Review: Infinity: Chronicles of Nick

Infinity: Chronicles of Nick
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Chronicles of Nick/Book 1
St. Martin's Griffin/May 2010

From the inside cover ~

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?

Well, Simi's still annoying. LOL Guess she's always been that way. Seriously, I can only take her in small doses. Infinity has the trademark Kenyon smart-ass snark that her characters seem to have in abundance but there is also the pleasure of seeing a very young Nick Gautier. I liked this young Nick who has a chip on his shoulder (probably born with it) and a lot of love and respect for his Mama. We get a bunch of back story on some favorite characters and there are new characters who play important roles in Nick's life.

Infinity goes back to before Nick Gautier knew about Dark Hunters, Were Hunters and Daimons. It starts when Nick is a student at a private high school in New Orleans. He's there because he received a scholarship otherwise, there's no way he and his mom could have ever afford the tuition. Even Nick has a job to help pay the bills. He's very aware of his status as the poor kid at a school were most kids get brand new cars when they turn 16. Nick doesn't even have a TV, let alone a cell phone and definitely no car.

Nick's day starts out as usual with him running for the bus to school. Then the bullying begins, another thing he's used to. His day goes from bad to worse when he's suspended for fighting. You definitely feel for Nick. He tries to be good and stay out of trouble but it just seems to follow him. He does meet a new girl who makes a strong impression on this teen age boy with hormones racing. She's pretty and sweet and she actually talks to him! Nick is starved for attention and Kody's friendship is just what he needs.

Nick's life takes a turn when he gets caught up in a bad situation but there is a light at the end of the tunnel - Kyrian, the Dark Hunter who steps into Nick's life and decides to help him, hiring him as his assistant. Nick is in shock at Kyrian's wealth and very skeptical as to Kyrian's motives. It was amusing to hear Nick constantly questioning Kyrian about what Nick's new job would require. Nothing illegal and no getting naked were two of Nick's main concerns. *snort*

There are a bunch of new characters introduced and most are not human. Nick gets a crash course in the supernatural when his school and neighborhood are overrun with zombies. There's quite a bit of action with fighting zombies, running from zombies and just the general mayhem in a world full of supernatural beings. There are twists and turns with numerous characters to keep track of. It does help if you're already familiar with Kenyon's Dark Hunter series since characters from that series are featured plus the mythology and world building are the same, just with a different point of view.

Infinity's plot of high school kids turned zombies and attacking their classmates was merely okay. At times it felt like a B horror movie with the cast doing exactly what you would expect in a horror movie. What I liked was finding out the history of Nick and the Hunters. It gives more insight into what is going on in the current time line of Kenyon's adult series. The writing was standard Kenyon fair, simply toned down for a younger audience.

Rating: C+