Release & Review - Infinity (The Infinity Division, #1) by Jus Accardo

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Infinity
(The Infinity Division #1)

Author: Jus Accardo

Category/Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi
Publication Date: November 1st, 2016

There are three things Kori knows for sure about her life:

One: Her army general dad is insanely overprotective.

Two: The guy he sent to watch her, Cade, is way too good-looking.

Three: Everything she knew was a lie.

Now there are three things Kori never knew about her life:

One: There’s a device that allows her to jump dimensions.

Two: Cade’s got a lethal secret.

Three: Someone wants her dead.

Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon 

3.0 “Jumping Dimensions” Stars

ARC via NetGalley

Thank you, Entangled Teen.

I was really looking forward to this book ever since I saw that beautiful cover and read the blurb a while ago. It was such a cool premise with promises of great adventures and hot romance. While it had some of that, the execution wasn’t what I was hoping for.

Infinity is the story of Kori, the teenage daughter of a US General who lost her mother and is dealing with her grief and loneliness by focusing on art. Kori is no stranger to trouble, but things get a little out of hand when two young, hot strangers (Cade and Noah) show up at her door to babysit her while her father is away. With them comes a threat to Kori’s life in the form of Dylan, the book’s villain. These three guys have something in common—they’ve all met a different version of Kori in the past (many versions, in fact) because they jump dimensions, going from Earth to Earth. Cool, right?

The whole thing could’ve been even cooler, if it had been told in a different manner. Unfortunately, the narrative required a suspension of disbelief that went beyond what I’d usually accept for a book in this genre.

I can’t complain too much about Kori because, while her strong voice could become too much at times, she was the most sensible person in the book. While it seemed like Noah and Cade had been sent to protect her (which also didn’t make that much sense since her father was a general who could’ve gotten highly trained soldiers to protect her), those two often watched as Kori fought to stay safe and alive.

The whole idea behind Cade and Noah’s presence in “our Earth” was their link to Dylan, the “bad guy”, but I honestly don’t think it worked in their favour. Instead of predicting Dylan’s moves because they supposedly knew him better than anyone else, those guys were always a step behind Dylan. So why had they been sent after him? What was the purpose of letting two untrained teenagers hunt a crazy guy across dimensions? What was the purpose of leaving Kori in their care? I just didn’t get it.

I also didn’t get Dylan and his motives. Sure a motive was provided to explain why he went insane and started hunting and killing people across dimensions, but was it enough? I can’t say it was. Or he wasn’t portrayed/developed as well as he should’ve in order to make that motive enough. He just seemed like a lunatic, if you ask me.

It didn’t help that Dylan seemed smarter, stronger, faster and anything “more” than anyone else, even though it made no sense that he’d be all that. There were so many chances to take him down, but yet no one did. No one seemed strong enough and, in many situations, no one even tried (except Kori). Why would Noah and Cade often stand there and just watch as Dylan assaulted Kori or went on and on about how he’d ruin all their lives? Then they’d be “oh, he escaped, what do we do now?” I mean... no, please, no. Even Kori’s father, a freaking general, acted as if Dylan was this super powerful person, which he wasn’t. Again, just a lunatic with an unjustified thirst for revenge.

Another thing that bothered me was the fact that Dylan had his chance to take Kori when they first met, but he just walked away? Why was that? Was it because he wanted Cade to meet her first before he tried to kill her? Maybe? I’m not sure.

Last but not least, where was all the dimension jumping? I understand this was the first book in the series, but I wish they’d been a little more of the element that made this story unique in this one, instead of saving it all for the next.

While I had a lot of problems with the execution, as you can see, I enjoyed most of the relationships and I see potential in this story.

Kori was a strong main character. I had a few problems with her in the beginning–she came across as self-centred a little in the first couple chapters—but she got better when things started to happen. She wasn’t a girl in need of saving, even though Dylan was trying to kill her the entire time, because she got things done herself. I admire that.

Cade had this mysterious vibe to him that appealed to me, and Noah was a character with tons of promise. I loved how Noah was open and honest about his friendship with Cade, and how he grew close to Kori toward the end.

As to the romance, Entangled Teen usually doesn’t disappoint me in that segment. Cade and Kori had some emotional moments, and a lot of steamy ones. The thing keeping them apart (Cade's past and how it related to Kori and made her feel like he wasn't in it for her, but because he didn't want to let go of someone else) felt real enough and justified Kori's reluctance. I only wished they had taken their time, you know? It started to feel a lot like insta-love, and that will often hurt the romance. But I did like the "we're meant to be" vibe. I usually do.

So while Infinity wasn’t perfect, it was a fast read with interesting concept and good relationships. It has potential to get better if the author puts more focus on the motives behind the character's actions and less on writing action-packed scenes after scenes.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.