YA Weekend: Infinity Lost by S. Harrison

A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Infinity Lost by S. Harrison

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Series: Book 1 of The Infinity Trilogy

Publisher: Skyscape (11/1/15)

Author Information: Website

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

2015 was a great year for YA fiction, with lots of new ideas and debut authors breaking onto the scene. When S. Harrison’s Infinity Lost popped up on my radar late in the fall, I thought it sounded like an interesting book to check out.

The story takes place in the near future, following the life of a girl named Infinity “Finn” Blackstone. Her father, CEO of Blackstone Technologies, is one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, but while his company’s world-changing services and products are nearly ubiquitous, Richard Blackstone himself remains a highly reclusive figure. Not even Finn has ever met him. Raised by her father’s staff, all she knows about the man is what others have told her and what she sees on the news.

Finn is seventeen when she and her classmates from boarding school are taken on a field trip to visit the Blackstone headquarters. Elated, Finn believes this could finally be her chance to meet her father and confront him with all her questions. Lately, she has been having strange dreams, even though a part of her knows they are more than that. The visions feel like memories, but how can that be when she cannot remember actually experiencing them herself? Finn is determined to find some answers, and she believes Richard Blackstone is the key.

Beyond that, I really can’t say more; suffice to say, the plot takes a surprising number of turns and ends up in a place I never saw coming, and if I give away anything else I would be hovering dangerously close to spoiler territory. What I can say is that Infinity Lost was a really quick read due to its relatively modest page count, which along with being jam-packed with action and tight storytelling made this one a really fast-pace and entertaining read. I also thoroughly enjoyed the future setting which featured some innovative tech, some of which were pretty farfetched but nonetheless very cool. The book also stood out to me because of its departure from certain YA norms, such as downplaying any romance (at least in this first book) though quite honestly, the plot moves along so quickly that there’s hardly any room for unnecessary drama.

That said, while a lot of things in Infinity Lost worked for me, there were a few issues that tripped me up as well. First, you should know that technically, the “real story” doesn’t start until late in the novel, because the first half contains almost nothing but random and sometimes confusing flashbacks. Finn has these dream-memories, and the time jumps can get very jarring and tiresome after a while. Second, I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of the wider world, though this is mainly due to the limitations of looking through Finn’s eyes in the first-person. She’s being kept in the dark, and so by extension, we are as well.

Third—though this is not a problem for me personally, I still figured I should mention it—reading this book was a little like watching a movie that starts off PG-13, but then ends with a full-blown R rating. The final chapters are a veritable bloodbath, with heads popping off, bodies being blown into red mist, etc. all brutally described in vivid and graphic detail. I’ve read a lot worse of course, but I was still shocked at the lack of warning; the beginning held absolutely no clue that this book would end in such over-the-top, indiscriminate violence. If that kind of content turns you off, I would approach this with caution.

But my biggest issue was the cliffhanger. In this day and age of seemingly nothing but YA trilogies and series, I grudgingly accept the need for them, but at the very least I think each book should still contain the resolution to its main conflict. I don’t like it when a book ends abruptly in the middle of a scene; it’s clumsy and awkward and I end up with more questions than answers, which is not a good feeling. Unfortunately, this was the case here. There were too many loose ends, and the book did not in any way feel complete.

Even in the face of all these issues though, I liked the book well enough that I would be open to continuing the series, if nothing else to find out what happens to Finn. Infinity Lost felt very much like a long intro, and I feel confident that the meat of the story will be in the sequel Infinity Rises, out January 5, 2016.