I was excited to read this from the blurb alone, but I felt like it sadly fell flat in many ways. I wanted to like it so much,but I felt like it needed more with world building and that the magic system was explained more.

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender is a captivating young adult fantasy that blends magic, intrigue, and diverse representation. When Ash, a talented but underprivileged alchemist, is rejected from the prestigious Lancaster College of Alchemical Science, he takes a job as a groundskeeper to continue studying magic in secret. His life takes an unexpected turn when the brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne discovers his abilities and proposes an alliance to find the legendary Book of Source, a powerful alchemical tome.

As Ash and Ramsay embark on their dangerous quest, facing powerful adversaries including Ash's estranged father, their unlikely partnership blossoms into something deeper. Callender's vivid worldbuilding and compelling character dynamics keep the pages turning, while also exploring thought-provoking themes of power, privilege, and self-discovery.

Full review on the link below!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

3.5 Stars!
Fantasy for me is nothing without that juicy speculative kick, and the magic system in the Infinity Alchemist was interesting enough to have checked those boxes for me. Alchemy, drawing from the body's energy? Come on. Esp. in a school environment where the applications of alchemy are put into practice, although really the rich and powerful are the most likely to put it into practice. So the worldbuilding here was super intriguing. Plus, I liked the way gender identity and sexuality were handled and represented this book! If you’re looking for LGBTQIA+ representation, this book’s worth checking out.

Now for cons, Ash’s temper was something that annoyed me a little––just because I couldn’t quite get the motivation behind…why his temper flare-ups happened when they did. He’s a teenager though, so I tried to attribute it to that. The pacing itself was sort of slow, but that didn’t bother me half of the time. The other half, I put it down for a while to give myself a mental break. The prose wasn’t invigorating enough for me to push through those slower spots.

Ultimately, this book’s a mixed bag! Strengths and weaknesses across the board. I enjoyed it, though it took me a long time to get through.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed this very much. The dynamic between the 3 characters could have fallen to the side, but I think it worked out so well! The personalities between the three were so good! I do feel like the ending was a bit rushed but overall I loved this story

This book was one of the most important ones I have read this year. A profound, well written tale that explores some of the most pressing issues facing our world, in a beautiful way. Karen Callender is supremely talented, and has a voice that resonates beyond the page, echoing into real life that we can carry with us. Not a single character on the page was flawless and it was so refreshing to see how deeply scarred each of them was, and how they overcame their faults to move forward. I cannot wait for their next book!

I really wanted to love this because I love Kacen Callender but it ended up being just meh for me. I love the LGBTQ+ rep in this book. I also loved how unique the magic and world building was. I had issues with the pacing and struggled to keep reading at times. I found myself putting the book down and not feeling the need to pick it up so often.

I was looking forward to Kacen Callender's fantasy debut after the success of Felix Ever After, but I was left very disappointed. Would only recommend if you like reading polyamory from the POV of an annoying teenager.

Unfortunately, this one didn't quite work for me, it felt a little too young for me, and the main character drove me a bit crazy. Bummed since this one was highly anticipated for me!

3.5 / 5.0

I really enjoyed the queer rep and world/magic building in this book. Overall, it wasn’t to my taste, so I took a while to read it, but it isn’t a poorly written book. The plot and pacing are engaging and it is a satisfying read.

Until Next Time,
MC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to his ARC.

So wonderful! I was extremely hesitant at first. There were a few moments that seemed like red flags and deterred me—but those were quickly made up for with a compelling story and sweet characters. The book was really interesting in how it served as a reflection of our own world.

I will say that this book was too sexual for my taste in YA literature. It was nothing super explicit, but I want less especially from a YA book. The more romantic it got, the more nauseating it was to me, but don’t let that distract you from this great read.

~3.5~
I want to start off with the fact that this concept and this world was absolutely fascinating. I absolutely love academia in novels, and the fact that he gets plucked from a groundskeeper to this adventure. Speaking on the adventure though, it didn't quite hook me as I wish it was going to. I didn't really find myself reaching for this book too often, and as a mood reader, it made it hard to finish. I absolutely loved the trans rep and the polyamory involved. The character growth had good aspects, but overall, this book didn't have my attention as much as I wish it would have.

Looking for a YA Fantasy filled with diverse queer characters and a new magic system?

I really enjoyed the magical elements and world-building in this story and the characters really set the tone. I will say the main character was a bit angrier than I typically enjoy in a main POV and as a result, he made some very questionable decisions, but the tone fit well into a YA Fantasy world. My favorite character in the story was multi-gender and with each chapter their pronouns would change depending on how they presented themself that day. It was such an amazing way to build in this representation, especially in a world where no persecution was place on individuals for their gender or sexuality.

I’m very excited to see where this story takes us in the future as the series continues and I hope we hear of a release date for book 2 super soon!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tor Teen for an E-ARC copy of this book!

I had read Kacen Callender's Felix Ever After and really enjoyed it as a YA contemporary, so I was eager to read their YA High Fantasy debut. Overall, I liked the worldbuilding and found the magical school setting compelling. I enjoyed the queernormative aspects of the world and casual queer representation in characters. However, I found myself not wanting to pick this up to read more, which is typically a sign I'm not vibing with it. The characters didn't endear themselves to me (or even interest me, even if they were unlikable) and I felt like a lot of the writing told me how people felt rather than showed me. I didn't find the plot interesting enough to continue in the series if more books come along in it. I do appreciate MacMillan sending me a copy to read and review

3 stars

Review made possible thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. Thanks for the ARC

Okay, onto the review.

So, I want to start off with what I liked about this book. It is full of queer rep. I adored it. Queer rep needs to be something we see more of and I was happy to see it here. There is a character, Ramsay whose pronouns change depending on their gender that day. So they change on the page from chapter to chapter. It can be a little confusing if you don’t pay attention but honestly it isn’t a hard thing to keep track of.

Ashen also binds. So he’s trans and I was really glad to see just more LGBTQ+ rep in a book. I also liked how their queerness was explained.

Onto what I didn’t like about the book.

Which, unfortunately, was basically everything else. I DNF’d this book.

It was an absolute slog to get to 36%. I did not enjoy reading it. I picked up my table to read and found myself unhappy, not enjoying the story at all. And a big, big part of that is the pacing.

This book is so incredibly slow. I couldn’t stand it. I fell asleep while reading it.

Now, the worldbuilding is a bit chunky. It’s heavy and detailed and some things I had to read a few times to actually get the grasp of them. Which is fine but when there’s that along with a story that drags its feet, it makes it hard to actually retain anything. Like being bored in class, the teacher starts to sound like a Charlie Brown adult.

That was what I was experiencing reading this book. Which sucked because I was looking forward to it. Anything that has to do with alchemy is right up my alley. Put that in my veins and call it a day.

But not this one. The characters were distinct but didn’t really do much for me. And you’d think in a book that has such a great description, you’d be riveted. I didn’t care. There were a few exciting parts, like an alchemist fight, but once that was over, there was just a lot to slog through again.

Also one of my biggest qualms with what I read was the fact that this is supposed to be YA.

Trad pub needs to just accept that New Adult is a thing and start putting books in that category. This is not a YA book. The characters are something like 18-20 or 21. Absolutely nothing about this book felt YA.

At the end of the day, the plot also felt thin. It felt like there was more things stringing the characters on from one point to the next and a lot of that was judgement. I don’t care if a character is nice or not, if they’re well written and have good motivations and are interesting, I’ll follow them. But this dude Ash? Nah.

So he’s poor. And he judges the upper classes for what they have and what he doesn’t. Which, okay, I get that. However, he also judges them for learning alchemy from books, learning it from the page. While he is self taught and seems to have a bit of a snotty attitude about it. Like how are you going to judge them for certain things and then turn into a turd? I dunno, I couldn’t deal with him.

At the end of the day, this gets a 2 star from me. There were things that I liked but a lot of things that I couldn’t stand and it made reading this book impossible. I unfortunately, can’t recommend it but if you do pick it up and enjoy it, I’ll be happy for you.

This was a slow start for me - and I think that has something to do with me really not understanding alchemy at all. But once I got into it, I was invested (it just took about half of the book to get there). I truly enjoyed the development of the characters - I HATED Ramsay at first, but then changed my mind - I enjoyed the prickliness!

And the villains - they were truly awful. Callender did a great job in creating these characters and this world - I just wish it could have drawn me in sooner.

Thank you to Netgalley and the published for providing me with a digital ARC of this book.

I loved the poly romance and queer representation in this book so much, so it physically pains me to say that the fantasy elements fell far short. While the magic system is intriguing, I felt like it was underdeveloped as well. Likewise, the world itself and its political dynamics could have used further back stories. I think because of the underdeveloped nature of either the magic or the political dynamics, the resulting quest felt flat. It was easily resolved and was fairly predictable. With a more developed backstory, it may have felt less route. Either that, or the book needed to be primarily a romance with a fantasy backdrop. My overwhelming impression was of a book with great potential but not yet developed enough.

That being said, I NEED to gush about the trans representation and poly romance. I loved the way that Ramsay's gender expression changed throughout the book (although at a few points, additional care paid to making it clear who "he/him" referred to would have been helpful for the reader). It's the first time I've ever seen that in a book, but it was so wonderfully done, especially since I think many authors default to "they/them" for genderfluid folks, even though that may or may not be the most accurate way to express it. Likewise, I appreciated reading Ash's reflections on his body and the nuanced approach to gender dysphoria. And the poly romance -- yesssss. I'm always a sucker for more poly representation, and this one was beautiful.

All in all, I'm sadly rating this low, solely because I think it was billed as a fantasy with romance, not a romance with fantasy - and it fell short in its fantasy elements. I will not be posting this review publicly on goodreads, storygraph, or my instagram, as I believe we need more queer and diverse representation, so it's my policy to not post mostly critical/low rated reviews of these books on my public forums.

Definitely for older kids.
LGBTQIA rep
Mental health rep
Poly rep

Alchemy school is for the elite and ash is determined to attended.

Ghetto slowly trains himself and finally becomes an apprentice.
I gave it 3 stars simply because of how predictable it was. For ya youth. This would be an amazing book. As long as parents are okay with the poly rep

Kacen Callender's first foray into fantasy is a successful one. I love the way they write and was excited to see them branch out into a new genre. The magical system was well planned and interesting. The characters were phenominal. I hope they write more books in this genre.

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

This story was phenomenal. The representation of the queer, trans, and polyamorous relationships is one of the best I've read for this. I also wanted to note that the concept of magic, called Alchemy, is uniquely developed as a magic system. It had me thinking greatly and brought many concepts that aren't usually seen in fiction novels. The only issue I had with this book was that it felt like it read very slowly. I struggled to keep my concentration with reading it consistently. The characters very clearly have flaws and they tackle those both personally and together. I appreciate how this story brought a lot of elements together.

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC and for Netgalley as well.