"'Yes,' Ash said. 'The wealthy and powerful are willing to step on the backs of others to get where they are.'"

Infinity Alchemist is a YA fantasy about a world where magic is controlled by the elite and one boy has the desire to change that.
While there were a few scenes that intrigued me, I think the biggest issue I had with this book was the pacing. Some parts seemed to drag on forever, whereas the final climax lasted about thirty seconds. Overall, it felt like the novel was more character-driven than plot-driven. Most of the scenes developed character rather than plot, which personally isn't my favorite thing.
Unfortunately, the characters also fell a bit flat for me. I'm going to be honest when I say I accidentally skimmed through some of the dialogue (because I wanted more plot scenes), and so even though the book felt character-driven, I didn't connect to any of the characters. The cast is very diverse and queer, which is a bonus, but I just couldn't relate much to them.
While Infinity Alchemist wasn't exactly my cup of tea, I can see it being very enjoyable for other people. If you're looking for a character-driven story with a queer cast and plenty of magic, this book is for you.
2.5/5

In the land of New Anglia, the divide between those with power and influence and those without is sharp and deep. And even though eighteen-year-old Ash has skills in alchemy, his background makes it impossible to legally practice and improve his abilities. So, instead of becoming a student at Lancaster College, Ash gets a job as a groundskeeper, scrounging what information he can as he cares for the sprawling grounds. But when the infamous Ramsay Thorne discovers the immensity of Ash’s alchemical prowess, the two form a tenuous agreement to secretly work together to find the fabled Book of Source. They are not the only people in search of the Book, however, and as the stakes are raised, they must learn how much they need to trust each other in order to survive.

This gripping young adult fantasy features a broad assortment of diverse characters. Told from multiple points of view, the narrative includes several characters of color, coupled with a variety of gender identities and romantic persuasions, as well. These inclusions enrich the storytelling, especially as they add greater complexity to the relationships and interactions taking place throughout the novel. As readers get to know the characters, empathy grows for them and their unique and complicated situations within the starkly divided world in which they reside.

As a fantasy story, this novel spends a good amount of time on the world-building component, immersing readers in an unfamiliar society that nonetheless shares multiple similarities with reality. A map and other pre-matter help provide reference points for readers, and the narrative itself draws readers in through well-crafted language and an excellent delivery overall. It is refreshing to observe characters who see the faults in their world amass the bravery required to disrupt those flaws, and readers will be cheering for each character’s success throughout the novel. The book is best suited to mature young adult and older readers due to the use of occasional strong language and intense subject matter. Filled with heart, conviction, and riveting storytelling, this young adult fantasy adventure is not to be missed.

This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024, and I was so excited when approved for an ARC, but this book just fell flat in so many areas.

I’ll start with the things I did like. I really liked the matter of fact way Ash was a transgender man. The binders he wore was very accepted and seemed normal. I also liked how Ramsay was gender fluid, again, in a matter of fact way. It was sometimes confusing which pronoun was being used per chapter for Ramsay in conjunction with talking about other people, but I don’t think this was a pronoun issue, it was more of a writing style issue.

For the issues, I had a really hard time getting into this book. The story felt like it was dragging while also being very fast paced, which was jarring to read. Think book is listed for YA audience, and the writing style does feel juvenile, but there was also explicit sex scenes that faded to black almost after they were done (??). I did love the overall queer rep and normalized sex talk for YA readers, but it did go a bit too far imo.

Ash seemed very immature for an 18 year old working in a college. I didn’t really understand how he was so powerful, and there were many times I was confused with the magic system. I think this could have been fixed with more back story on the magic and how it works in the real world, what people use it for, how it came about, what allows someone to have magic abilities vs not, etc.

When the romance with Ramsay started, I was genuinely shocked. I didn’t really see an emotional connection or any leading tension between the two. I DNF’d before I got to the poly parts so maybe it was built out more with that, but at about halfway through, I wished I was more intrigued.

