Review: Infinity Kings

Infinity Kings by Adam Silvera
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I used to be such a big fan of Adam Silvera like 5-10 years ago, but more recently I'm afraid he's been losing his luster for me. He used to be so good at writing stories about glorious gay geekboys who made me laugh and cry in equal measure, but it says a lot that this book included one particularly major character death and I didn't cry reading it. I should have, but I didn't, and I blame that on this book's massive overlength, too many characters, too many POV's, and too many times cheating death for various other characters, including a few who should've died a thousand pages ago.

Let's be honest, this entire trilogy, Silvera's attempt at an epic modern fantasy/superhero story, has been a mixed bag from the start. Each book in the series has been told in four POV's, which has always felt like two too many. I still say that Emil (even though he's a bit messy, but then again, he's the one that's most clearly the Silvera author avatar just like Aaron or Ben before him) and Ness have always been the most fascinating and gripping characters of this series, whereas Brighton...

...well, Jaroda said it once before, and I'll still say it again for old time's sake.

Brighton.

Can.

CHOKE.

And Maribelle...I'm sorry, but she's always come off super disconnected from the rest of the cast and their narratives. If Silvera was a better world builder (he's always been weak at that, let's be real), she could be the hero of her own story. But here, she just feels like she brings only extraneous filler.

It's really Emil and Ness and their complicated characterizations (ESPECIALLY Ness, who's been so long in trying to really find himself) that kept me reading this trilogy all the way to the end. They're also the reason why I'm giving this book a 2.5 rounded up instead of down.

Other than that, though...it really does make me feel awful that that one major character death didn't have me crying, and this in a book where no one else ever dies and stays that way. This in a book where phoenix and other magical blood types are applied in a Thirty Gambit Pileup so twisted that it makes less sense the more I think about it. This in a book where Brighton is somehow the least annoying online influencer in the TikTok hype house. This in a book where Emil is suddenly involved in a weaksauce love triangle where it's still pretty obvious that one ship is endgame (hell, the epilogue reminds me a hell of a lot of the ending to Red, White, and Royal Blue as a result.)

This in a book with one of the most absolutely unearned redemption arcs I've ever seen.

I used to use Silvera's books as comp titles in my query letters for my own YA novels, but those days are gone. I might have to disembark from the hype train on this one, because it's pretty clear that while I personally still have much to do in my own personal growth, I think I'm starting to outgrow Silvera's work.

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