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Infinity Alchemist #1
Infinity Alchemist
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND INDIE BESTSELLER!
Infinity Alchemist is a spellbinding fantasy novel about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power.
With their signature "prowess" (FIYAH) and "unbridled creativity" (New York Times Book Review), acclaimed author Kacen Callender turns their formidable skill to young adult fantasy for the first time.
For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime.
Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic―so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret.
When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested―but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.
As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists―Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.
Featuring trans, queer, and polyamorous characters of color, Infinity Alchemist is the hugely anticipated young adult fantasy debut from the extraordinary author of Felix Ever After, King and the Dragonflies, Queen of the Conquered and more.
"Spellbinding." ―AIDEN THOMAS • "Thrilling." ―ELANA K. ARNOLD • "A blast of heart-racing magic." ―ANDREW JOSEPH WHITE • "Expands the possibilities of YA fantasy." ―A. R. CAPETTA
Most Anticiptated from Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, Book Riot, Bookpage, The Nerd Daily, and more!
Infinity Alchemist is a spellbinding fantasy novel about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power.
With their signature "prowess" (FIYAH) and "unbridled creativity" (New York Times Book Review), acclaimed author Kacen Callender turns their formidable skill to young adult fantasy for the first time.
For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime.
Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic―so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret.
When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested―but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.
As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists―Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.
Featuring trans, queer, and polyamorous characters of color, Infinity Alchemist is the hugely anticipated young adult fantasy debut from the extraordinary author of Felix Ever After, King and the Dragonflies, Queen of the Conquered and more.
"Spellbinding." ―AIDEN THOMAS • "Thrilling." ―ELANA K. ARNOLD • "A blast of heart-racing magic." ―ANDREW JOSEPH WHITE • "Expands the possibilities of YA fantasy." ―A. R. CAPETTA
Most Anticiptated from Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, Book Riot, Bookpage, The Nerd Daily, and more!
400 pages, Paperback
First published February 6, 2024
About the author
Kacen Callender
19 books2,641 followersKacen Callender is a Saint Thomian author of children's fiction and fantasy, best known for their Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award-winning middle grade debut Hurricane Child. Their fantasy novel, Queen of the Conquered, is the 2020 winner of the World Fantasy Award and King and the Dragonflies won the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Callender is Black, queer, trans, and uses they/them and he/him pronouns. Callender debuted their new name when announcing their next young adult novel Felix Ever After in May 2019.
Callender is Black, queer, trans, and uses they/them and he/him pronouns. Callender debuted their new name when announcing their next young adult novel Felix Ever After in May 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 902 reviews
February 2, 2024
i finished this right on time, so happy release day❣️
i had a lot of fun reading this book, Infinity Alchemist reminded me how much i still enjoy YA fantasy. the magic in this world (alchemy) is separated into tiers and the main source of the magic is pulled from the body’s energy. the main character is Ash, who is sent on a quest to find a magical book that holds immense power. there’s some side characters that play a big role too: Ramsay, Callum and Marlowe specifically. i adored the romance in here cause it was absolutely the cutest thing on this damn planet and i really appreciated the open communication (due to cinnamon roll Callum mainly)🥹🧸. the characters are all flawed and although they can be a bit frustrating at times, i still personally felt like it made sense considering their ages and the situations they’re all in. the pacing isn’t always the best, but i still managed to be entertained and i would definitely be open to reading future sequels.
“Energy is infinite, and love is energy, so love has the potential to be infinite too.”
⇉ special mention for all the rep: Ash is trans, Ramsay changes gender and pronouns on a regular chapter to chapter basis, there’s a polyamorous relationship and the author is black, queer and also trans. 🌈🖤✨
thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the arc, all opinions are my own.
i had a lot of fun reading this book, Infinity Alchemist reminded me how much i still enjoy YA fantasy. the magic in this world (alchemy) is separated into tiers and the main source of the magic is pulled from the body’s energy. the main character is Ash, who is sent on a quest to find a magical book that holds immense power. there’s some side characters that play a big role too: Ramsay, Callum and Marlowe specifically. i adored the romance in here cause it was absolutely the cutest thing on this damn planet and i really appreciated the open communication (due to cinnamon roll Callum mainly)🥹🧸. the characters are all flawed and although they can be a bit frustrating at times, i still personally felt like it made sense considering their ages and the situations they’re all in. the pacing isn’t always the best, but i still managed to be entertained and i would definitely be open to reading future sequels.
“Energy is infinite, and love is energy, so love has the potential to be infinite too.”
⇉ special mention for all the rep: Ash is trans, Ramsay changes gender and pronouns on a regular chapter to chapter basis, there’s a polyamorous relationship and the author is black, queer and also trans. 🌈🖤✨
thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the arc, all opinions are my own.
July 19, 2023
“We’re all made of energy” Ash said quickly. “We all practice alchemy naturally, with every breath and every thought and emotion. To say that only a conveniently wealthy few can legally become alchemists is bullshit.”
Rating: 2/5 stars
I feel like I’ve cycled through all 5 stages of grief, before finally landing on acceptance that I didn’t like this book… With its great concept and a powerhouse of an author behind it, Infinity Alchemist was one of my most anticipated books of 2024, but the final result was something that I couldn’t enjoy, despite my best efforts…
Many of Callender’s strengths that made me love their contemporary work in the past are present here as well, but unfortunately, I just feel like their talent doesn’t translate too well to the cornerstones of the fantasy genre.
The story follows Ash, a 19-year-old trans-boy who works as an assistant groundskeeper at Lancaster, a magical academy where only the most elite are permitted to study Alchemy. Although Alchemy is innate in some individuals, its practice is highly regulated and only allowed with a license, making it impossible for the less-privileged of society to get a foothold in.
Ash, knowing his background will exclude him from a place at the academy, has been practicing alchemy in secret. When one day, he crossed paths with Ramsay, a talented apprentice with secrets of their own, the two join forces in a quest for a powerful alchemical text, known as The Book of Source. Their journey will change their lives, and potentially the future of alchemy forever.
What I loved:
Callender is know for their amazing LGBTQ+ writing, and the representation in Infinity Alchemist is just as good as you’d expect from them. We have a trans-male protagonist, a genderfluid protagonist (Ramsay, who changes gender-expression and pronouns on a chapter by chapter basis), and a polyamorous relationship that wonderfully subverts the tropes of the love triangle so overdone in YA-fantasy. All of these elements are just allowed to be present on page and are never made into a “big deal”, or larger message. I personally love that form of representation, and wish we’d have more of that. I do have to say that Ramsay’s changing of pronouns got in the way of readability in some chapters, and will bother some readers. There are instances where it can become confusing to have one of the characters change pronoun midway through a paragraph. Especially in the case of multiple male characters, it’s often not clear if the “he/him” the text refers to is aimed at Ramsay or other male characters. Personally, I felt it was an issue of the writing, not the pronouns themselves, but it’s worth a mention.
I also loved the discussion the book brought up about elitism and privilege in the context of academia. That, as well as the other messages about polarization, acceptance and more, were very powerful and resonated with me.
In a contemporary novel, a compelling cast and strong message might have been enough to carry a novel. That doesn’t work for a 400+ page piece of fantasy, which is where Infinity Alchemist takes a tumble.
What I didn’t love:
Carrying the novels ideas, is a very weak plot, hampered even further with glaring pacing issues. The story basically boils down to a McGuffin-chase, that stretches out too long and is ultimately wrapped up far too fast and easy to be satisfactory. I cannot stress these pacing issues enough. Without hyperbole, I wanted to DNF this book every single time I put it down for a break. I would’ve done so too, had this not been a review copy. I simply couldn’t get invested in the story, for multiple reasons; most prominently, the characters.
I’m okay with an unlikable or flawed main character, but I found Ash to be insufferable. He’s quick to anger, selfish and immature, which I can all excuse since he’s supposed to be a teenager. What I can’t excuse is his self-pitying and often hypocritical attitude towards those who he sees as “more privileged”. He demonizes the elite for thinking they’re better than others, whilst simultaneously kicking down at all the scholars for “being book-smart” and “only learning facts”, whilst his self-taught alchemy is “the real, practical thing”. On several occasions, he actually mocks Ramsay for studying for her tests and learning within the traditional education system, and it comes off as ignorant and disrespectful.
Your background should never exclude you from an education, but on the other hand “being self-taught” doesn’t put you above those who did receive an education. Your background also doesn’t exclude you from putting in the work, and the only examples the author provides us (unintentionally!) are of Ash not doing that.
Granted, Ash does go through some character-development, but much of it happens past the 90% mark, and feels very sudden and unearned, lacking the proper build-up. The same goes for the (romantic) relationships; the characters don’t spend enough (page-)time together for me to believe their strong emotional connection, or be invested in them. It doesn’t help either that emotional beats (for example, a characters traumatic backstory) are consistently told, not shown.
Apart from the characters, the world wasn’t developed enough either for me to fully feel invested. We’re told that Alchemy has shaped society in many ways, but we never see it’s implications for the larger world outside the school-walls. We’re told that The Book of Source is almost akin to a Holy Grail, and yet we only encounter about a handful of alchemists looking for it… There’s mention of the many Houses, but none of them actually feel distinct or developed beyond a house-name…
The framework is there, but it needed so much more development to work. Which is a shame, considering the book already feels overly-long and bloated as is.
Overall, I really wanted to love this authors debut in the fantasy genre, but the quality simply wasn’t there for me. I highly recommend their contemporary works (King and the Dragonflies, Hurricane Child and Felix Ever After), but suggest you skip this one…
Many thanks to Faber & Faber for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Rating: 2/5 stars
I feel like I’ve cycled through all 5 stages of grief, before finally landing on acceptance that I didn’t like this book… With its great concept and a powerhouse of an author behind it, Infinity Alchemist was one of my most anticipated books of 2024, but the final result was something that I couldn’t enjoy, despite my best efforts…
Many of Callender’s strengths that made me love their contemporary work in the past are present here as well, but unfortunately, I just feel like their talent doesn’t translate too well to the cornerstones of the fantasy genre.
The story follows Ash, a 19-year-old trans-boy who works as an assistant groundskeeper at Lancaster, a magical academy where only the most elite are permitted to study Alchemy. Although Alchemy is innate in some individuals, its practice is highly regulated and only allowed with a license, making it impossible for the less-privileged of society to get a foothold in.
Ash, knowing his background will exclude him from a place at the academy, has been practicing alchemy in secret. When one day, he crossed paths with Ramsay, a talented apprentice with secrets of their own, the two join forces in a quest for a powerful alchemical text, known as The Book of Source. Their journey will change their lives, and potentially the future of alchemy forever.
What I loved:
Callender is know for their amazing LGBTQ+ writing, and the representation in Infinity Alchemist is just as good as you’d expect from them. We have a trans-male protagonist, a genderfluid protagonist (Ramsay, who changes gender-expression and pronouns on a chapter by chapter basis), and a polyamorous relationship that wonderfully subverts the tropes of the love triangle so overdone in YA-fantasy. All of these elements are just allowed to be present on page and are never made into a “big deal”, or larger message. I personally love that form of representation, and wish we’d have more of that. I do have to say that Ramsay’s changing of pronouns got in the way of readability in some chapters, and will bother some readers. There are instances where it can become confusing to have one of the characters change pronoun midway through a paragraph. Especially in the case of multiple male characters, it’s often not clear if the “he/him” the text refers to is aimed at Ramsay or other male characters. Personally, I felt it was an issue of the writing, not the pronouns themselves, but it’s worth a mention.
I also loved the discussion the book brought up about elitism and privilege in the context of academia. That, as well as the other messages about polarization, acceptance and more, were very powerful and resonated with me.
In a contemporary novel, a compelling cast and strong message might have been enough to carry a novel. That doesn’t work for a 400+ page piece of fantasy, which is where Infinity Alchemist takes a tumble.
