Infinity (Chronicles of Nick 01) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

At fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is the stuff of legends. . .until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.

Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.

But before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh eating zombies. And he’s next on the menu.

As if starting high school isn't hard enough. . .now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal, and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that?

Warning: Spoilers

Infinity is Sherrilyn Kenyon’s first YA novel. It takes place in the familiar Dark Hunter universe. I’d forgotten it was coming out until I saw in the store. That doesn’t say a lot for how much I was looking forward to it. Despite that, I finished it in short order, with only a very few unavoidable pauses in between reading sessions.

From the other Dark Hunter books, I knew Nick as a young man, in his early 20’s or thereabouts. In this, like the book summery says, he is 14 and going to a private high school on a scholarship. He worries about bullies, about homework and constantly checks out girls. I wouldn’t say it is necessary to be familiar with the Dark Hunter universe before reading this, but it would be helpful. Nick discovers that world as he goes on and sometimes it is even explained. Not all that often though and someone unfamiliar with the Dark Hunter world might find it confusing. Also, sometimes the transitions between adult Nick and 14 year old Nick were a little jarring.

All in all, Infinity is a pretty good read. I am tempted to say it is too short because of how quickly I finished it, but it feels complete and not really lacking in anyway. The part I liked best was a scene with the adult Nick reflecting on what had gone wrong in his life. Not too much action, but good in other ways. Action-wise, the fight at the end was pretty damn good.

Grade: B

Out of Mind by Stella Cameron

Willow Millet longs to deny her family's exceptional gifts—paranormal talents known to few, shared by even fewer. Benedict Fortune is one such—a connection that should have strengthened the undeniable bond between him and Willow. But her self-doubt has driven them apart.

Married instead to her business, Willow's concierge we-can-do-anything service is thriving until it is hit by a string of bizarre and fatal accidents—every victim a client. Now her livelihood depends on two enigmatic socialites and their notoriously decadent parties. In this anything-goes atmosphere, Willow and Ben are thrown together again and their need for each other is as strong as ever, but they are challenged at every turn….

For dark forces are stalking Willow—coveting her gift as a means of cheating death…and ruling New Orleans forever.

When I first got Out of Mind, I thought it was a mystery but it is really a paranormal romance, the second in the Court of Angels series. I have not the read the first or anything else by this author, and I don’t think I am going to.

Out of Mind’s premise is good and should have been interesting. I had a hard time getting into it at first; the beginning was a little chaotic and disjointed. Towards the middle it smoothed out and I wanted to know what would happen next. But then in the last part, Out of Mind became a little scattered again. Also, the character was in denial for a large part of the book and after a while that was just annoying. Overall it was mixed and so at times I was skimming rather than reading.

I did like was the idea of bats. I mean, you hear bats in paranormal romance, you think vampires. At least I do. So when demons appeared instead, that was interesting to me. The prologue was a good hook. Someone gets killed and later when you hear talk of pinpricks and beaks, you just think back to that, even if the characters themselves are clueless. 

I think if you don’t care how the book is sometimes a little scattered, Out of Mind might be a good read. As for me, I wasn’t terribly impressed and I am not going to follow this series. I have not read the first in the series and that might color my view a bit.

Grade: D+

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

From the writer's website: Supernatural fantasy has a new antihero.Life sucks, and then you die. Or, if you’re James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.

Now Stark’s back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you’d expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future. Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse.

Darkly twisted, irreverent, and completely hilarious, Sandman Slim is the breakthrough novel by an acclaimed author.

Richard Kadrey is a new writer for me, though he has other novels out. Sandman Slim is urban fantasy, but one involving demons and hell and heaven and angels instead of the near obligatory vampire and werewolves. Not that demons and angels don’t show up with some regularity in urban fantasy. ;)

Sandman Slim is a quick, enjoyable read. The main character’s voice is strong and consistent. He is an assassin, but a remarkably sympathetic one. He starts off wanting revenge because his old coven sacrificed him and sent him to hell. In the end, he saves the world. He does get his revenge along the way.

Despite all that, there are a few things I didn’t like about Sandman Slim. In the beginning (and a few other places), I found the dialog to be less than convincing. It wasn’t the high level of curse words, though some of that as well because sometimes I got the feeling the curses were there just to show how tough the characters were. But something was just off in a lot of the dialog. Not all of them, but a few here and there.

The other thing I didn’t like all that much was that towards the end the scenes felt disjointed. Like one scene ended, the other began and it felt like they were not connected even though I knew they were. If that makes sense.

The thing that stands out the most for me is the imagery he uses. A lot of the way he describes things is just hilarious.

Grade: C+