Review: Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Chronicles of Nick #1
Genre: Paranormal
Format: Audiobook
Released May 25, 2010 by Macmillan Audio
Originally released by St Martin's Griffin
More about the author: Website // Goodreads Author Page
Goodreads // Amazon UK 

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.
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? 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. - Summary from Goodreads. 

I didn't know much about this book series before I checked out the audiobook from my library. I'd heard that it was a popular series, but I didn't even know what kind of paranormal characters are in it! From the very beginning, it was clear that Kenyon has written a unique urban paranormal world where different types of paranormal collide. As the story went on, the reader is introduced to more and more paranormal beings and twisting plotlines and there is never a moment without action.

I felt that at about halfway through the book, there was just too much going on. Not that it was difficult to keep up on, I just thought that Greek gods, demons, vampires, zombies, werewolves and more in a single book was just really overwhelming. It felt really clunky and unnatural to introduce one thing after another. Fewer paranormal things in this book would have made it much more sleek.

This story's real saving grace was that the characters are hilarious. I thought that Nick was hilariously and realistically snarky for a young teen boy and I would read more books just for this fabulous protagonist. The supporting characters all added action and hilarious jibes, especially Bubba and Mark, the town weirdos who seem to be crazy paranormal experts and backwoods zombie hunters.

Overall, this book series is one that I would recommend to young teens. This series would be a good transition from Middle Grade to Young Adult. It is very well written, I just would prefer to not have as many things going on as there were. Hopefully as the series goes on, things will make sense and blend into a seamless action-packed paranormal series!

*Audio Review*: Listening to this book on audio was just fantastic. The pacing and narrator were simply spot on. Listening to the narrator do the voice of Nick's tiny Louisianan mama was hilarious! Each character had a clear personality and voice and were really entertaining. I'd definitely say that the experience of the book is enhanced by the audiobook. Recommended!