What I didn’t love:
Carrying the novels ideas, is a very weak plot, hampered even further with glaring pacing issues. The story basically boils down to a McGuffin-chase, that stretches out too long and is ultimately wrapped up far too fast and easy to be satisfactory. I cannot stress these pacing issues enough. Without hyperbole, I wanted to DNF this book every single time I put it down for a break. I would’ve done so too, had this not been a review copy. I simply couldn’t get invested in the story, for multiple reasons; most prominently, the characters.
I’m okay with an unlikable or flawed main character, but I found Ash to be insufferable. He’s quick to anger, selfish and immature, which I can all excuse since he’s supposed to be a teenager. What I can’t excuse is his self-pitying and often hypocritical attitude towards those who he sees as “more privileged”. He demonizes the elite for thinking they’re better than others, whilst simultaneously kicking down at all the scholars for “being book-smart” and “only learning facts”, whilst his self-taught alchemy is “the real, practical thing”. On several occasions, he actually mocks Ramsay for studying for her tests and learning within the traditional education system, and it comes off as ignorant and disrespectful.
Your background should never exclude you from an education, but on the other hand “being self-taught” doesn’t put you above those who did receive an education. Your background also doesn’t exclude you from putting in the work, and the only examples the author provides us (unintentionally!) are of Ash not doing that.
Granted, Ash does go through some character-development, but much of it happens past the 90% mark, and feels very sudden and unearned, lacking the proper build-up. The same goes for the (romantic) relationships; the characters don’t spend enough (page-)time together for me to believe their strong emotional connection, or be invested in them. It doesn’t help either that emotional beats (for example, a characters traumatic backstory) are consistently told, not shown.
Apart from the characters, the world wasn’t developed enough either for me to fully feel invested. We’re told that Alchemy has shaped society in many ways, but we never see it’s implications for the larger world outside the school-walls. We’re told that The Book of Source is almost akin to a Holy Grail, and yet we only encounter about a handful of alchemists looking for it… There’s mention of the many Houses, but none of them actually feel distinct or developed beyond a house-name…
The framework is there, but it needed so much more development to work. Which is a shame, considering the book already feels overly-long and bloated as is.
Overall, I really wanted to love this authors debut in the fantasy genre, but the quality simply wasn’t there for me. I highly recommend their contemporary works (King and the Dragonflies, Hurricane Child and Felix Ever After), but suggest you skip this one…
Many thanks to Faber & Faber for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
July 12, 2024
Aww this really wasn’t the book to pick up after Once upon a broken heart. This is sadly on me.
—-•
The tiny font is making me want to toss it out the window right now lol. I dislike when something makes me have to pick up my glasses 🙃
—-•
The tiny font is making me want to toss it out the window right now lol. I dislike when something makes me have to pick up my glasses 🙃
January 6, 2024
If you're looking for a YA fantasy romance with trans characters and polyamory, Infinity Alchemist is worth checking out. It does read very YA- complete with an intensely emotional and often angry main character who makes some stupid decisions. But I think it makes sense for the intended audience, and I'll remind fellow adult readers that this isn't uncommon when your pre-frontal cortex is not yet fully developed and your body is flooded with hormones.
I liked the way that gender, sexuality, and love were handled and while there is plenty of injustice in the world, gender identity is not included in that. There is a trans boy main character, and a gender fluid character who literally changes gendered presentation and all of that is no big deal. Is there oppression and hatred? Absolutely, but not about gender or sexuality. The fantasy world is a fun one. It's a little different from our own with magic (alchemy) and what amounts to a segregated class system where only the wealthy and powerful are typically granted entrance to study alchemy and then licenses to practice it.
Not a perfect book, but one that is probably going to be somebody's new favorite thing and one that I enjoyed. The audio narration is excellent. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
I liked the way that gender, sexuality, and love were handled and while there is plenty of injustice in the world, gender identity is not included in that. There is a trans boy main character, and a gender fluid character who literally changes gendered presentation and all of that is no big deal. Is there oppression and hatred? Absolutely, but not about gender or sexuality. The fantasy world is a fun one. It's a little different from our own with magic (alchemy) and what amounts to a segregated class system where only the wealthy and powerful are typically granted entrance to study alchemy and then licenses to practice it.
Not a perfect book, but one that is probably going to be somebody's new favorite thing and one that I enjoyed. The audio narration is excellent. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
January 10, 2024
Buddy read with Stephanie!
My buddy reader DNF'ed and honestly, I should've done the same smh.
I'll start with the positives.
I loved the queer rep in this! We have a trans MMC, a genderfluid MC, and a pan MMC (not quite sure if he's technically pan, but he definitely leans that way). It's done in a way that it feels like it's a fact of life in this world. (Although I don't think there were queer side characters, which was kinda strange.) Ash talks about his binders, Ramsay switches genders with every new chapter, and Callum doesn't question his attraction to both Ramsay and Ash.
Very well done!
And on to why I didn't like this arc...
If you're a seasoned fantasy fan, this probably isn't for you because everything is predictable and there's a lot of hand holding.
One of my mutuals on bookstagram said that this arc doesn't know what it wants to be, and I definitely agree with them. At times, the writing and the MMC's actions (and reactions) read like Middle Grade, but the themes are definitely YA. Sometimes it feels like young YA when it wants to be older YA. I don't know. It was a mess.
The MMC, Ash, is 18, but the way he acts feels very early high school, or even younger. He starts pointless arguments with everyone, even if the other character wasn't trying to argue with him. Even when someone would try to help him, he gets weirdly combative. His immaturity made it hard to relate. I understand being combative in some situations (especially when things are out of your control), but this was excessive.
The storyline itself (teens on a quest for a magic item while an evil sorcerer/government is after them) hit all the story beats (hero's journey, 3 act structure, etc.). There aren't really any surprise twists that kept me on my toes. Maybe I've read too many fantasy novels, but it's basically What You See Is What You Get. Maybe a younger reader might appreciate this more than I did. Which ties back to the whole "this is YA but reads like MG" thing I brought up earlier.
The magic system feels very Marvel, meaning that anything goes. There are skill levels, but lbr here, I wasn't surprised when I learned that the MMC is basically overpowered. This is a YA fantasy, after all.
I'm not sure how I feel about the polyamory rep. I'm not really a big romance fan in general, so being in a romantic triad is a nightmare for me lol
Stephanie mentioned that it felt like a romantasy at times, which I have to agree with. The main plotline is supposed to be high stakes, but it starts to take a backseat to the romance near the last third of the book.
Because of that, it felt like the author had to wrap up the story hastily to the point where the climax felt anticlimactic because everything happened so quickly.
And even without any spoilers, I'm pretty sure you can guess the ending. Like I said, there aren't really any surprise twists.
Honestly, I'd rather read a novel about Ramsay Thorne's parents. Talk about morally grey turned evil!
Overall, while this might not be for me, this could be a good starter fantasy novel for someone looking for a story that's very inclusive and diverse with queer BIPOC characters.
Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for this arc.
My buddy reader DNF'ed and honestly, I should've done the same smh.
I'll start with the positives.
I loved the queer rep in this! We have a trans MMC, a genderfluid MC, and a pan MMC (not quite sure if he's technically pan, but he definitely leans that way). It's done in a way that it feels like it's a fact of life in this world. (Although I don't think there were queer side characters, which was kinda strange.) Ash talks about his binders, Ramsay switches genders with every new chapter, and Callum doesn't question his attraction to both Ramsay and Ash.
Very well done!
And on to why I didn't like this arc...
If you're a seasoned fantasy fan, this probably isn't for you because everything is predictable and there's a lot of hand holding.
One of my mutuals on bookstagram said that this arc doesn't know what it wants to be, and I definitely agree with them. At times, the writing and the MMC's actions (and reactions) read like Middle Grade, but the themes are definitely YA. Sometimes it feels like young YA when it wants to be older YA. I don't know. It was a mess.
The MMC, Ash, is 18, but the way he acts feels very early high school, or even younger. He starts pointless arguments with everyone, even if the other character wasn't trying to argue with him. Even when someone would try to help him, he gets weirdly combative. His immaturity made it hard to relate. I understand being combative in some situations (especially when things are out of your control), but this was excessive.
The storyline itself (teens on a quest for a magic item while an evil sorcerer/government is after them) hit all the story beats (hero's journey, 3 act structure, etc.). There aren't really any surprise twists that kept me on my toes. Maybe I've read too many fantasy novels, but it's basically What You See Is What You Get. Maybe a younger reader might appreciate this more than I did. Which ties back to the whole "this is YA but reads like MG" thing I brought up earlier.
The magic system feels very Marvel, meaning that anything goes. There are skill levels, but lbr here, I wasn't surprised when I learned that the MMC is basically overpowered. This is a YA fantasy, after all.
I'm not sure how I feel about the polyamory rep. I'm not really a big romance fan in general, so being in a romantic triad is a nightmare for me lol
Stephanie mentioned that it felt like a romantasy at times, which I have to agree with. The main plotline is supposed to be high stakes, but it starts to take a backseat to the romance near the last third of the book.
Because of that, it felt like the author had to wrap up the story hastily to the point where the climax felt anticlimactic because everything happened so quickly.
And even without any spoilers, I'm pretty sure you can guess the ending. Like I said, there aren't really any surprise twists.
Honestly, I'd rather read a novel about Ramsay Thorne's parents. Talk about morally grey turned evil!
Overall, while this might not be for me, this could be a good starter fantasy novel for someone looking for a story that's very inclusive and diverse with queer BIPOC characters.
Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for this arc.
Read
November 10, 2023DNF at 35%.
Oh, how I hate myself for DNF’ing a book by one of my favorite authors.
I loved Felix Ever After, and Stars in Your Eyes, Kacen’s first adult romance even is one of my most favorite 2023 reads. So, I really, really wanted to read Infinity Alchemist, despite fantasy not being my favorite genre. But when I got the ARC, I got scared, and I gave priority to another book. And another, and another, until this one became one of the oldest on my ARC shelf. That’s when I decided I really needed to pick it up because how could I not love this book? It's Kacen Callender’s, after all!
And now I DNF’d while there’s so much to love about this story. The queer rep is Cheff’s kiss, it’s fast-paced, and the writing is again stunning. And still …
I think I set the bar too high, and my fear of reading this book raised that bar even higher. I guess I like Kacen’s writing more in contemporary books. Or I’m just more of a contemporary reader. Anyway, I tried, but I kept forcing myself to read instead of enjoying the story. And that’s why, with pain in my heart, I decided to DNF. I might pick up this book again somewhere in the future, though. Anyway, I hope I will …
Thank you, Erin, from Macmillan International and Edelweiss, for the ARC!
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Oh, how I hate myself for DNF’ing a book by one of my favorite authors.
I loved Felix Ever After, and Stars in Your Eyes, Kacen’s first adult romance even is one of my most favorite 2023 reads. So, I really, really wanted to read Infinity Alchemist, despite fantasy not being my favorite genre. But when I got the ARC, I got scared, and I gave priority to another book. And another, and another, until this one became one of the oldest on my ARC shelf. That’s when I decided I really needed to pick it up because how could I not love this book? It's Kacen Callender’s, after all!
And now I DNF’d while there’s so much to love about this story. The queer rep is Cheff’s kiss, it’s fast-paced, and the writing is again stunning. And still …
I think I set the bar too high, and my fear of reading this book raised that bar even higher. I guess I like Kacen’s writing more in contemporary books. Or I’m just more of a contemporary reader. Anyway, I tried, but I kept forcing myself to read instead of enjoying the story. And that’s why, with pain in my heart, I decided to DNF. I might pick up this book again somewhere in the future, though. Anyway, I hope I will …
Thank you, Erin, from Macmillan International and Edelweiss, for the ARC!
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January 29, 2024
ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
“Chaos, in a sense, was Source: a raw explosion of energy that then organized into the threads of existence. Two sides of the same coin.”