Overall, I felt a huge disconnect with the characters, the overall world building was nonexistent, and the characters were not loveable to me. I may come back to this, because I really want to love it, but for now, I will need to put it down

Thank you NetGalley and Tor publishing group for the e-arc!
This book incorporates some of my absolute favorite things when reading fantasy: Diverse characters, unique magic systems, and fantastic character development. The mix of characters and their stories converge and develop throughout the book is spectacularly done. I always love books featuring alchemy as there's so much authors can do with this type of magic. I ended up thoroughly enjoying the way the author set up the world and how the magic interacts. The world features many dystopian elements with this society being focused on power and maintaining control.
This is definitely one of the books that starts off kind of slow but really builds as you continue to read. Both the characters and the world-building become so much more immersive and engaging as you understand more about the story.

Thank you to Tor Teen and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Oh my god I absolutely loved this book! I've been looking for more trans fantasy books and this definitely checks that box for me. I cried so much, the book was so incredible. I don't want to give too many spoilers but I think I screamed more than is acceptable for reading a book like this.

I had been looking forward to this book the moment I read that alchemy was criminalized for the MC and the cast was full of queer poc, but unfortunately this fell flat. The writing in this was juvenile at best, and did a whole lot more telling than showing at worst.

I enjoyed the writing of queer people, from their gender to sexuality. From Ash's certainty in his masculinity, to the handling of his dysphoria, to everyone respecting Ramsay's genderfluid pronouns. I was also interested in the magic system, but wish there was more time spent diving into it. At times it felt like we were kept on the edge of the full potential of this world's magic and history.

What I didn't like...well, for starters, there's a big problem with insta-love that happens between the characters in the polycule. Ash and Ramsay only know each other for two weeks, and then Ash and Callum only know each other for a different two weeks, before Ash is practically head over heels for both of them.

I don't think either Ash nor Ramsay clicked with me as characters - and I really wanted to like Ramsay - and it makes having to follow Ash's POV and watch him make one dumb and childish decision after another rather painful. Funny enough, Callum was more likable, which I assume was on purpose because he only gets the last 52% of the book to make a case for himself to be introduced as both a protagonist and a romantic interest (yes, he's brought up as someone from Ramsay's past a few times, but there's no indication leading up to it that he is about to join them for the plot train). I liked his genial, caring, and soft nature, and his struggle to choose between what's right and his family.

There's also a serious pacing issue, where the book breezes through fights and conflict, but then sits and chews on relationship drama and childhood trauma. The climax of this book felt like it was over in the blink of an eye, and with no real build up to it. The resolution was, to quote Ryan George from Pitch Meeting, "super easy, barely an inconvenience."

Marlowe was another sore spot for me. I expected her to have a much bigger place in the story, considering she was given a couple chapters to herself, but she was simply a character of convenience. She would be shelved until needed again.

Over all, while I really wanted to like this book, the interesting characters could not save the flimsy plot and bad pacing issues.

Thank you TorTeen for the e-ARC!

I loved the magic system created here, as well as the exploration of gender and relationships. This was such a creative fantasy world and I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure it took me on. Ash was not the most likable character, but I can see how growth will occur throughout the series as he discovers himself more. Overall I am so impressed by Callender’s first venture into fantasy writing!

Thank you to MacMillan and NetGalley for the ARC.

For those that have read a lot of fantasy, this book may not feel unique in it's plot/stakes. BUT, the character development, diversity, and relationships make this book stand out as a must read for older teens. I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

I thought this was a very entertaining book once it got going. It didn't really grab me until I was about a third of the way through, but then I couldn't put it down.

I loved the diversity and how natural it all felt. It's always refreshing to see a variety of characters and relationships without a lot of unnecessary LGBT+-related angst.

I felt the worldbuilding and fantasy side to it could've been a bit clearer/stronger, but it worked for the most part. The ending ties things up in a way that suggests a sequel (which I'd love to read), though this could definitely work as a standalone if that's what it ends up being.

