Review: Infamous

Title:  Infamous
Series:  Chronicles of Nick #3
Author:  Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin
Pages:  480
Format:  Hardcover

Summary:  Go to school. Get good grades. Stay out of trouble. That’s the mandate for most kids. But Nick Gautier isn’t the average teenager. He’s a boy with a destiny not even he fully understands. And his first mandate is to stay alive while everyone, even his own father, tries to kill him.
He’s learned to annihilate zombies and raise the dead, divination and clairvoyance, so why is learning to drive and keep a girlfriend so dang hard? But that isn’t the primary skill he has to master. Survival is.
And in order to survive, his next lesson makes all the others pale in comparison. He is on the brink of becoming either the greatest hero mankind has ever known, or he’ll be the one who ends the world. With enemies new and old gathering forces, he will have to call on every part of himself to fight or he’ll lose everyone he cares about. Even himself.

My Review:   Like the two books before it, Infamous was amazing.  

It started off right where Invincible  left off which was nice.  It wasn't a challenge to fully immerse myself back into Nick's world.  A world which, despite all of its terrifying qualities, has completely ensnared me.  I love the world Sherrilyn has built.  Everthing is so magical and dark and seductive.  And still, I feel right at home in it because of how it's written.  Nick's voice is so light and funny most of the time that when he sat down and said something meaningful and deep, it really sunk in.  I loved seeing these moments with Nick.  It showed what a passionate and thoughful person he is, underneath all that entertaining sarcasm and humor.  

Nick wasn't the only character in this book that showed a different side of themselves.  Characters like Caleb and Kody (who are quickly becoming Nick's best friends) went through a lot of development.  With Caleb, we saw how he wasn't all bad.  He's not just a demon hired to look after Nick.  He's a good dude who made some mistakes.  And he really cares about Nick.  I adored reading parts with them together.  

We also got a more in depth look at Kody, Nick's girlfriend.  It was fun trying to unravel the mystery of what she is.  We see that she isn't perfect and that, despite her better judgement, she is really falling for Nick.  I also really enjoyed the parts where we were reading from her POV.  It gave us a chance to experience how others see Nick.  

The characters and world building weren't the only good things in this book.  The plot was spectacular.  Through every twist and turn, my eyes were completely glued to the pages.  We discovered so much and learned a lot about characters who had been little more than a threat and a mystery to us before.  The action was great and I loved how fast paced the book was.  I couldn't put it down for a second and when I had to, all I could do was think about what would happen next.  

My only problem with this entire book was Nick's mom.  I absolutely cannot stand that woman now.  She was terrible to Nick and I really started to hate her for the was she treated him.  He breathes the wrong way and she's there screaming at him in front of everyone.  Or he tells her how he's feeling and she shuts him out.  I really felt like while Cherise (his mom) may have given birth to him, he had raised her.  He had more patience than she did, he was able to suck up his pride and say sorry, and he was willing to hear her side rather than just automatically thinking the worse.  I really hope she begins to change in the next book.  I'm tired of having her beat up on Nick.  

As always, this book had a magical world, well developed characters, and a fast paced, heart-racing plot.  I will eagerly be awaiting the next book, Inferno.    

Five Cards