Such a fascinating novel! The magic system and worldbuilding were undeniably unique – it was an intricate (and occasionally confusing) system based around a matter (??) termed Source, which only those given a license were allowed to utilise. I did enjoy learning about the fantasy aspects, though I feel some of it went a little over my head (The Atlas Six vibes, almost).
“It’s lazy to put a multifaceted human being, created from the alchemy of the universe, into a box of good or bad. No one is only one of the two.”
However, I felt the strongest aspects of the story were the complex characters. Our MC was hotheaded, angry, and lonely, but I loved his growth and realistic portrayal, and thought he was interesting and certainly not bland. Our other main characters were equally flawed and fascinating, though I found I didn’t connect as much to Ramsay as I wished to. I did admire Kacen’s inclusion of lgbtq+ rep, of course – they never disappoint, and the same was true here. Ramsay was genderfluid, and I really liked the way Kacen wrote that. The poly rep was also phenomenal – I don’t wish to spoil the third person in our little throuple, but he was possibly my favourite character overall, just a little adorable cinnamon roll.
“Energy is infinite, and love is energy, so love has the potential to be infinite, too.”
Overall, I thought this was a really interesting book with powerful characters and stunning rep, but I didn’t connect as much as I hoped. Perhaps the worldbuilding was a little too complex for me, perhaps I couldn’t relate very much to some of the characters – I’m not sure why, but I felt a little disconnected while reading. Nonetheless, a fascinating read! Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC copy provided.
“Chaos, in a sense, was Source: a raw explosion of energy that then organized into the threads of existence. Two sides of the same coin.”
Such a fascinating novel! The magic system and worldbuilding were undeniably unique – it was an intricate (and occasionally confusing) system based around a matter (??) termed Source, which only those given a license were allowed to utilise. I did enjoy learning about the fantasy aspects, though I feel some of it went a little over my head (The Atlas Six vibes, almost).
“It’s lazy to put a multifaceted human being, created from the alchemy of the universe, into a box of good or bad. No one is only one of the two.”
However, I felt the strongest aspects of the story were the complex characters. Our MC was hotheaded, angry, and lonely, but I loved his growth and realistic portrayal, and thought he was interesting and certainly not bland. Our other main characters were equally flawed and fascinating, though I found I didn’t connect as much to Ramsay as I wished to. I did admire Kacen’s inclusion of lgbtq+ rep, of course – they never disappoint, and the same was true here. Ramsay was genderfluid, and I really liked the way Kacen wrote that. The poly rep was also phenomenal – I don’t wish to spoil the third person in our little throuple, but he was possibly my favourite character overall, just a little adorable cinnamon roll.
“Energy is infinite, and love is energy, so love has the potential to be infinite, too.”
Overall, I thought this was a really interesting book with powerful characters and stunning rep, but I didn’t connect as much as I hoped. Perhaps the worldbuilding was a little too complex for me, perhaps I couldn’t relate very much to some of the characters – I’m not sure why, but I felt a little disconnected while reading. Nonetheless, a fascinating read! Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC copy provided.
June 25, 2025
✨️ 3 stars... and that's if I'm not being petty 😓✨️
(Spoilers Ahead 🤫)
Howdy! Now... I don't think I really liked this book, especially toward the end 😭
But to start off with the positive! I just learned that Kacen Callender is also the author of Felix Ever After, and I've heard really good things about that book, so I'm excited to still stick with the author ‼️
And I also really like reading about the three main leads—Ash, Ramsay, and Callum—but... I definitely do think there came a point where I kinda got sick of them and needed literally anything else to be happening in the story other then them all talking for a hot minute 🙃 (like I said, me being petty, but the dialogue was drilling into my brain at a certain point 🥲)
To add, and I don't know if this will make sense, but it kinda felt like all three characters easily fell into stereotypical tropes that rarely fluctuated in each of their arcs—like Ash was perfectly defiant, and Ramsay was perfectly independent, and Callum was perfectly empathetic. And it kinda just felt a little flat ☹️
And some other things that bothered me: (I'm just ranting at this point 😅):
--> Like, from chapters 25-35, it was literally just all three of them trying to figure out their emotional mess together (and they are messyyyyy 👀), and it felt like nothing else was happening 😭 and I don't mind the throuple, but it did not feel like any of that organically happened (Ash only knew each of them for ⁉️ 2 WEEKS ⁉️... HUH 🥴)
--> I absolutely loved how Ramsay's genderqueerness and fluidity was explained in relation to how the magic system in this world is constructed 🤩 but I also do think
that many of Ramsay scenes, especially with Ash and Callum, fell victim to the linguistic gay fanfiction pronoun problem (if you don't know what this is, I highly recommend looking it up, especially as some linguistics explore pronoun usage in other languages, which shows fascinating versatility across the globe, and how English has some frustrating constraints), so that's just something I wanted to point out from a linguistics perspective!
--> That conflict resolution was crazzyyyyyyy too 🫠 Ash really had a hope and a dream and a monologue about love that was very #poweroffriendship, and then Marlowe just comes in with a knife 🙃 (def giving me flashbacks to the Shadow and Bones triology ending, for thise who remember the anticlimacticism 👀)
--> And my apologies, but that near to last paragraph roping these characters and world back for a second book felt soooooo left field 😭 the publishing industry is messing with these books' funky flows and any sense of resolution for the story...
~~~
okay, those are my thoughts 😅
No one please hate, but I don't know if these character arcs and plotting and pacing devices were my exact YA vibe, I'll see if I read the second book in the series 🫣
(Spoilers Ahead 🤫)
Howdy! Now... I don't think I really liked this book, especially toward the end 😭
But to start off with the positive! I just learned that Kacen Callender is also the author of Felix Ever After, and I've heard really good things about that book, so I'm excited to still stick with the author ‼️
And I also really like reading about the three main leads—Ash, Ramsay, and Callum—but... I definitely do think there came a point where I kinda got sick of them and needed literally anything else to be happening in the story other then them all talking for a hot minute 🙃 (like I said, me being petty, but the dialogue was drilling into my brain at a certain point 🥲)
To add, and I don't know if this will make sense, but it kinda felt like all three characters easily fell into stereotypical tropes that rarely fluctuated in each of their arcs—like Ash was perfectly defiant, and Ramsay was perfectly independent, and Callum was perfectly empathetic. And it kinda just felt a little flat ☹️
And some other things that bothered me: (I'm just ranting at this point 😅):
--> Like, from chapters 25-35, it was literally just all three of them trying to figure out their emotional mess together (and they are messyyyyy 👀), and it felt like nothing else was happening 😭 and I don't mind the throuple, but it did not feel like any of that organically happened (Ash only knew each of them for ⁉️ 2 WEEKS ⁉️... HUH 🥴)
--> I absolutely loved how Ramsay's genderqueerness and fluidity was explained in relation to how the magic system in this world is constructed 🤩 but I also do think
that many of Ramsay scenes, especially with Ash and Callum, fell victim to the linguistic gay fanfiction pronoun problem (if you don't know what this is, I highly recommend looking it up, especially as some linguistics explore pronoun usage in other languages, which shows fascinating versatility across the globe, and how English has some frustrating constraints), so that's just something I wanted to point out from a linguistics perspective!
--> That conflict resolution was crazzyyyyyyy too 🫠 Ash really had a hope and a dream and a monologue about love that was very #poweroffriendship, and then Marlowe just comes in with a knife 🙃 (def giving me flashbacks to the Shadow and Bones triology ending, for thise who remember the anticlimacticism 👀)
--> And my apologies, but that near to last paragraph roping these characters and world back for a second book felt soooooo left field 😭 the publishing industry is messing with these books' funky flows and any sense of resolution for the story...
~~~
okay, those are my thoughts 😅
No one please hate, but I don't know if these character arcs and plotting and pacing devices were my exact YA vibe, I'll see if I read the second book in the series 🫣
January 13, 2024
Infinity Alchemist is an interesting queer YA fantasy book with lots of promising ideas but ultimately it was just okay.
The fantasy aspect was really interesting, the world has different tiers of magic, and it would've been cool to delve more into that. At times, it got somewhat confusing with all the tiers, several Houses, and different lore but overall I was very intrigued. I also really liked the exploration of identity and power.
The characters were 18-20 years old but I'm honestly surprised they survived to adulthood because they were all really dumb. It was frustrating to read because they all, Ash especially, continued to make the absolute dumbest decisions possible. I did like the main characters, mostly, but man were they frustrating. I also didn't really buy the chemistry of the triad together, which was in part due to my problems with the timeline - more on that later. The queer and gender representation among the characters was excellent, with Ash being trans, Ramsay being bigender, and both of them as well as Callum being queer.
My main issues were with pacing, the timeline, and some writing choices.
The pacing felt really strange. The book's got a fairly slow beginning but in the last few chapters EVERYTHING suddenly happens, and it's way too fast. It was like the author realized the book was already pretty long and they needed to resolve things asap.
There are 3 main characters in Infinity Alchemist: Ash, Ramsay, and Callum. Ash continuously had POV chapters, Ramsay had some until about halfway into the book and then just stopped having any, and Callum had none. But a 4th character would pop up now and then and have little POV sections at the end of some chapters which felt very odd.
As for the timeline… Where do I start?
The timeline of these relationships combined with the characters' over-the-top reactions felt so strange.
Unfortunately, I didn't love the narrator of the audiobook.
Overall, I was hoping for more from Infinity Alchemist. There were lots of things to like but just as many that frustrated me and I'm still confused about whether it's a standalone or part of a series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC
The fantasy aspect was really interesting, the world has different tiers of magic, and it would've been cool to delve more into that. At times, it got somewhat confusing with all the tiers, several Houses, and different lore but overall I was very intrigued. I also really liked the exploration of identity and power.
The characters were 18-20 years old but I'm honestly surprised they survived to adulthood because they were all really dumb. It was frustrating to read because they all, Ash especially, continued to make the absolute dumbest decisions possible. I did like the main characters, mostly, but man were they frustrating. I also didn't really buy the chemistry of the triad together, which was in part due to my problems with the timeline - more on that later. The queer and gender representation among the characters was excellent, with Ash being trans, Ramsay being bigender, and both of them as well as Callum being queer.
My main issues were with pacing, the timeline, and some writing choices.
The pacing felt really strange. The book's got a fairly slow beginning but in the last few chapters EVERYTHING suddenly happens, and it's way too fast. It was like the author realized the book was already pretty long and they needed to resolve things asap.
There are 3 main characters in Infinity Alchemist: Ash, Ramsay, and Callum. Ash continuously had POV chapters, Ramsay had some until about halfway into the book and then just stopped having any, and Callum had none. But a 4th character would pop up now and then and have little POV sections at the end of some chapters which felt very odd.
As for the timeline… Where do I start?
The timeline of these relationships combined with the characters' over-the-top reactions felt so strange.
Unfortunately, I didn't love the narrator of the audiobook.
Overall, I was hoping for more from Infinity Alchemist. There were lots of things to like but just as many that frustrated me and I'm still confused about whether it's a standalone or part of a series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC
August 13, 2023
I liked a lot of things about “Infinity Alchemist” but other things proved so distracting that this wasn’t quite the book for me.
This is an entertaining YA fantasy with an intriguing magic system, in which magic is alchemic power pulled from the body’s energy. The use of alchemy is regulated and licensed and people train at a school to pass a licensing exam. Everyone has the potential for alchemy but in reality only the rich and powerful Houses are allowed to practice it.
Ash is a talented, self-taught alchemist and assistant groundskeeper at Lancaster, an alchemy school, where he practices alchemy in secret (or, not so secret, since he keeps getting caught, for a crime that’s punishable by death, no less.) An apprentice at the school, Ramsay, is the child of notorious mass murderers. One day he stumbles upon a secret in Ramsay’s office and the two begin a clandestine journey to recover the all-powerful Book of Source, the same journey that led Ramsay’s parents to murder.
