Two families. One Device. Infinite possibilities…
Being the daughter of an army general isn’t easy. Someone’s always watching, and dating? Not a chance when any guy that gets within ten miles has to undergo a background check. But, on the bright side, seventeen year old Kori Anderson finally has her freedom. For the first time in her life, she's living off base. Unfortunately, when she's caught vandalizing public property, that all changes.
With her father called to Washington, supervision is arranged in the form of two subordinates. There's Cade, as beautiful as he is deadly, he watches her with hungry eyes, and Noah, hauntingly familiar, glares at her in disgust. When they save her from a seemingly random attack, Kori's world turns upside down.
Kori’s father heads the Infinity Division, a secret government project responsible for inventing a device that allows travel between parallel Earths. When a man seeking revenge—a twisted individual who feels wronged by her father—declares war on Infinity, Kori ends up in a deadly crossfire.
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"Infinity" was an unexpectedly fantastic read. It had the potential to be extremely tropey and filled with instalove but (thankfully) was anything but that.
Very much a character-driven novel, "Infinity" was a thought-provoking read (even though I finished it months ago, I still sometimes think about it) complete with a compelling plot.
The characters in "Infinity" were realistic and flawed.
Kori is posed as a mature, rational person who is able to reasonably deal with issues and communicate well – which are not skills often represented in YA. Her emotions are vivid but she is able to think things through. Having lost her mother to cancer, she has experienced grief, which gives her a unique perspective and understanding when dealing with the other core characters.
Kori was also intelligent. Even though she was constantly placed in bad situations with her life on the line and her entire understanding of her parents was turned upside down, she never whined about it. Instead, she was practical in getting information and formulating a plan.
Cade was interesting. Guilt-ridden and tragic, I really felt for him and appreciated his depth of emotions. His character development was very well done.
I really appreciate the emphasis placed on perspective in this novel. As new information came to life, characters were seen differently, yet the core of them stayed the same.
Noah was a great example of this. At first, he was distanced and antagonistic but then as Kori, and therefore the audience, were explained the reasons as to why he was like this, an understanding formed and he became one of my favourite characters. He was very much a tragic cinnamon roll.
"Infinity" focuses on the complexity of humanity and the morally grey area; when is it okay to kill someone? Is the death penalty ever okay? If someone close to you has broken the law or is planning to, where do your loyalties lie? What is the right thing to do?
How do you know it’s love if you’ve only ever experienced it once? What can you really know about a person when you only glimpse them? How do you know happiness is real? How do you separate your feelings for someone if they look exactly the same as the last person you loved?
The romance in this book was fantastic – instead of instalove, it focused on potential rather than destiny, while also recognising unhealthy relationships and not labelling them as love.
Unexpectedly, family plays a significant role in Infinity. Although Kori’s mother is dead and her father absent for large portions of the novel, the impact and values they left behind was recognised and realised through the characters’ actions.
As mentioned, the plot itself was great. It was engaging yet realistic, gradually widening the parameters of the world as Kori got to know more, rather than engaging in the well known practice of info-dumping.
In a world of parallel dimensions, how do you define yourself? What makes one Kori different from another? Does fate play a part? What does it mean to interact with people who knew another version of yourself?
Recommended for fans of Claudia Grey’s "Firebird" trilogy, character-driven narratives and general parallel dimension plots. - Melissa (QBD)
Guest, 14/10/2017
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A surprisingly brilliant read, "Infinity" features fantastic characters, a great plot, and a focus on perspective. While it had the potential to be extremely tropey and filled with instalove it (thankfully) was anything but that.
Very much a character-driven novel, "Infinity" was a thought-provoking read complete with a compelling plot.
"Infinity" focuses on the complexity of humanity and the morally grey area; when is it okay to kill someone? Is the death penalty ever okay? If someone close to you has broken the law or is planning to, where do your loyalties lie? What is the right thing to do? - Melissa (QBD)
Guest, 14/10/2017