i just finished reading infinity alchemist by kacen callendar and boy oh boy, i loved this book, i think it has high potential to become a new big popular series, it just came out in february but i saw a lot of two star reviews on goodreads, mostly from people who flat out state that they didnt finish the book (which, for me, means you dont get an opinion on it) and as someone who actually did read the whole thing, i very much recommend it,
basically everyone is capable of alchemy on some level but some are better then others and in order to do the cool stuff, you need a license, but its a rigged system, so ash learns in secret instead, he meets ramsey, a deal is struck, hijinks ensue, theres trouble and danger, some people die, some people are saved, callum is a steady hand, and the book ends leaving you wondering
its what i feel to be a true young adult book, touching on adult themes without being explict, ie fade to black moments, or dancing around it, ie velvet wrapped steel,
theres a lot of good representation in the book between race, sexuality, and gender and none of it felt forced or shoved in my face, i did know it was likely polyam going in and i fear that mightve been a sort of turn off for some people
a lot of complaints i saw were about pacing issues and how it wrapped up too easily and i think thats quickly dissolved when you know theres a second book in the works because yes the big bad was dealt with, crisis averted, etc. but you get that bigger, badder vibe at the end, hinting at the next book i assume, so, not everything Did wrap up easily,
the magic system was fairly easy to follow but i do wish we had spent more time with ash learning because i thought it was interesting but i also think it would help readers understand some things more
there was a map and a list of the houses and what they do, ie guards vs merchants, but, like above, i wish there was also a list of the alchemy tiers because all i mainly caught about the tier system was the higher the level, the harder the magic and the more regulated it gets and then that ash can do tier four no problem, i want to know how many tiers there are and what exactly is in each one
all in all, this was not a perfect book but it was still a very good one, and, from my understanding, the authors introduction to ya fantasy, id give it a strong 9.8/10 because there are definitely things missing that i feel wouldnt strengthened the story but as far as a first book goes, regardless of genre introduction, i think it did very well, and ive read far worse books with far higher goodreads scores
mildly unimportant but i did see similarities between ash woods and simon snow which i thought were cool, kacen mightve taken inspiration (i truly have no idea) and that might bother some people but it was still fun for me to see