I loved how gender identity was handled in this. Ash is a trans guy and Ramsay is genderfluid. Though Ramsay’s gender isn’t shown by anything but pronouns changing each chapter, I thought the portrayals of gender in this hierarchical, conservative world were authentic. I also loved the polyamory in this; Ash falls for both Ramsay and Callum, Ramsay’s teenage love and an heir to the house of the redguards.
I felt the magic system and worldbuilding were intriguing, though I wanted to know more about how alchemy worked.
But I struggled with the pacing. A lot of action happened in this book but it was a drag to read for some reason. And I struggled with the character motivations. It’s fine for Ash to be irrational and have a temper but he seemed to have zero instinct for self preservation and that bothered me. Also his temper flare-ups rarely made much sense to me. How can anyone be that tightly wound all the time? What’s the motivation?
I also struggled with descriptions of feelings and the relationships between the characters. There was a lot of telling (“He felt excited, etc”) and attraction turning quickly to love.
There was lots to like here but this wasn’t the book for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This is an entertaining YA fantasy with an intriguing magic system, in which magic is alchemic power pulled from the body’s energy. The use of alchemy is regulated and licensed and people train at a school to pass a licensing exam. Everyone has the potential for alchemy but in reality only the rich and powerful Houses are allowed to practice it.
Ash is a talented, self-taught alchemist and assistant groundskeeper at Lancaster, an alchemy school, where he practices alchemy in secret (or, not so secret, since he keeps getting caught, for a crime that’s punishable by death, no less.) An apprentice at the school, Ramsay, is the child of notorious mass murderers. One day he stumbles upon a secret in Ramsay’s office and the two begin a clandestine journey to recover the all-powerful Book of Source, the same journey that led Ramsay’s parents to murder.
I loved how gender identity was handled in this. Ash is a trans guy and Ramsay is genderfluid. Though Ramsay’s gender isn’t shown by anything but pronouns changing each chapter, I thought the portrayals of gender in this hierarchical, conservative world were authentic. I also loved the polyamory in this; Ash falls for both Ramsay and Callum, Ramsay’s teenage love and an heir to the house of the redguards.
I felt the magic system and worldbuilding were intriguing, though I wanted to know more about how alchemy worked.
But I struggled with the pacing. A lot of action happened in this book but it was a drag to read for some reason. And I struggled with the character motivations. It’s fine for Ash to be irrational and have a temper but he seemed to have zero instinct for self preservation and that bothered me. Also his temper flare-ups rarely made much sense to me. How can anyone be that tightly wound all the time? What’s the motivation?
I also struggled with descriptions of feelings and the relationships between the characters. There was a lot of telling (“He felt excited, etc”) and attraction turning quickly to love.
There was lots to like here but this wasn’t the book for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
February 5, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC. It hasn't affected the content of my review. (Clearly.)
DNF @ 50%
I am so sad about it, but this book was just not it for me. I really tried, too, despite knowing at about 13% that I wasn't going to like it. What happened? The previous book I read from this author (Felix Ever After) was so assured and had such a strong voice. The characters leapt off the page. I assumed, wrongly as it turns out, that their voice would transfer to fantasy, but it didn't at all. It was so awkward, and I was disconnected from the story immediately. The worldbuilding was sloppy and fed to us in dull infodumps. The characters felt like they were being written as I was reading; they never came to life. The plot was so generic. Even what could have been a cool magic system flopped, because there was nothing there to shore it up.
This needed about ten more drafts, and some brutally honest editors. And it looks like I'm not alone in this, judging by other early reviews.
I'm so sad rn don't talk to me.
DNF @ 50%
I am so sad about it, but this book was just not it for me. I really tried, too, despite knowing at about 13% that I wasn't going to like it. What happened? The previous book I read from this author (Felix Ever After) was so assured and had such a strong voice. The characters leapt off the page. I assumed, wrongly as it turns out, that their voice would transfer to fantasy, but it didn't at all. It was so awkward, and I was disconnected from the story immediately. The worldbuilding was sloppy and fed to us in dull infodumps. The characters felt like they were being written as I was reading; they never came to life. The plot was so generic. Even what could have been a cool magic system flopped, because there was nothing there to shore it up.
This needed about ten more drafts, and some brutally honest editors. And it looks like I'm not alone in this, judging by other early reviews.
I'm so sad rn don't talk to me.
January 17, 2024
Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Teen for the pre-release copy of this novel. Below you'll find my honest review.
This novel had a bunch of good things:
It knocks representation out of the park - trans, non-binary, polyamory, etc are all well represented in this novel in a respectful, teen-friendly way.
It has an interesting magic system and House hierarchy.
It also had some serious downsides:
The non-binary representation gets a little confusing as the pronouns change randomly from chapter to chapter. It pulled me out of the story a bit as I would have to figure out which "he" was being referenced at the time. So it's less a problem with the non-binary and more a problem with clarity from the author.
The whole point of the novel was to chase the Book, but then the Book wasn't even a real important thing at the end, and the story's conclusion was a bit of a mess. And honestly, the magic system didn't have rules or structure enough to really understand how it all actually worked.
Overall, lots of potential, but lacking in some of the execution.
This novel had a bunch of good things:
It knocks representation out of the park - trans, non-binary, polyamory, etc are all well represented in this novel in a respectful, teen-friendly way.
It has an interesting magic system and House hierarchy.
It also had some serious downsides:
The non-binary representation gets a little confusing as the pronouns change randomly from chapter to chapter. It pulled me out of the story a bit as I would have to figure out which "he" was being referenced at the time. So it's less a problem with the non-binary and more a problem with clarity from the author.
The whole point of the novel was to chase the Book, but then the Book wasn't even a real important thing at the end, and the story's conclusion was a bit of a mess. And honestly, the magic system didn't have rules or structure enough to really understand how it all actually worked.
Overall, lots of potential, but lacking in some of the execution.
February 15, 2024
Infinity Alchemist
by Kacen Callender
Infinity Alchemist #1
Fantasy YA
NetGalley ARC
Tor Publishing
Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
Ages: 16+
Ash dreams of practicing alchemy. He has a lot of power, but for him, practicing his gift is illegal without a license, and only the elite are permitted to study the science to get a license. When he is denied entry into Lancaster Mage's College, he gets a job there instead and secretly learns all he can, knowing if he got caught, he'd be executed.
Ramsey Throne catches him, but instead of having him arrested, Ramsay makes him an offer, he will keep his secret and teach him a few things if he will help him find the Book of Source, a sacred text that many Alchmist want for the power it will give them.
Good magic, good world, but the story lacks descriptions and depth. Everything seemed skimmed over except for the characters' traits. I get that they were important for various reasons, but if an equal amount of time was spent on the plot, magic, and world, including backstories and details, this would have been a much better book. One that would have kept me from falling asleep while reading.
Plus, there were only a few good characters, and they were minor ones.
Maybe because I'm from that mindset that professors at a college are older people, men and women, so when Ramsey Throne was in their male body, I could not get out of my head an old, overweight, balding man, but what made it creepy was because throughout the story I only saw Ash as a 16ish boy who looked even younger. But when Ramsey was in their female body, I pictured a girl in her twenties. The other characters I was able to picture closer to their intended ages. Maybe a different way of introducing Ramsey would have kept the 'old man' image out of my head. One can't just start off by saying a man is a professor.
Even though it ended with closure, I guess this is the start of a series, but I very much doubt I'll look for the next book.
2 Stars
by Kacen Callender
Infinity Alchemist #1
Fantasy YA
NetGalley ARC
Tor Publishing
Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
Ages: 16+
Ash dreams of practicing alchemy. He has a lot of power, but for him, practicing his gift is illegal without a license, and only the elite are permitted to study the science to get a license. When he is denied entry into Lancaster Mage's College, he gets a job there instead and secretly learns all he can, knowing if he got caught, he'd be executed.
Ramsey Throne catches him, but instead of having him arrested, Ramsay makes him an offer, he will keep his secret and teach him a few things if he will help him find the Book of Source, a sacred text that many Alchmist want for the power it will give them.
Good magic, good world, but the story lacks descriptions and depth. Everything seemed skimmed over except for the characters' traits. I get that they were important for various reasons, but if an equal amount of time was spent on the plot, magic, and world, including backstories and details, this would have been a much better book. One that would have kept me from falling asleep while reading.
Plus, there were only a few good characters, and they were minor ones.
Maybe because I'm from that mindset that professors at a college are older people, men and women, so when Ramsey Throne was in their male body, I could not get out of my head an old, overweight, balding man, but what made it creepy was because throughout the story I only saw Ash as a 16ish boy who looked even younger. But when Ramsey was in their female body, I pictured a girl in her twenties. The other characters I was able to picture closer to their intended ages. Maybe a different way of introducing Ramsey would have kept the 'old man' image out of my head. One can't just start off by saying a man is a professor.
Even though it ended with closure, I guess this is the start of a series, but I very much doubt I'll look for the next book.
2 Stars
![Profile Image for Lee [Bibliophile Tings].](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1714421530i/162596364._UY200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
November 8, 2023
Thank you so much to Tor Teen for sending me an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
January 14, 2024 edit: This is now the start of a series?? Dreams do come true.
Infinity Alchemist is a page-turner. I carried it with me everywhere because I couldn’t put it down. The worldbuilding is top-tier. I was uncharacteristically invested in the political plotline; it is that good.
Plus the romance was refreshingly real. No insta-love here!
Too often, authors find quick fixes so the characters can live together, hopelessly in love, forever and ever. I appreciate that the complexity of the romantic relationships isn't glossed over. Everyone involved acknowledged their issues, as individuals and as a unit. Despite it all, they chose to be together. That’s what makes this relationship a personal favorite of mine.
This is the first depiction of polyamory I have seen in young adult literature, and it did not disappoint. We need more of this, please, and thank you.
But, what was up with that ending?
There is so much danger and drama. More than half of the book is build-up, yet the final battle lasts only a few pages. I couldn’t give this five stars solely because I was disappointed by the way this book wrapped up.
As a whole, I’m sad to see Infinity Alchemist end. I need this to be the start of several books set in this world. I would happily come back for more.
Bottom line: To Kacen Callender: If you see this, I need more.
✎﹏ pre review initial thoughts
i am pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed this
༝༚༝༚
my blog!
January 14, 2024 edit: This is now the start of a series?? Dreams do come true.
Infinity Alchemist is a page-turner. I carried it with me everywhere because I couldn’t put it down. The worldbuilding is top-tier. I was uncharacteristically invested in the political plotline; it is that good.
Plus the romance was refreshingly real. No insta-love here!
Too often, authors find quick fixes so the characters can live together, hopelessly in love, forever and ever. I appreciate that the complexity of the romantic relationships isn't glossed over. Everyone involved acknowledged their issues, as individuals and as a unit. Despite it all, they chose to be together. That’s what makes this relationship a personal favorite of mine.
This is the first depiction of polyamory I have seen in young adult literature, and it did not disappoint. We need more of this, please, and thank you.
But, what was up with that ending?
There is so much danger and drama. More than half of the book is build-up, yet the final battle lasts only a few pages. I couldn’t give this five stars solely because I was disappointed by the way this book wrapped up.
As a whole, I’m sad to see Infinity Alchemist end. I need this to be the start of several books set in this world. I would happily come back for more.
Bottom line: To Kacen Callender: If you see this, I need more.
✎﹏ pre review initial thoughts
i am pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed this
༝༚༝༚
my blog!
February 13, 2024
The author and the cover captivated me with Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender. I liked the LGBTQ representation in the book. The plot didn’t hold my attention and the pacing felt off. Thanks to Tor Teen and NetGalley for the ARC. I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 14, 2024
One of the rare times I've won a book from a Goodreads giveaway and received an ARC. My opinions are my own.
My excitement for a queer fantasy was squashed with the slow pacing and confusing magic system. I struggled every time I picked up the book. I think it's time for me to throw in the towel and DNF. I read for enjoyment and I simply wasn't enjoying it. Unfortunately, this book isn't for me.
My excitement for a queer fantasy was squashed with the slow pacing and confusing magic system. I struggled every time I picked up the book. I think it's time for me to throw in the towel and DNF. I read for enjoyment and I simply wasn't enjoying it. Unfortunately, this book isn't for me.
May 15, 2025
This!
Verdammt, war das gut.
Verdammt, war das gut.
April 2, 2024
To my surprise, this book was much more intensely infuriating than I ever could have expected for a random new book I happened to think looked interesting and decided to check out from the library before I really even finished reading the synopsis. For some reason I thought it was a gay romance between two guys, Ash and Ramsay but that wasn't exactly the case so let's just get into my criticisms of the characters.
Ramsay is a gender fluid person who is originally introduced to us as a girl. There's a brief section while we're following Ash that doesn't refer to Ramsay as any pronouns, not even they/them which I just thought was strange, but a little later on when they meet, Ramsay is referred to by he/him pronouns with no explanation for the change. The next time we see Ramsay in a flashback and then with Ash, it reverts to the feminine pronouns, still no explanation for a couple pages, and then it finally acknowledges it, "He'd heard that Ramsay was someone who shifted genders." It explains a theory that people's genders were different according to their past lives. For Ramsay, she lived as both men and women and was comfortable with both. For Ash, he was uncomfortable with his assigned gender (female) since he had mostly lived as men in his past lives and often dreamt about these men. It also explains how people are able to sense energy and people can choose to share their gender with others. So early on, Ash was able to learn how to project the fact that's he's a boy, describing it as a "simple knowing" similar to how someone might be able to sense that someone is happy or sad.
Anyway, while I'm glad we finally got some proper acknowledgment of Ash being a trans man and Ramsay being gender fluid, I don't love this explanation for reasons I can't explain. Part of me thinks it is kind of cool but the other part was already biased against this book at that point, so I don't like it. It's also an insanely ridiculous explanation when it seemingly doesn't apply to Ramsay. Her gender changes "about once a day or so" and says she figures "a good rule of thumb is just to refer to me as how I identified when you last saw me, since you have no way of identifying my gender otherwise" so excuse me if I think It's stupid that she can't project the same knowingness of gender the way everyone else can. In the chapter where we officially meet Ramsay, he's referred to as a he, as I previously mentioned, yet somehow when they meet again, Ash just knows to refer to her as a she but later, Ash has no idea if her gender has shifted again yet always seems to use the correct pronouns so WHICH ONE IS IT. Can Ramsay project her preferred gender or not 😑 why is this so unnecessarily complicated 😑 am I the problem?
Not to mention that I don't even like Ramsay.
To keep this review simple, and as uncomplicated as possible, I'm just gonna refer to her using feminine pronouns since that's how she's introduced in the synopsis and the first chapter, and honestly most of the book uses she/her. So as one would expect from YA (though this book's text looks more adult to me and they use words like fuck and shit a lot more than usual in YA) this has a romance involving Ramsay and Ash. Ramsay catches Ash in her office and immediately knows he was practicing alchemy even though he's not a student at this college and doesn't have a license to practice the higher tiers of alchemy I think it's 3 and up you need a license for). So Ramsay tells him that she won't tell anyone as long as he helps her with a project that she refuses to give any details about and Ash asks if she's going to blackmail him and the conversation goes like this:
Ramsay: "Blackmail? No, no. I'm merely going to suggest that you agree to work with me, and in exchange, I will not let your employer or House Kendrick know you've illegally practiced alchemy."
Ash: "So blackmail."
Ramsay: “If that's what you would prefer to call it."
YOU DUMBASS, THATS LITERALLY BLACKMAIL.
Like I'm sorry but choosing to portray a gender fluid person as such an awful person is a really odd choice to me. I love a character with flaws, I mean what did Hannah Montana teach us, but there's a massive difference between having flaws and just being a terrible human being. Ash refers to Ramsay as "a conceited House heir like Ramsay Thorne" or just "someone/a person like Ramsay Thorne" multiple times and this book really lays it on thick how condescending and conceited she is yet I'm supposed to root for her and this romance? Yeah fuck that. And she may be sarcastic and condescending, but she can also find it in her heart to heal somebody. Oh give me a break. (And th she doesn't really come across as sarcastic, her jokes always seem like she's pissed off instead of being sarcastic or making a joke.)
I will admit that Ramsay's backstory is quite sad. Her parents were looking for the Book of Source (which Ramsay is now looking for in order to destroy it, which it's later revealed that it physically cannot be destroyed so really we went through all this for nothing but I'll get to the ending later) and they end up killing an entire village of people. They were sentenced to hanging and everyone hates Ramsay and started treating her really badly for the actions of her parents, thinking she'll be just like them. And like honestly, I feel like treating someone badly because you have this belief that they're a monster is only helpful in actually making that person into a monster. Ramsay admits that she would have been "worse" if her mother was still alive, and that she became reclusive and reserved which is understandable but she also has some really awful qualities. She may not want to commit mass murder, but she's not a nice person or someone I’d root for by any means.
I really enjoyed the section where Ramsay wasn't even in the book. She was being mentioned a lot, and Ash and Callum, Ramsay's former friend and lover, basically revere her as a goddess. It's so bizarre yet I can't explain it, but it was also quite annoying. Ash and Callum decide they're going to find her and Ash is pissed because she abandoned him but also loves her and Callum loves/loved Ramsay but had to abandon her a few years ago because of how everyone hates her and his family standing was more important basically. He wants to apologize but doesn't know if she'll even accept it. Spoiler, she gets so pissed to see Callum, it was so dramatic tbh. She was so childish and wouldn't even let him explain without screaming at him, like bro you are 19 years old, have a fucking conversation like an adult.
But we do need to talk about Ash, because while he may be better than Ramsay, I still don't like him. First of all, this isn't an attack on him being trans or anything like that, but I did find his name situation to be very odd. His full name is Ashen Woods and will introduce himself as Ashen Woods, but he tells Ramsay that he hates being called Ashen. He never corrected his father, but he was awful, he probably didn't want to get confrontational over something so small in comparison to everything else. But three things 1) I don't think his mother would have named him Ashen as he was born female and 2) did he choose the name Ashen, because if so, why choose something he doesn't like and 3) if Ashen is his birth name, why didn't he change it if he doesn't like his full name. It's such a small detail and probably doesn't matter but it was just weird like at the very least, don't introduce yourself as Ashen if you don't want to be called that. Like again, am I the problem?
Also, as I mentioned before about past lives, those past lives aren't really important at all, but it does get brought up once more when Ash is thinking about his flat chest, but it's not as flat as Ramsay's. Breasts are referred to as "these things hanging from him" like I'm sorry what? But wait, it gets worse, and you know what, it's excerpt time cuz I need y'all to understand.
"The only thing that Ash found strange was that there was another appendage that his past lives also tended to have, swinging between their legs, but he didn't miss that at all. He rather liked his anatomy below the belt, the extra hole that most men didn't have."
Now listen. I know Ash isn't experienced with sex much at all. At this point he's only been with Ramsay but if Ramsay has a flat chest, then does she also not have male parts? Has he not seen or experienced this other appendage? Like I'm sorry if I'M the weird one for thinking it's completely ridiculous that Ash doesn't know what a penis is. I know there are trans people who don't mind what they were born with, but they AT LEAST know what they're called and don't think a penis is a strange appendage like ???
I fucking hate this book. That part was honestly so disturbing for some reason, like just the wording and the fact that this is meant to be YA.
Unfortunately I'm not done complaining about Ash though. He's just not a great person.
The third main character, Callum, is from one of the main alchemist houses, they're basically like royalty and he and Ramsay had a relationship but because everyone thought she would be a mass murderer like her parents, Callum had to cut off contact in order to stay in good standing with his family. He tells Ash that he regretted it and wanted to make things right by leaving his family and going to help Ash find her after she'd abandoned Ash who was caught and imprisoned, and made into Callum's scribe. Ash is incredibly judgmental of Callum, wondering how he could possibly hate his life when he has everything but truthfully Callum isn't happy. Ash also makes a lot of assumptions about Callum like "why don't you feel this way, why don't you think this" and it was so annoying especially since Ash is a huge hypocrite in this situation. He gets super pissed off when Callum makes assumptions, yet he's constantly assuming how Callum is thinking or feeling at any given point.
But now, let's talk about the ending of this book. First of all, I can't say I liked it. It definitely wasn't what I had expected, for Ash's father to gain all the power from the Book of Source and turn into some weird looking creature that couldn't control the power it had. And speaking of, I just have to add that I hated the alchemy in this book, I mean, it was just magic. Some of combat alchemy seemed a lot like the magic in Skyrim to me, like arrows of light or something.
The ending was just so rushed, I was getting so close to the end but the big climax was taking forever to get to, I felt like I was never gonna finish this book. All of the big finale happens in the last 40 or less pages. Getting the Book, the fight where Ash's dad is killed by a girl he'd taken in and trained, and then Ramsay and Callum join the council or whatever it's called and they and Ash get a house they can all share as a polyamorous throuple. This is gonna be a series apparently. I can't even tell you how uninterested I am. I think it was fine as a standalone, and I don't wanna read about these characters again. I was tempted to dnf multiple times but I pushed through so I could review and judge it fairly but I really need to learn a lesson about not blatantly torturing myself with books I don't like. Which also reminds me, I forgot to criticize the writing style, because at first I didn't mind it, but it's the type of writing where you can tell it's trying to do a lot but I doesn't really work most of the time. I can only call it try hard writing, where it's trying to be very elegant and elevated and but it isn't done well so it comes off as pompously trying too hard.
Anyway, don't recommend this. I originally was going to rate this 3, changed to 1 out of anger, but maybe a 2 is more fitting since the issues I have with it wouldn't be a problem for others but l'd be very curious to know why, specifically why Ramsay being terrible and literally blackmailing Ash isn't like a major red flag but anyway, that's it, I don't wanna think about this book anymore lol.
Ramsay is a gender fluid person who is originally introduced to us as a girl. There's a brief section while we're following Ash that doesn't refer to Ramsay as any pronouns, not even they/them which I just thought was strange, but a little later on when they meet, Ramsay is referred to by he/him pronouns with no explanation for the change. The next time we see Ramsay in a flashback and then with Ash, it reverts to the feminine pronouns, still no explanation for a couple pages, and then it finally acknowledges it, "He'd heard that Ramsay was someone who shifted genders." It explains a theory that people's genders were different according to their past lives. For Ramsay, she lived as both men and women and was comfortable with both. For Ash, he was uncomfortable with his assigned gender (female) since he had mostly lived as men in his past lives and often dreamt about these men. It also explains how people are able to sense energy and people can choose to share their gender with others. So early on, Ash was able to learn how to project the fact that's he's a boy, describing it as a "simple knowing" similar to how someone might be able to sense that someone is happy or sad.
Anyway, while I'm glad we finally got some proper acknowledgment of Ash being a trans man and Ramsay being gender fluid, I don't love this explanation for reasons I can't explain. Part of me thinks it is kind of cool but the other part was already biased against this book at that point, so I don't like it. It's also an insanely ridiculous explanation when it seemingly doesn't apply to Ramsay. Her gender changes "about once a day or so" and says she figures "a good rule of thumb is just to refer to me as how I identified when you last saw me, since you have no way of identifying my gender otherwise" so excuse me if I think It's stupid that she can't project the same knowingness of gender the way everyone else can. In the chapter where we officially meet Ramsay, he's referred to as a he, as I previously mentioned, yet somehow when they meet again, Ash just knows to refer to her as a she but later, Ash has no idea if her gender has shifted again yet always seems to use the correct pronouns so WHICH ONE IS IT. Can Ramsay project her preferred gender or not 😑 why is this so unnecessarily complicated 😑 am I the problem?
Not to mention that I don't even like Ramsay.
