescue a half-vampire, they work to protect him while searching for a way to stop the reaper. But when Rachel realizes who the monster is really after—and just what kind of dark magic she’ll need to stop it—will she be able to do what is necessary before it devours one of her friends…or even herself?

Review:

This book was certainly good! It had lots of exciting elements and action, it was probably the first book that I felt I could clearly label “urban-fantasy” I’ve read and not a book that’s overshadowed by the romance to make it fall into the “paranormal romance” genre. I liked that about the book because I was expecting some erotica to pop up and was pleasantly surprised at the whole story direction.

This is the second in the series of short story e-books by Natasha Hoar, and I’m a little bit blindsided because unfortunately I haven’t read the first instalment. Although I don’t think that entirely hinders reading the book, I think elements would be clearer with an introduction from the first novel and it would enable me to really view the character progression across the series.

However from the point I can gather it seems a natural relationship is progressing between Kit and Rachel and I enjoyed the dynamic of their relationship across the story and found it sweet and entertaining. I believe their is certainly more to come on that front and I was always waiting for something to happen and then we fell a little short. Although the book falls strongly into the category “urban-fantasy” which I have to remind myself tends to focus strongly on action and adventure, which this story had oodles of and only focuses a tad on the romantic side. Hopefully for all those fans rooting for Kit and Rachel, you’ll see more progression in the next one. I don’t think you’ll necessarily be disappointed, but it did leave me a little frustrated. On the other hand, it makes me as a reader want to read the next novel (always an author’s intentions).

The paranormal and fantasy aspects I really liked, we touched into the “necromancer” realm which I particularly love, one of my favourite YA Sabriel by Garth Nix covers necromancy and I’m intrigued by the idea. Here it was more of a taboo than in Garth’s world, but it certainly got me excited. I’ll be interested to see if Hoar chooses to explore this aspect more in future additions to the series.

I thought Kit was a great male character, although we didn’t really see a lot. Rachel pushed him to the side and prevented him being the man I like to see who steps up and protects because she wanted to be a kick-ass female lead. However for me she never really reached that point. She always seemed to stumble across some ‘block’ that was never really explained and just felt silly to me. She never grew into the potential of kick-ass and pushed Kit aside to not raise to his full potential. Although I blame this on Rachel tampering him down and stopping him because I think in time and with growth if Hoar brought him more centrally into the story, he’d be a fantastic character. So my major problem of the story was my dislike of Rachel, she just seemed a mediocre character at best that lacked any intuition or great skill. She was too lacking for me in any grit or problems until the end where we suddenly got this influx of history that just felt like it had been thrown in and didn’t fit the character for me. Even without the back knowledge of the previous story, I felt this just didn’t fit the flow of the story and seemed all rather bizarre because there had been no indication until this point that there was a major problem. It confused me a little.

The plot of the story was generally good. I like the deception of the tale and I think it will hold the readers out for the next addition to the story. Although I hope they won’t have to wait long for it because I feel like this is a story one could easily brush to the back of your mind at times. It certainly had moments of genius and excitement with the chases, and adrenaline rushes we very nearly reached, but then the whole fight or action scene dropped down in my expectations. For urban-fantasy I was expecting something a little more gritty (or maybe that’s my love for gore) but it was just a punch and a kick and it felt limited in the action department. The Black Dagger Brotherhood series borders the “urban-fantasy” genre and I don’t think J.R. Ward ever holds back there with the tale, but for me Hoar seemed a little too hesitant to describe. I understand Carina Press have word limits and such things, but a few more lines wouldn’t have taken away anything from the story for me.

Overall this story was an hour read-ish (depending on your reading speed) and a fairly exciting way to pass the time. I’m not sure if I’ll pick up the next one, but I’m certainly intrigued enough that I’ll keep an eye open for where this series may head. Hoar isn’t my top author, but I say she’s developing and certainly drop by a take a quick look. I’m sure you’ll be able to make up your own mind about her, she’s just needs to grit it up for me!

*This was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review*

My Rating: