The infinity courts is the first book in the infinity courts series by Akemi Dawn Bowman. In this book Bowman takes a totally unique view of the afterlife in a science-fiction atmosphere.

One day when Nami is shot in the leg and unfortunately dies, she ends up in Infinity. The world of the afterlife which is divided into four courts. Each of these courts is ruled by a prince, but Infinity also has a queen named Ophelia. Ophelia, like all other residents of Infinity, is an artificial intelligence, and it just so happened that Ophelia was Nami's best digital friend when she was still alive. When Nami arrives in Infinity, she is offered a pill, but because she refuses it, she ends up being unaware in danger.

Nami is rescued by a group of people who have made the same choice as her, and she soon learns that Infinity is not a happily ever after at all. Queen Ophelia turns out not to be a good friend, on the contrary. Her purpose and purpose of Infinity is to take the consciousness of the people in order to control them. Nami is determined to prevent this from happening. Will she be able to prevent the plans of Queen Ophelia? Can Nami get used to life in Infinity? What dangers will come her way?

The infinity courts is a book you really have to get into. Because the story quickly moves over to Infinity, a lot of important information comes to light at the beginning of the story. But once you get into the story you will want to keep reading.

Akemi Dawn Bowman has a very defined writing style that reads very smoothly. She knows how to build the world of Infinity and she also gives you a clear picture of the difference between the residents and the humans.

During the story only the most important characters are worked out, so that you, as a reader, get a clear picture of how important the role of a particular character is. What I really liked is that the story mentions six locations, but in this book only three locations, as the mortal world, the colony and Victory, play a part. Nevertheless, you will get enough information about the other locations as well. 

I am very curious about what will await Nami in the next book, and partly due to the slight cliffhanger in the end, I can't wait to read the second book. I highly recommend The infinity courts to all readers who like science fiction in combination with a lot of adventure.

This was an amazing story that I could not put down! I loved the action and the character development. The characters were likeable, and the plot was interesting. It definitely kept me interested until the end. I highly recommend this read!

Sadly I can’t read this since it’s not a kindle book. I can’t read books on my phone or computer, due to the glare, and therefore I have no choice but to review it this way.

I received an egalley of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. First off, the cover of this book? Gorgeous! I love it so much. It’s bright and colorful, but also ominously serious at the same time, given that the main character, Nami, is holding what looks like a dagger behind her back. 

Nami Miyamoto is your average girl on the brink of life. She’s eighteen, recently graduated from high school, and on her way to a party with her friends. She’s thinking about Finn, her potential maybe boyfriend/best friend she’s had a crush on for ages and about her future. Instead, she’s killed during a gas station robbery. She wakes up in Infinity, the afterlife, and is offered the choice to take a pill and be in paradise. Something feels wrong, though, and she refuses the pill, escaping with the help of a group of rebels, people who also refused to take the pill. Turns out, the pill erases your consciousness and makes you a pawn.

Ophelia is this world’s Alexa or Siri. She’s who you mindlessly ask for facts or to play your music or to text your friend. She finds a way to infiltrate Infinity and take it over, creating four princes to rule over everything. An afterlife ruled by an AI is such an interesting concept. Also a technological afterlife, capable of being run over by an AI, like it’s a complex computer program, is very intriguing. It reminds me of Upload, where a person can pay to be uploaded into the afterlife and experience all kinds of amenities, if they can pay.

I was drawn in by Nami’s descriptions of her life, of her friends, of Finn, and the fandom references, particularly to Star Wars. It was all wonderful introduction and then action, pulling me in. After that, weeks or months passes in spurts, with things happening, then a bunch of time passing under the guise of ‘training’ and ‘practicing.’ I struggled with these times, trying to stay interested. I knew action was coming, and that these times contained important information on how Infinity worked. But I wish there had been more descriptions as to just how Nami trained and what she did during these times. 

She deals with what makes a person human, and her own humanity in the afterlife. If she gives up all ties to her family, moves on so she can become more powerful in the afterlife, she feels like she’ll forget who she is. It’s her sister, Mei, that she’s even fighting so hard for. She wants her sister to be happy in the afterlife and so works hard to change how things work. But the references to Mei drop about halfway through but it doesn’t feel like another motivation takes its place, if that makes sense. She’s driven to save the people of Infinity, the ones who took the pill. She wants to protect the Residents, as well. Though they are artificially created, she thinks of them as people, who can perhaps live with the humans in harmony. 

I did struggle at picturing the surroundings sometimes, particularly of the market and the world the residents inhabit. Some things were described in detail, but I found it hard to think of the larger picture, enough for me to place myself in that universe anyway. 

The writing was very well done, particularly Nami’s inner thoughts, despite the disconnect I felt in her motives and actions. I feel the world building could have had a bit more detail put into it but the focus was very much on Nami’s feelings and internal conflict. I would have liked more focus on the other characters and their relationships with Nami. It seemed, much of the time, that Nami spent all her time in her room, away from the others. Meaningful relationships were glossed over, hinted at having formed later on, but sort of off-screen. 

I really do enjoy the idea of an AI taking over the afterlife and I very much enjoyed Nami and Ophelia’s conversations. I wish there had been more of them, to give us more insight into Ophelia as a person. Maybe some flashbacks from her point of view, or more legends regarding the formation of Infinity as we see it. 

So, I’d’ve liked more character building outside of Nami, stronger worldbuilding and more explanations about Ophelia and her powers and motivations. As well as more power over the afterlife itself. It seems like there’s so much that can be done, but most people don’t do it. You could do anything, wear anything, be anything, but you don’t. And somehow, you still need to invent things, not just bring them into being with a strong imagination. I would definitely like more information on just how that works and the limits of what can and can’t be done. And I really want to know how Nami’s family and friends took her death. I’m hoping further books will go into this somehow. I rate this book a high three stars, with the series having great potential.

This book has a lot of potential, and I really wanted to like it. And at times I really did. But a lot of the time it felt like it never quite reached the potential it so clearly had.

This book is amazing!!! I’m thankful to have been provided a free advanced reading copy digitally in order to provide a true review. I read and loved Harley in the Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman. So, my expectations weren’t low going in, but they were so far surpassed! 

I was afraid the book would drag as it isn’t super short, but it flew by. I’m ready for the next one, please! This science fiction novel where Ophelia, similar to Alexa type of technology, takes over the afterlife. It kept me guessing throughout the whole thing. Engaging, science fiction novel.

Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto is certain her life is just beginning. She has a great family, just graduated high school, and is on her way to a party where her entire class is waiting for her—including, most importantly, the boy she’s been in love with for years. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

This was such an interesting read.
Sci-Fi isn't usually my genre, but I was very intrigued by this book from the very start. The cover is beautiful and the summary sounds super unique and different, and I just had to read this. However, I feel like my expectations weren't met completely.
The worldbuilding was really complex and unique and I really liked the general concept and idea, but the execution wasn't always the best. I struggled with visualizing certain things and some aspects from the past or the world itself were never properly explained, which led to plotholes. I felt like the worldbuilding was the thing that intrigued me most, but which also disappointed me the most.
I liked all the characters, the side characters were amazing - especially Annika and Gil - and their powers were really cool to read about. I struggled with liking the protagonist from time to time since she made really unreasonable decisions sometimes and just irritated me, but she was overall also fun to read about.
The plot itself was strong in the first half, with lots of suspense and a good built up, but I felt like it lost me somewhere around the 200-page mark. The book could definitely have been shorter because there were a lot of scenes and storylines which could have been shortened. I was really confused while reading because so much was going on and yet I was still bored.
The ending felt a little rushed and short, and there was no epic battle or confrontation, although the reveal was definitely well-done. I feel like it succeeded to make me excited for book 2, but I still feel like nothing significantly happened. Looking back this felt like I just read a 480-pages long exposition for a story that has yet to start in book 2.
I still enjoyed reading this, but I feel like there is definitely room for improvement in the series.

First of all, I want to thank NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC for The Infinity Courts. I went into this book completely blind, not really knowing much about it. I’d never heard of it before, nor have I read any of Bowman’s other works, so I had no idea what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. 

At first, I thought this was going to be predictable and so much like any other YA dystopian story I’ve read before, but there was a plot twist that changed my opinion for the better. Something else that makes this stand out is the fact that it takes place in the afterlife, which I haven’t really seen much of in YA at least. The only other series I can think of right now that kills off the protagonist at the start of the book and then follows their journey after their death is Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan. It was interesting to see Bowman’s imagining of what the afterlife could be like. After all, none of us know for sure what comes after this life.

Death is something everyone will eventually experience. It’s something we all know will happen to us one day, but we don’t know when that will be. In The Infinity Courts, Nami, our protagonist, has her life taken away sooner than she probably expected. Having just graduated from high school, Nami was just an ordinary girl. However, on her way to a graduation party, Nami was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ultimately, is murdered.  

After dying, Nami finds herself in the afterlife.  Nami quickly learns that she has ended up in a place called Infinity. 
Once a place for humans created by humans to live after their death, it has now been taken over by an AI called Ophelia, whom Nami had already been familiar with during her life on Earth. When Nami was still alive, Ophelia was the name of an AI that helps humans with everyday tasks, which to me could be compared to Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri. So imagine a world in which the artificial intelligences we rely on in our everyday lives, such as Alexa or Siri, one day decided to fight back against us and declared themselves our rulers. That’s pretty much what happens in this book with Ophelia in Infinity. Ophelia has rid humans in the afterlife of their consciousness, making them her servants. However Nami joins a group of human rebels who plan to reclaim Infinity so that it’s a safe place for humans once more. 

I won’t spoil or go into detail about the specific case in The Infinity Courts, but I love it when books have twists and turns and keep me on my toes, and this book succeeded in doing that for me, especially towards the end. Another thing I liked about this book was Nami’s love for her younger sister Mei. Her motivation for everything she does while in Infinity is driven by her wanting to make the afterlife a better place by the time Mei inevitably ends up there some day. Along those same lines, I appreciated the found family aspect of this book. Platonic love, whether it’s between siblings or friends or whoever, is such a beautiful thing. I think Nami’s characterization and development was done pretty well, too. 

One criticism I would make is that the explanation for how Ophelia, the AI, managed to end up in the afterlife was kind of confusing to me. Other than that, this was a fun read.

When I read the description of this book on NetGalley, it was described as “Westworld meets Warcross,” and while I’m not familiar with Westworld, I do see the Warcross elements. I also found that at first this book almost reminded me of Crier’s War, namely because both have beings, who were invented to serve humans, rising up against humans and giving them a taste of their own medicine, I guess you could say. So in my opinion, if you’re a fan of Warcross by Marie Lu or Crier’s War by Nina Varela, there’s a chance that you might like The Infinity Courts. 

For anyone considering reading this book, I do want to add a trigger warning for death from gun violence that happens early on in the story and also mentions of the death of an LGBT  character. This character only makes an appearance once, but I still wanted to make note of this for anyone who might be triggered by it.

I feel so lucky to have received an ARC. This wasn't even on my 2021 release radar, but I am absolutely blown away. 

This gave me everything I have been craving recently - a band of rebels, a compelling enemy, a unique world, root-worthy characters, engaging writing, and a high-stakes plot. There was actually a scene where my jaw DROPPED. It's one of the most shocking moments I have read in a book in a long time. 

Honestly, if you told me Marie Lu wrote this, I would have believed you. This story feels like it came from a seasoned writer of the genre, so I am very impressed. This is an absolute must read when it comes out in a few months!

absolutely amazing! i loved starfish and was sure this would be just as amazing (spoiler alert: it was!!)

The Infinity Courts is a fantastic premise. The afterlife has been taken over by an artificial intelligence who is angry at being enslaved by humanity, and after dying young Nami discovers that she may be the key to freeing Infinity. 

I really liked the characters in this book, and the twists (especially towards the end) were totally unexpected. The writing style is beautifully lyrical and although I read it in print, I'd imagine it works wonderfully as an audio book.

The only downside was that the world building felt a bit lacking. There were parts of Infinity that I didn't quite understand and some questions that never really got answered. However, it didn't stop me enjoying the story!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.