To keep this review simple, and as uncomplicated as possible, I'm just gonna refer to her using feminine pronouns since that's how she's introduced in the synopsis and the first chapter, and honestly most of the book uses she/her. So as one would expect from YA (though this book's text looks more adult to me and they use words like fuck and shit a lot more than usual in YA) this has a romance involving Ramsay and Ash. Ramsay catches Ash in her office and immediately knows he was practicing alchemy even though he's not a student at this college and doesn't have a license to practice the higher tiers of alchemy I think it's 3 and up you need a license for). So Ramsay tells him that she won't tell anyone as long as he helps her with a project that she refuses to give any details about and Ash asks if she's going to blackmail him and the conversation goes like this:
Ramsay: "Blackmail? No, no. I'm merely going to suggest that you agree to work with me, and in exchange, I will not let your employer or House Kendrick know you've illegally practiced alchemy."
Ash: "So blackmail."
Ramsay: “If that's what you would prefer to call it."
YOU DUMBASS, THATS LITERALLY BLACKMAIL.
Like I'm sorry but choosing to portray a gender fluid person as such an awful person is a really odd choice to me. I love a character with flaws, I mean what did Hannah Montana teach us, but there's a massive difference between having flaws and just being a terrible human being. Ash refers to Ramsay as "a conceited House heir like Ramsay Thorne" or just "someone/a person like Ramsay Thorne" multiple times and this book really lays it on thick how condescending and conceited she is yet I'm supposed to root for her and this romance? Yeah fuck that. And she may be sarcastic and condescending, but she can also find it in her heart to heal somebody. Oh give me a break. (And th she doesn't really come across as sarcastic, her jokes always seem like she's pissed off instead of being sarcastic or making a joke.)
I will admit that Ramsay's backstory is quite sad. Her parents were looking for the Book of Source (which Ramsay is now looking for in order to destroy it, which it's later revealed that it physically cannot be destroyed so really we went through all this for nothing but I'll get to the ending later) and they end up killing an entire village of people. They were sentenced to hanging and everyone hates Ramsay and started treating her really badly for the actions of her parents, thinking she'll be just like them. And like honestly, I feel like treating someone badly because you have this belief that they're a monster is only helpful in actually making that person into a monster. Ramsay admits that she would have been "worse" if her mother was still alive, and that she became reclusive and reserved which is understandable but she also has some really awful qualities. She may not want to commit mass murder, but she's not a nice person or someone I’d root for by any means.
I really enjoyed the section where Ramsay wasn't even in the book. She was being mentioned a lot, and Ash and Callum, Ramsay's former friend and lover, basically revere her as a goddess. It's so bizarre yet I can't explain it, but it was also quite annoying. Ash and Callum decide they're going to find her and Ash is pissed because she abandoned him but also loves her and Callum loves/loved Ramsay but had to abandon her a few years ago because of how everyone hates her and his family standing was more important basically. He wants to apologize but doesn't know if she'll even accept it. Spoiler, she gets so pissed to see Callum, it was so dramatic tbh. She was so childish and wouldn't even let him explain without screaming at him, like bro you are 19 years old, have a fucking conversation like an adult.
But we do need to talk about Ash, because while he may be better than Ramsay, I still don't like him. First of all, this isn't an attack on him being trans or anything like that, but I did find his name situation to be very odd. His full name is Ashen Woods and will introduce himself as Ashen Woods, but he tells Ramsay that he hates being called Ashen. He never corrected his father, but he was awful, he probably didn't want to get confrontational over something so small in comparison to everything else. But three things 1) I don't think his mother would have named him Ashen as he was born female and 2) did he choose the name Ashen, because if so, why choose something he doesn't like and 3) if Ashen is his birth name, why didn't he change it if he doesn't like his full name. It's such a small detail and probably doesn't matter but it was just weird like at the very least, don't introduce yourself as Ashen if you don't want to be called that. Like again, am I the problem?
Also, as I mentioned before about past lives, those past lives aren't really important at all, but it does get brought up once more when Ash is thinking about his flat chest, but it's not as flat as Ramsay's. Breasts are referred to as "these things hanging from him" like I'm sorry what? But wait, it gets worse, and you know what, it's excerpt time cuz I need y'all to understand.
"The only thing that Ash found strange was that there was another appendage that his past lives also tended to have, swinging between their legs, but he didn't miss that at all. He rather liked his anatomy below the belt, the extra hole that most men didn't have."
Now listen. I know Ash isn't experienced with sex much at all. At this point he's only been with Ramsay but if Ramsay has a flat chest, then does she also not have male parts? Has he not seen or experienced this other appendage? Like I'm sorry if I'M the weird one for thinking it's completely ridiculous that Ash doesn't know what a penis is. I know there are trans people who don't mind what they were born with, but they AT LEAST know what they're called and don't think a penis is a strange appendage like ???
I fucking hate this book. That part was honestly so disturbing for some reason, like just the wording and the fact that this is meant to be YA.
Unfortunately I'm not done complaining about Ash though. He's just not a great person.
The third main character, Callum, is from one of the main alchemist houses, they're basically like royalty and he and Ramsay had a relationship but because everyone thought she would be a mass murderer like her parents, Callum had to cut off contact in order to stay in good standing with his family. He tells Ash that he regretted it and wanted to make things right by leaving his family and going to help Ash find her after she'd abandoned Ash who was caught and imprisoned, and made into Callum's scribe. Ash is incredibly judgmental of Callum, wondering how he could possibly hate his life when he has everything but truthfully Callum isn't happy. Ash also makes a lot of assumptions about Callum like "why don't you feel this way, why don't you think this" and it was so annoying especially since Ash is a huge hypocrite in this situation. He gets super pissed off when Callum makes assumptions, yet he's constantly assuming how Callum is thinking or feeling at any given point.
But now, let's talk about the ending of this book. First of all, I can't say I liked it. It definitely wasn't what I had expected, for Ash's father to gain all the power from the Book of Source and turn into some weird looking creature that couldn't control the power it had. And speaking of, I just have to add that I hated the alchemy in this book, I mean, it was just magic. Some of combat alchemy seemed a lot like the magic in Skyrim to me, like arrows of light or something.
The ending was just so rushed, I was getting so close to the end but the big climax was taking forever to get to, I felt like I was never gonna finish this book. All of the big finale happens in the last 40 or less pages. Getting the Book, the fight where Ash's dad is killed by a girl he'd taken in and trained, and then Ramsay and Callum join the council or whatever it's called and they and Ash get a house they can all share as a polyamorous throuple. This is gonna be a series apparently. I can't even tell you how uninterested I am. I think it was fine as a standalone, and I don't wanna read about these characters again. I was tempted to dnf multiple times but I pushed through so I could review and judge it fairly but I really need to learn a lesson about not blatantly torturing myself with books I don't like. Which also reminds me, I forgot to criticize the writing style, because at first I didn't mind it, but it's the type of writing where you can tell it's trying to do a lot but I doesn't really work most of the time. I can only call it try hard writing, where it's trying to be very elegant and elevated and but it isn't done well so it comes off as pompously trying too hard.
Anyway, don't recommend this. I originally was going to rate this 3, changed to 1 out of anger, but maybe a 2 is more fitting since the issues I have with it wouldn't be a problem for others but l'd be very curious to know why, specifically why Ramsay being terrible and literally blackmailing Ash isn't like a major red flag but anyway, that's it, I don't wanna think about this book anymore lol.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!
Kacen Callender has been on my list of authors I want to read for awhile, so when I saw they had written a queer fantasy book featuring polyamorous characters, I was so excited to give it a try. The story takes place in a world where everyone is capable of using alchemy, but its use beyond the beginner-level is restricted to an elite few who receive a license to practice it. Ash, an 18-year-old trans man, applied to Lancaster College to study alchemy, but he was rejected. So, he is now working as a groundskeeper there and is studying alchemy in secret. One day, he is discovered by a prodigy apprentice, Ramsay Thorne, who agrees to teach Ash alchemy in exchange for help finding a powerful book. The two embark on a dangerous quest, strengthening their alchemy skills, dodging enemies, and even forming a poly relationship. This story has so many elements that I usually love in books - including many types of queer representation, intersectional themes, a unique fantasy world, and more. However, it unfortunately did not work for me. There were some interesting concepts and characters, but it truly felt like this should have been a three-part series, yet it was all shoved into one book.
My biggest issue with this novel is the pacing. It took me months to read this book, because it felt like such a chore. I would read what felt like 50+ pages in a sitting, only to look down at my screen and see I had only progressed 5%. I often got discouraged and would go read an entirely different book before picking this one up again. I think what caused this issue is that there was a lot of action thrown into the novel, but it was written in a shallow way. The entire plot takes place over approximately one month, but Ash meets and falls in love with two separate people, learns advanced levels of alchemy, adventures through many different towns and cities, and does so many more things I can't get into because of spoilers. None of the events were explained in much detail, so it was difficult to stay engaged. I never felt like I understood the characters, their motivations, or even the world or magic system.
I wish the author had divided this book's plot into multiple full-length novels. I would argue that there are three main sections of this book (Ash's time with Ramsay, Ash's time with Callum, and their time together as a group), and each of those sections could have been expanded into an entire novel. I would have loved to have spent more time watching Ash grow his relationships with Ramsay and Callum and to have learned more about the various settings. The different Houses seemed interesting, but they were extremely underutilized. Apparently there were many alchemists searching for the Book of Source, but we only saw a couple of them. If everything was slowed down and expanded upon, it would have been such a richer reading experience. Also, the magic system needed to be developed further at a steadier pace. Though Source is the main focus of this book, it is described so vaguely that I never understood what its limitations were. The main characters all naturally excelled at its use, and they could practice advanced alchemy very early on. So, it was hard to grasp the magic system when it felt like anyone could do anything with no clear rules.
Another major issue I have with Infinity Alchemist is Ash and his hot temper, He is so insufferable at many points throughout this story. He had a difficult life growing up, and I understand why he'd be so angry at the world. He is a great example of all of the issues with classism. However, the way he would go from 0 to 100 in anger and lash out at everyone was just over the top. No matter how high the stakes were, he would always be comfortable making a scene. There were countless times I physically rolled my eyes at his lack of self-awareness. He was on a journey for a greater cause, but he almost ruined it over and over again because he had to have the last word. It was difficult to read, and I have no idea how he convinced two other characters to fall in love with him.
My final big complaint about this story is the pacing of the romance. The polyamory is handled well (I'll discuss that more in a moment). However, the characters repeatedly go from hating one another to falling in love... sometimes with just a couple of chapters in between. They even have fights over major issues that are resolved immediately. I appreciated the queer and poly representation, but I had a tough time believing the romance, since it was so rushed. As with everything else in this story, if it had been slowed down so that the characters had room to grow together, it would have been so much better.
This book had a lot of potential, and I want to be sure to highlight the things it did well. The queer and poly representation here is great! I've never read a YA novel featuring polyamory, so the fact that it is included here and is done with care is amazing. There are many intersectional identities shown throughout the story, and they are also handled well. The characters are diverse in many ways (race, class, gender identity, and more), and that diversity is used to inform greater themes throughout the novel. I appreciated the focus on classism. It was also interesting to read about their society's prejudice against alchemy and think about how that could be a metaphor for prejudice in today's society. The themes felt authentic. I thought the writing was okay overall, but it shined whenever it was conveying a major theme.
I also liked Ramsay and Callum. Ramsay's gender-fluidity was refreshing; it was cool to read about how Source came into play with it. Callum had a unique backstory - I was intrigued by his perspective of wanting to make a change but feeling tied to familial obligations. The two characters balanced each other out well. The other side characters seemed interesting, but I wish they were featured more frequently. The Houses seemed to be thought out well; I would have loved to have seen more characters appear from different Houses, as well.
