Book Review: Infamous
Chronicles of Nick, Book 3
by Sherrilyn Kenyon (now McQueen)
Nick Gautier's life becomes more complicated and unbelievable as he realizes he has the potential to become the most evil and destructive creature in the universe. And a few months ago, all he thought he had to worry about was disappointing his mom, wearing tacky shirts and getting beat up at school. Will he be able to keep hold of his humanity or will he lose it all?
I am a huge Kenyon fan. I'll be upfront about that. I've read her Dark Hunter series for years and became hooked on The League when it was republished. Even with all that I was worried when the first of her young adult series, the Chronicles of Nick: Infinity, came out a 3 years ago. I wasn't sure she would be able to incorporate everything I love about her work into a young adult format, but I was so wrong. All the humor, sarcasm, and style remain; all that is missing is the sex (and hey, he's a teen so it's not there yet).
From what I've read she intends to have a book in this series for every year of Nick's life up until he became a Dark Hunter, so 10 books to cover ages 14 to 24. I'm not sure she's only going to have 10 books to make that goal. The first 3 seem to cover from 14 to 15.
While I liked Nick in the Dark Hunter series, he was never my favorite. Now with his own series, you get to know him better and see the background and thoughts behind all the snark. I think he may end up becoming my favorite of all her characters. He is smart, has a great if self deprecating humor, and a good heart. That does seem to be her template for heroes though. They are all smart, good looking, snarky, and must overcome a horrible past to be able to accept love. Even with that template, the books never feel formulaic or repetitive. She brings a fresh feel each and every time.
She also generally has a lesson or moral to her tales. For parents, the underlying themes are great ones for kids to learn.
Life was so strange. Seldom did it make sense. As her brother would say, 'life isn't a puzzle to be solved. It's an adventure to be savored. Let every challenge be a new mountain to climb, not an obstacle to get in your way and stop you. Yeah, it'll be hard, but once you reach the summit of it, you'll be able to see the world for what it really is. And at the top, it never seems to have been as difficult a feat to climb there as you first made it out to be. Most of all, you'll know that you beat that mountain, and that you rule it. It does not rule you.'
And, this one, which is in all of her writings. I wish more people thought of life like this.
People aren't just ants rushing around over a crust of bread. Every life, no matter how isolated, touches hundreds of others. It's up to us to decide if those micro connections are positive or negative. But whichever we decide, it does impact the ones we deal with. One word can give someone the strength they needed at that moment or it can shred them down to nothing. A single smile can turn a bad moment good. And one wrong outburst or word could be the tiny push that causes someone to slip over the edge into destruction.
Words matter as do even the smallest actions. Even when you're tired, smile, and share a few friendly words. Say please and thank you. Be kind. Everyone has bad days and your actions may be the only pleasant thing in that person's day. This is something that hits me whenever I read one of her books.
Every time I start thinking life might be looking up it knocks me down and kicks me. When I read one of Kenyon's books, it gives me hope because her characters face so many horrible things, but they keep moving forward through the pain and fear trying to be better people. They remind me that what doesn't kill you may hurt a lot, but it still makes you stronger.
BIS Rating: 5 nightlights
Buy Chronicles of Nick: Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon here from Bookshop.org.
BIS Rating system:
1 nightlight = put it down and didn't care to pick it back up
2 nightlights = finished the book
3 nightlights = enjoyed the book but probably wouldn't re-read it
4 nightlights = had a hard time putting the book down
5 nightlights = stayed up way too late to finish instead of going to bed
(originally published 19 March 2012)