★★★★★

TW: ABUSE (FAMILIAL, ON PAGE), DEATH (MURDER), GUILT, GRIEF, MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS (FADE TO BLACK), VIOLENCE

I always feel like I don't know where to start with these. 9 times outta 10 I'm writing reviews right off the end of the book and this one... I have tears in my eyes. This is a 6 star book for me. Firmly. My heart hurts

I received this book as an ARC in return for an honest review. Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for the ARC.

Infinity Alchemist releases in just a few weeks on Feb. 6th I believe, and I highly recommend it to anyone who will listen.

Once again calling back to any book that makes me physically feel something get an automatic five star, but this book did more than that. This book wrapped my heart in tendrils of alchemical magic and refuses to let go.

Let's start with the characters: Ash, Ramsay, Callum, and Marlowe. Ash is our POV character and in a trans POC man. He is an asshole who has a rough life, growing up in the slums with a mother who passed away not too long ago. He wants to prove himself worthy of his absent father, and will stop at nothing to do so.

Ramsay is a prodigy, the genderfluid child of known and executed terrorists hell-bent on atoning for their sins. She uses he/she pronouns, though leans more towards she/her throughout the book. She is also such an uptight prick... until she's not. I genuinely love how prickly and rude she is and how much that shows to me as an autistic mask. I just love her so much.

Callum is a black man and the youngest son of the Kendrick house, more or less the police state in book. He is kind and caring despite the heavy hand of his father and all he wants to do is heal. He wants to heal and help others, like the good man he is.

These three, oh these three. They hold my heart.

Marlowe is my obligatory redhead (listen I have to point them out when they are given to me!). She is an orphan of House Lune and becomes so integral to the story in ways I never thought possible.

Without given away too many spoilers, I want to tell yous: there is so much diversity in this cast. So much! It's beautiful!! And, AND, we get not one, but two (2) separate Rivals-to-Lovers ARCs that don't end in a love triangle, but a polycule! We also get best friends to lovers to bitter exes to lovers once again!!

As far as the worldbuilding goes, I have to say that Kacen is a master at weaving these mystical and fantastical realms together in a way that not only make sense, but feel real. I felt like I was in the higher realms with the characters, like I knew exactly what each house was and why they were there.

I have aphantasia, which means that I cannot imagine what anything ever looks like. And yet, the beautiful world descriptions put me there. They called back to things that I do know and do have experience with and built off of it. I very genuinely could see myself in the world, and that is saying a lot.

I don't think I can talk too much more about this book without bringing myself to tears again, so let's pivot to some of my favorite quotes to make y'all understand the gravity of this book:

- The world became a white blur. The snow turned red. It fell to the ground, drops spreading like blots of ink. The blood dripped from Amelia's cheeks. Her smile faded as the screams began.
- That's what privileged assholes like you always say.
- [redacted] paused, but only for a moment. He opened the [redacted]. There was an explosion of light.
- It was too late. [redacted] was already there.
- It wasn't death he'd feared, he realized, but the change—the transformation that forced him to release.
- This light held the vibration of energy that the physical body would translate as love.
- They all created the same infinite light. They were eternal.
- It was an interesting place to be caught, stuck between grief and gladness that they were gone.

Okay, I think that's all I can put without spoilers.

One thing I forgot to mention: this book is genuinely funny. Maybe it's because of the autistic mask I mentioned earlier, but the interactions between Ramsay and Ash at any given point past like 20% of the book are genuinely funny. I love Ramsay's sense of humor.

Anyways, that's all for this book! I am going to curl up in a ball and cry while I purchase a physical copy to annotate and put on my recommendations shelf. This is a story that I will be thinking about years down the line, I just know it. Ash is a part of my soul now, and I can't wait to see what he does next.

Infinity Alchemist follows Ash, a secret alchemist, teaming up with Ramsay to find the powerful Book of Source. Their quest for love and power faces dangers, including Ash's estranged father.

Loved the queer representation in this one. Didn’t love the pacing.