There was too much going on at once for this book to work for me. I wouldn't really recommend it to fantasy readers, because the fantasy is so underdeveloped. I would probably only recommend this to "romantasy" readers who enjoy romance in a fantasy setting, but who also don't mind if the fantasy elements take a backseat to the romance. If you are purely looking for a whirlwind of a novel featuring a polyamorous relationship in a fantasy world, you might like this. However, if you want a developed fantasy world with descriptive worldbuilding, I expect you'll be disappointed by this story. It looks like this might be the start of a series. I don't think I will read a second installment if it is published, unless it is much more developed than Infinity Alchemist.
2 out of 5 stars.
Kacen Callender has been on my list of authors I want to read for awhile, so when I saw they had written a queer fantasy book featuring polyamorous characters, I was so excited to give it a try. The story takes place in a world where everyone is capable of using alchemy, but its use beyond the beginner-level is restricted to an elite few who receive a license to practice it. Ash, an 18-year-old trans man, applied to Lancaster College to study alchemy, but he was rejected. So, he is now working as a groundskeeper there and is studying alchemy in secret. One day, he is discovered by a prodigy apprentice, Ramsay Thorne, who agrees to teach Ash alchemy in exchange for help finding a powerful book. The two embark on a dangerous quest, strengthening their alchemy skills, dodging enemies, and even forming a poly relationship. This story has so many elements that I usually love in books - including many types of queer representation, intersectional themes, a unique fantasy world, and more. However, it unfortunately did not work for me. There were some interesting concepts and characters, but it truly felt like this should have been a three-part series, yet it was all shoved into one book.
My biggest issue with this novel is the pacing. It took me months to read this book, because it felt like such a chore. I would read what felt like 50+ pages in a sitting, only to look down at my screen and see I had only progressed 5%. I often got discouraged and would go read an entirely different book before picking this one up again. I think what caused this issue is that there was a lot of action thrown into the novel, but it was written in a shallow way. The entire plot takes place over approximately one month, but Ash meets and falls in love with two separate people, learns advanced levels of alchemy, adventures through many different towns and cities, and does so many more things I can't get into because of spoilers. None of the events were explained in much detail, so it was difficult to stay engaged. I never felt like I understood the characters, their motivations, or even the world or magic system.
I wish the author had divided this book's plot into multiple full-length novels. I would argue that there are three main sections of this book (Ash's time with Ramsay, Ash's time with Callum, and their time together as a group), and each of those sections could have been expanded into an entire novel. I would have loved to have spent more time watching Ash grow his relationships with Ramsay and Callum and to have learned more about the various settings. The different Houses seemed interesting, but they were extremely underutilized. Apparently there were many alchemists searching for the Book of Source, but we only saw a couple of them. If everything was slowed down and expanded upon, it would have been such a richer reading experience. Also, the magic system needed to be developed further at a steadier pace. Though Source is the main focus of this book, it is described so vaguely that I never understood what its limitations were. The main characters all naturally excelled at its use, and they could practice advanced alchemy very early on. So, it was hard to grasp the magic system when it felt like anyone could do anything with no clear rules.
Another major issue I have with Infinity Alchemist is Ash and his hot temper, He is so insufferable at many points throughout this story. He had a difficult life growing up, and I understand why he'd be so angry at the world. He is a great example of all of the issues with classism. However, the way he would go from 0 to 100 in anger and lash out at everyone was just over the top. No matter how high the stakes were, he would always be comfortable making a scene. There were countless times I physically rolled my eyes at his lack of self-awareness. He was on a journey for a greater cause, but he almost ruined it over and over again because he had to have the last word. It was difficult to read, and I have no idea how he convinced two other characters to fall in love with him.
My final big complaint about this story is the pacing of the romance. The polyamory is handled well (I'll discuss that more in a moment). However, the characters repeatedly go from hating one another to falling in love... sometimes with just a couple of chapters in between. They even have fights over major issues that are resolved immediately. I appreciated the queer and poly representation, but I had a tough time believing the romance, since it was so rushed. As with everything else in this story, if it had been slowed down so that the characters had room to grow together, it would have been so much better.
This book had a lot of potential, and I want to be sure to highlight the things it did well. The queer and poly representation here is great! I've never read a YA novel featuring polyamory, so the fact that it is included here and is done with care is amazing. There are many intersectional identities shown throughout the story, and they are also handled well. The characters are diverse in many ways (race, class, gender identity, and more), and that diversity is used to inform greater themes throughout the novel. I appreciated the focus on classism. It was also interesting to read about their society's prejudice against alchemy and think about how that could be a metaphor for prejudice in today's society. The themes felt authentic. I thought the writing was okay overall, but it shined whenever it was conveying a major theme.
I also liked Ramsay and Callum. Ramsay's gender-fluidity was refreshing; it was cool to read about how Source came into play with it. Callum had a unique backstory - I was intrigued by his perspective of wanting to make a change but feeling tied to familial obligations. The two characters balanced each other out well. The other side characters seemed interesting, but I wish they were featured more frequently. The Houses seemed to be thought out well; I would have loved to have seen more characters appear from different Houses, as well.
There was too much going on at once for this book to work for me. I wouldn't really recommend it to fantasy readers, because the fantasy is so underdeveloped. I would probably only recommend this to "romantasy" readers who enjoy romance in a fantasy setting, but who also don't mind if the fantasy elements take a backseat to the romance. If you are purely looking for a whirlwind of a novel featuring a polyamorous relationship in a fantasy world, you might like this. However, if you want a developed fantasy world with descriptive worldbuilding, I expect you'll be disappointed by this story. It looks like this might be the start of a series. I don't think I will read a second installment if it is published, unless it is much more developed than Infinity Alchemist.
2 out of 5 stars.
February 5, 2024
Ash Woods, what does power mean to you?
What does power mean to you, pals? What will it mean for Ash? Source, you’re in for it. Do you love stories of trans and queer characters of color as they navigate magical systems intended to subjugate them at every turn? Then BUCKLE UP, pals— INFINITY ALCHEMIST is here for you.
It is, yes, a YA fantasy, but really, it’s about three young folks trying to find their sense of belonging— to live and thrive in the world they’re thrust into. A world that’s divisive, cruel, classist, and racist.
Ash (bless my heart), Ramsey, & Callum— what a trio. I loved every moment of my ride with them.
- Ash, our fiery MC, wants to be an alchemist more than anything. But how will he get there? No one knows until he attempts to steal from…
- Ramsey, so powerful her gender shifts at will, is a professor searching for a book that ruined her family (long story there). Who has a star-crossed past with…
- Callum, our soft, blue energy exuding (it makes sense, I promise) guard who is fed up with the system….
Say it with me, “Kacen Callender is an auto-buy author.” I love Stars in Your Eyes, and when I saw this, Callender’s first YA Fantasy, I thought, damn, count me in. Did I love following Ash Woods (what a name) to magical planes searching for a lost book while defying his father? Oh yes, I did.
There’s a fantastic world of alchemy (where a magical college appears, however briefly) and magical plane jumping (that may be my favorite)— but what you’ll come away with, as in all of Callender’s books— is a deep love and respect for the characters.
Ash Woods, what does power mean to you? I can’t wait for more of this series. It ends, and you want more… when we get a date, I’ll let you know. Also— MARLOWE needs a book, k, thanks :)
Thanks to Tor Teen for the copy to review!
4.5 stars
What does power mean to you, pals? What will it mean for Ash? Source, you’re in for it. Do you love stories of trans and queer characters of color as they navigate magical systems intended to subjugate them at every turn? Then BUCKLE UP, pals— INFINITY ALCHEMIST is here for you.
It is, yes, a YA fantasy, but really, it’s about three young folks trying to find their sense of belonging— to live and thrive in the world they’re thrust into. A world that’s divisive, cruel, classist, and racist.
Ash (bless my heart), Ramsey, & Callum— what a trio. I loved every moment of my ride with them.
- Ash, our fiery MC, wants to be an alchemist more than anything. But how will he get there? No one knows until he attempts to steal from…
- Ramsey, so powerful her gender shifts at will, is a professor searching for a book that ruined her family (long story there). Who has a star-crossed past with…
- Callum, our soft, blue energy exuding (it makes sense, I promise) guard who is fed up with the system….
Say it with me, “Kacen Callender is an auto-buy author.” I love Stars in Your Eyes, and when I saw this, Callender’s first YA Fantasy, I thought, damn, count me in. Did I love following Ash Woods (what a name) to magical planes searching for a lost book while defying his father? Oh yes, I did.
There’s a fantastic world of alchemy (where a magical college appears, however briefly) and magical plane jumping (that may be my favorite)— but what you’ll come away with, as in all of Callender’s books— is a deep love and respect for the characters.
Ash Woods, what does power mean to you? I can’t wait for more of this series. It ends, and you want more… when we get a date, I’ll let you know. Also— MARLOWE needs a book, k, thanks :)
Thanks to Tor Teen for the copy to review!
4.5 stars
January 21, 2024
Our story revolves around 3 main characters - Ash, Ramsay, and Callum. I really liked Ash a lot. He yearns to be an alchemist and also meet his father. He is very skilled but you can't study alchemy except officially and with the school. Ramsay discovers that Ash has talent and also might be able to help them find the Book of Source. I really loved the grumpy with the snarky as Ash and Ramsay get to know each other and learn more about each other very quickly and intimately.
Ash is trans, Ramsay is genderfluid, which can change daily. I love their approach to a potential poly relationship with Callum. I LOVE that things are so diverse and queernormative in this book, and that everyone is accepting of who they are and also proud and owning their queerness. There are struggles and conflicts, but not of transphobia or shame of their gender or sexuality, which is so refreshing.
My main issue with this book would be the pacing. I LOVED the middle bit. But I did struggle to get there since it was a slow start. And then it felt like SO MUCH was crammed into the last 30 pages, to get to a potential stopping point before a second book. Personally, I am also not a fan of when long periods of time are just summarized and it's important to get to see some of that so that we can read about the characters getting to know each other. This happened a lot while Ramsay and Ash worked together, and I wish we had gotten to know them.
I would also love to get to know Callum more and see him with Ash and Ramsay in the present more and see more equality given to all three of them in a poly relationship. I love this and I'd LOVE to see more books with this.
I received an ARC from Pride Book Tours. My thoughts are my own.
Ash is trans, Ramsay is genderfluid, which can change daily. I love their approach to a potential poly relationship with Callum. I LOVE that things are so diverse and queernormative in this book, and that everyone is accepting of who they are and also proud and owning their queerness. There are struggles and conflicts, but not of transphobia or shame of their gender or sexuality, which is so refreshing.
My main issue with this book would be the pacing. I LOVED the middle bit. But I did struggle to get there since it was a slow start. And then it felt like SO MUCH was crammed into the last 30 pages, to get to a potential stopping point before a second book. Personally, I am also not a fan of when long periods of time are just summarized and it's important to get to see some of that so that we can read about the characters getting to know each other. This happened a lot while Ramsay and Ash worked together, and I wish we had gotten to know them.
I would also love to get to know Callum more and see him with Ash and Ramsay in the present more and see more equality given to all three of them in a poly relationship. I love this and I'd LOVE to see more books with this.
I received an ARC from Pride Book Tours. My thoughts are my own.
February 10, 2024
putting aside the weak pacing and world building: that was the most boring love story i’ve ever read. i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again: bring back unhealthy relationships!! i want them CRAZY! not therapized and shit. especially in fantasy!!
March 21, 2026
Where has this book been hiding? Where I ask you?? Kacen Callender it is a crime that this is the first I am hearing of you! This was so freaking good! Twisty, deep, and dark this holds the story of magic, or alchemy, and what happens when you have the choice to hold it all or destroy it forever.
Ash is a compelling protagonist, fighting his own battles against a society that wants to hold him down and the need to reach further, to be more than what he’s been given. I absolutely adore the way Kacen Callender treats gender in this book. Not o oh as a choice, but fed into by the past lives that live within each alchemist. This world was so rich and detailed and yet the narrative and action never suffered because of it.
I both read and listened to this one, I can’t recommend the audiobook enough. Wes Haas is a gifted narrator, giving each and every character their own unique voice (and accent). I often forgot it was just Haas narrating. I can’t wait to dive into book 2!
Ash is a compelling protagonist, fighting his own battles against a society that wants to hold him down and the need to reach further, to be more than what he’s been given. I absolutely adore the way Kacen Callender treats gender in this book. Not o oh as a choice, but fed into by the past lives that live within each alchemist. This world was so rich and detailed and yet the narrative and action never suffered because of it.
I both read and listened to this one, I can’t recommend the audiobook enough. Wes Haas is a gifted narrator, giving each and every character their own unique voice (and accent). I often forgot it was just Haas narrating. I can’t wait to dive into book 2!
Did Not Finish
July 10, 2024I wanted to like this book sooooooooo bad it’s not even funny
Managed to get 100 pages in over a month and I was really just having to force myself to pick it up every time. I like the characterisation and the alchemy but good god it’s just taking too long to get going
Managed to get 100 pages in over a month and I was really just having to force myself to pick it up every time. I like the characterisation and the alchemy but good god it’s just taking too long to get going
May 10, 2024
2nd read (Apr. 2025): 4.5☆
It wasn't as good as the first time :') Objectively I feel like we should get more relationship development and that ending was really close to being a, using the power of love to defeat the bad guy, type of ending.
Still I have been reading so many mediocre books and I still loved this book immensely, just noted a few things that I would change.
Anyways reread is done I can finally pick up Chaos King and I'm so excited to see what it will bring to the table
1st read (May.2024): 5☆
'But you're an alchemist. All alchemists know that death isn't the end. These lives of ours — they're only illusions. Dreams. Our energy leaves our body, and we return to Source, or perhaps decide to take another jaunt on Earth. What's there to fear?'
I never believed the 5 star drought would end. And then, came this book... it's been more than 24H and I still can't express in written words how much I loved it.
First I am a sucker for alchemy (blame FMAB, but don't because that's the best piece of media I ever got to experience) so that was already a win in my point of view. Did it, sometimes, feel like the characters were doing alchemy above what they should be able to? Maybe... does it look like I care? No, exactly the plot was alright because, I was already guessing it would be a quest type of story in search of something.
Now the characters is were I lose my mind. They are so loveable, flawed, so full of hurt and just want to do what they think is the right thing. They trauma bond and grow and mess up and learn and keep fighting and hoping and I love them so so much :')
I have been sitting here for like 15 minutes and I can't even write anything, anyways my heart if full, I loved this book, it was phenomenal, it reminded me why I adore reading so much and that's the highest compliment.
'They all created the same infinite light. They were all eternal.'
————————
OH I do in fact love reading!
It wasn't as good as the first time :') Objectively I feel like we should get more relationship development and that ending was really close to being a, using the power of love to defeat the bad guy, type of ending.
Still I have been reading so many mediocre books and I still loved this book immensely, just noted a few things that I would change.
Anyways reread is done I can finally pick up Chaos King and I'm so excited to see what it will bring to the table
1st read (May.2024): 5☆
'But you're an alchemist. All alchemists know that death isn't the end. These lives of ours — they're only illusions. Dreams. Our energy leaves our body, and we return to Source, or perhaps decide to take another jaunt on Earth. What's there to fear?'
I never believed the 5 star drought would end. And then, came this book... it's been more than 24H and I still can't express in written words how much I loved it.
First I am a sucker for alchemy (blame FMAB, but don't because that's the best piece of media I ever got to experience) so that was already a win in my point of view. Did it, sometimes, feel like the characters were doing alchemy above what they should be able to? Maybe... does it look like I care? No, exactly the plot was alright because, I was already guessing it would be a quest type of story in search of something.
Now the characters is were I lose my mind. They are so loveable, flawed, so full of hurt and just want to do what they think is the right thing. They trauma bond and grow and mess up and learn and keep fighting and hoping and I love them so so much :')
I have been sitting here for like 15 minutes and I can't even write anything, anyways my heart if full, I loved this book, it was phenomenal, it reminded me why I adore reading so much and that's the highest compliment.
'They all created the same infinite light. They were all eternal.'
————————
OH I do in fact love reading!
March 27, 2024
“Chaos, in a sense, was Source: a raw explosion of energy that then organized into the threads of existence. Two sides of the same coin.”
TW: abandonment, abuse, animal death, blood, body horror, bullying, child abuse, classism, confinement, cursing, death, death of a loved one, domestic abuse, dysphoria, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, genocide, grief, hate crime, injury/injury detail, medical content, murder, physical abuse, police brutality, religious bigotry, sexual assault, sexual content, torture, violence.
Such a unique, fascinating book!! Some parts of this gave me the same vibe of watching Atlantis or Treasure Planet as a kid and if we could have maintained that vibe for the entirety of the story, this would have been a new favorite.
And while it isn't, I still recommend this because I know that this book is perfect for some people. My only two caveats for recommending it are:
1) There's quite a bit of insta-love in here, as well as some timing issues. Sometimes, it felt like this book wanted more time to have taken place than the plot actually allowed. Which was fine, but it did lead to two separate couples saying they loved each other after two weeks of knowing the other person.
2) Despite this being listed as YA and being written in a very simplistic style, there's quite a bit of mature content in this book. From multiple on-page sex scenes, a brief friends-with-benefits plot, to descriptions of torture, abuse, and sexual assault/coercion, this could be a bit much for younger readers. Clearly, some people in the YA age range will be fine with this, but it still felt deserving of note.
So, to clarify: I did enjoy this, not as much as I'd hoped, but still enough to recommend it.
TW: abandonment, abuse, animal death, blood, body horror, bullying, child abuse, classism, confinement, cursing, death, death of a loved one, domestic abuse, dysphoria, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, genocide, grief, hate crime, injury/injury detail, medical content, murder, physical abuse, police brutality, religious bigotry, sexual assault, sexual content, torture, violence.
Such a unique, fascinating book!! Some parts of this gave me the same vibe of watching Atlantis or Treasure Planet as a kid and if we could have maintained that vibe for the entirety of the story, this would have been a new favorite.
And while it isn't, I still recommend this because I know that this book is perfect for some people. My only two caveats for recommending it are:
1) There's quite a bit of insta-love in here, as well as some timing issues. Sometimes, it felt like this book wanted more time to have taken place than the plot actually allowed. Which was fine, but it did lead to two separate couples saying they loved each other after two weeks of knowing the other person.
2) Despite this being listed as YA and being written in a very simplistic style, there's quite a bit of mature content in this book. From multiple on-page sex scenes, a brief friends-with-benefits plot, to descriptions of torture, abuse, and sexual assault/coercion, this could be a bit much for younger readers. Clearly, some people in the YA age range will be fine with this, but it still felt deserving of note.
So, to clarify: I did enjoy this, not as much as I'd hoped, but still enough to recommend it.
October 26, 2023
- Reluctant allies to lovers
- LGBTQ+
- Magic/alchemy
- Enemies to lovers
- Polyamory
- Standalone (?)
- Betrayal
- 4.5 stars -
A spellbinding fantasy about power, inequality, and love, that draws you in from the very first page.
Infinity Alchemist follows Ash, who’s learning alchemy in secret despite it being illegal without a license. Ramsey, a genius apprentice, catches Ash in the act, forcing him to work with them in exchange for keeping this quiet. The two then embark on a search for the legendary book of source together, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.
I loved this book so much! The plot was easy to follow and the word building was so simple but effective. The book features alchemists who practice different kinds of alchemy, which is essentially magic, and is split into different levels of tiers depending on its difficulty.
I loved the characters in this - they were all amazingly developed, each going through their own struggles and character development. Ramsey was probably my favourite, I loved their cold yet soft characterisation, and the trauma that they went through just made me so attached to them. I also quickly feel in love with Callum and his characterisation of strength and softness - he’s just a soft bean and I love him.
The relationships in the book were also a nice surprise. I was really not expecting the book to feature polyamory, but it just worked so well; I absolutely adored the relationship between Ash, Ramsey and Callum and wish we could have seen more of them together.
Thank you so much to the publishers for sending me an arc of this - all opinions are my own 💗
- LGBTQ+
- Magic/alchemy
- Enemies to lovers
- Polyamory
- Standalone (?)
- Betrayal
- 4.5 stars -
A spellbinding fantasy about power, inequality, and love, that draws you in from the very first page.
Infinity Alchemist follows Ash, who’s learning alchemy in secret despite it being illegal without a license. Ramsey, a genius apprentice, catches Ash in the act, forcing him to work with them in exchange for keeping this quiet. The two then embark on a search for the legendary book of source together, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.
I loved this book so much! The plot was easy to follow and the word building was so simple but effective. The book features alchemists who practice different kinds of alchemy, which is essentially magic, and is split into different levels of tiers depending on its difficulty.
I loved the characters in this - they were all amazingly developed, each going through their own struggles and character development. Ramsey was probably my favourite, I loved their cold yet soft characterisation, and the trauma that they went through just made me so attached to them. I also quickly feel in love with Callum and his characterisation of strength and softness - he’s just a soft bean and I love him.
The relationships in the book were also a nice surprise. I was really not expecting the book to feature polyamory, but it just worked so well; I absolutely adored the relationship between Ash, Ramsey and Callum and wish we could have seen more of them together.
Thank you so much to the publishers for sending me an arc of this - all opinions are my own 💗
January 25, 2024
Now that is a love triangle!!
Got an ARC Audiobook from NetGalley after seeing it all over my feed and I'm so glad they approved my request. This is a story about an Unlicensed Alchemist in a world where its illegal to practice Alchemy without a license. One day at the Alchemy school he works at as a grounds keeper type of person, someone finds out that he is illegally practicing Alchemy and he gets pulled onto an unexpected quest.
Its a queer love triangle thats FULLY a triangle, if you catch my drift. And I really enjoyed the character interactions more than anything. Yes, there is a big epic-ish type of quest that they are on, and there are different types of stakes that they deal with, but I was here for the characters and their bonding and interactions.
Since I JUST finished the book, I'll admit that I'm not 100% sure if I'm happy with the ending. I think part of me wants a little more... BUT then again, another part of me is perfectly satisfied with were it ended. It feels like it could be a standalone since it does wrap everything up nicely (for the most part) but it seems like it is the first in a series and I do plan on continuing since thats seems to be the case.
Good Times.
Got an ARC Audiobook from NetGalley after seeing it all over my feed and I'm so glad they approved my request. This is a story about an Unlicensed Alchemist in a world where its illegal to practice Alchemy without a license. One day at the Alchemy school he works at as a grounds keeper type of person, someone finds out that he is illegally practicing Alchemy and he gets pulled onto an unexpected quest.
Its a queer love triangle thats FULLY a triangle, if you catch my drift. And I really enjoyed the character interactions more than anything. Yes, there is a big epic-ish type of quest that they are on, and there are different types of stakes that they deal with, but I was here for the characters and their bonding and interactions.
Since I JUST finished the book, I'll admit that I'm not 100% sure if I'm happy with the ending. I think part of me wants a little more... BUT then again, another part of me is perfectly satisfied with were it ended. It feels like it could be a standalone since it does wrap everything up nicely (for the most part) but it seems like it is the first in a series and I do plan on continuing since thats seems to be the case.
Good Times.
July 31, 2023
Infinity Alchemist was a fun and entertaining YA fantasy read. I enjoyed the premise and the world building was mostly well handled (although the constant references to 'the Source' kept making me think of 'the Force'). Once or twice I had some queries on how things worked, but that was minor and didn't pull me out of the story. Ash and Ramsay (and Callum) were all interesting characters and it was great to see the LGBT rep. The only downside I'd say was that, after all the build up, the ending felt a little rushed and too easily resolved. But it was still a satisfying conclusion in many ways, making this a good standalone read for YA fantasy fans. I am giving it four stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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