I loved the Alchemy tiers in this magic system. That all creatures use level 1 magic to just breathe and live was interesting, and made it feel fun to also use this magic myself :)
Then higher level magics are illegal unless you have a license, seemed so realistic compared to our own world and laws based on say a doctor needing a license to practice.

The story was interesting, seeing Ash, a self taught alchemist work through his own journey in this crazy world was exciting! A fun read for sure!

alchemy, victorian england and phenomenal queer rep, what more is there to love! I was pleasantly suprised by this book, as it wasn't initially on my radar. But after having read it, i can truly say that I really enjoyed it. The characters are each engaging, and i loved the dynamic between our main duo.

I will say the plot twist was a tad expected, but overall, i still enjoyed all that lead up to it, and how the story concluded.

Thanks to Tor Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

Infinity Alchemist is the start of a YA fantasy series that was an entertaining read with some of the best LBGTQ and polyamory rep that I have read in a long time. There are dystopian elements with a system of houses that control all aspects of society with those at the top able to access and use alchemy freely while others are prevented from attending the academy that teaches and licenses alchemists. There is conflict between some houses that wish to halt all use of alchemy while others secretly search for an all-powerful book so they can order society how they wish. While the characters are at school for part of the story the story quickly expands beyond the school setting.

I really enjoyed the world of the houses and how each person had different affinities for different types of alchemy and how it is used. Ash, Ramsay and Callum come from different strata of society but find that they have much in common and I enjoyed the growth of their relationships. There are a few uneven sections of pacing although overall the pacing is quick and I never felt bogged down in the story. As a young protagonist Ash does wallow a bit in his disadvantages but as the action ramped up that lessened. I liked how love story grew throughout and it will be interesting to see what challenges and changes are in store for them in the next book. Recommend this for YA fantasy fans who want romance woven in with all the terrific magic.

1.5
Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic and three alchemist find themselves on a quest for true power. While the numerous irrational anger and repeated emotional outbursts and fighting are an accurate reflection of angsty teenagers in real life, unfortunately their personalities really didn’t work for me in this book, especially since there was no character growth for any of the characters. It just made quite a stressful reading experience for me, especially since the narrator leaned into the petulance of the MC. Furthermore, I have discovered that it’s a personal boundary of mine that I don’t ever want to read light/implied BDSM in YA books even if the rest of the sex scene is fade to black. And there was quite a number of sex scenes in this too, and I personally prefer otherwise in YA books. The exploration on queerness, gender, sexuality, and discussions on dysphoria were the highlights in this for me.
(+) Black trans author; QPOC trans, genderfluid, polyamorous MCs, NB narrator

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Teen for the pre-release copy of this novel. Below you'll find my honest review.

This novel had a bunch of good things:

It knocks representation out of the park - trans, non-binary, polyamory, etc are all well represented in this novel in a respectful, teen-friendly way.

It has an interesting magic system and House hierarchy.

It also had some serious downsides:

The non-binary representation gets a little confusing as the pronouns change randomly from chapter to chapter. It pulled me out of the story a bit as I would have to figure out which "he" was being referenced at the time. So it's less a problem with the non-binary and more a problem with clarity from the author.

The whole point of the novel was to chase the Book, but then the Book wasn't even a real important thing at the end, and the story's conclusion was a bit of a mess. And honestly, the magic system didn't have rules or structure enough to really understand how it all actually worked.

Overall, lots of potential, but lacking in some of the execution.

My buddy reader DNF'ed and honestly, I should've done the same smh.

I'll start with the positives.

I loved the queer rep in this! We have a trans MMC, a genderfluid MC, and a pan MMC (not quite sure if he's technically pan, but he definitely leans that way). It's done in a way that it feels like it's a fact of life in this world. (Although I don't think there were queer side characters, which was kinda strange.) Ash talks about his binders, Ramsay switches genders with every new chapter, and Callum doesn't question his attraction to both Ramsay and Ash.

Very well done!

And on to why I didn't like this arc...

If you're a seasoned fantasy fan, this probably isn't for you because everything is predictable and there's a lot of hand holding.

One of my mutuals on bookstagram said that this arc doesn't know what it wants to be, and I definitely agree with them. At times, the writing and the MMC's actions (and reactions) read like Middle Grade, but the themes are definitely YA. Sometimes it feels like young YA when it wants to be older YA. I don't know. It was a mess.

The MMC, Ash, is 18, but the way he acts feels very early high school, or even younger. He starts pointless arguments with everyone, even if the other character wasn't trying to argue with him. Even when someone would try to help him, he gets weirdly combative. His immaturity made it hard to relate. I understand being combative in some situations (especially when things are out of your control), but this was excessive.

The storyline itself (teens on a quest for a magic item while an evil sorcerer/government is after them) hit all the story beats (hero's journey, 3 act structure, etc.). There aren't really any surprise twists that kept me on my toes. Maybe I've read too many fantasy novels, but it's basically What You See Is What You Get. Maybe a younger reader might appreciate this more than I did. Which ties back to the whole "this is YA but reads like MG" thing I brought up earlier.

The magic system feels very Marvel, meaning that anything goes. There are skill levels, but lbr here, I wasn't surprised when I learned that the MMC is basically overpowered. This is a YA fantasy, after all.

I'm not sure how I feel about the polyamory rep. I'm not really a big romance fan in general, so being in a romantic triad is a nightmare for me lol

Stephanie mentioned that it felt like a romantasy at times, which I have to agree with. The main plotline is supposed to be high stakes, but it starts to take a backseat to the romance near the last third of the book.

Because of that, it felt like the author had to wrap up the story hastily to the point where the climax felt anticlimactic because everything happened so quickly.

And even without any spoilers, I'm pretty sure you can guess the ending. Like I said, there aren't really any surprise twists.

Honestly, I'd rather read a novel about Ramsay Thorne's parents. Talk about morally grey turned evil!

Overall, while this might not be for me, this could be a good starter fantasy novel for someone looking for a story that's very inclusive and diverse with queer BIPOC characters.

Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for this arc.

I was very excited to check this out, given it’s a combination of a lot of things I love in books, plus having a positive experience reading from the author before, I was excited to see what their work was like with a fantasy setting! Thank you so much to Tor and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC for review purposes.

This book is a mixed bag in terms of how engaged I was with it. I think the beginning is a little boring, and I felt I did get thrown a lot of concepts that weren’t super relevant by the end of the book. This really doesn’t commit to the Dark Academia aesthetic whole-heartedly, so people picking it up to check another book in that category off their list will be disappointed.

Ramsay was a really interesting character on the gender front, since I’d never read from a bi-gender MC before. I think the elements of alchemy and a person’s energy projection showcasing their gender identity was a cool addition.

Callum is definitely my favorite character; we love a soft strong boy forced to mask his true self by his abusive family. He and Ash have more enjoyable banter, and I can get why Ash was attracted to him.

Ash and Ramsay’s romance was a little thin, and at first hinged on a trope of them having their minds connected and seeing snippets of their past to make them empathetic to the other person and develop closeness. I think the real meat came after they learned more about Ramsay’s parents. Plus some discussion of their individual goals and deep-felt emotions that corrected some initial trepidation I had in connecting to either of them early on. And after the 30% mark when the duo is separated, the addition of Callum really helped round out the story and took it in a direction I hadn’t anticipated and was pleasantly surprised by!

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Ash and his father, and the final confrontation went hard. Definitely one of the most engaging and exciting parts of the book.
Overall, while there were some parts that weren’t that engaging, when the scene worked well, it REALLY worked well for me, and I overall enjoyed my time reading this.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

The book had a pretty interesting story... but then had several love tropes which were meh to me. The main character was annoying and immature throughout, to an unbelievable degree. Even so, I would have given a higher score if it weren't for the resolution. Just seemed too easy.

i love this. i love everything about it. i love the worldbuilding and the magic system (alchemy! a fictional victorian england!) i love the queer rep (we love when *****Spoilers*****). i need kacen callender to write ya fantasy. absolutely need it.