Monday, May 6, 2013

BOOK REVIEW: Inferno by Sherrilyn Kenyon


Inferno by Sherrilyn Kenyon is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Nick series which is based in the Dark Hunter Universe. The book was published on the 9th of April 2013 by Atom Books and the ISBN is 0749957735. I purchased this book.

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW


PLOT

I control my destiny and my life.
Nothing controls me.
Ever.
Turning sixteen isn't what Nick Gautier thought it would be. While other boys his age are worried about prom dates and applying for college, Nick is neck deep in enemies out to stop him from living another day.
No longer sure if he can trust anyone, his only ally seems to be the one person he's been told will ultimately kill him.

Those out to get him have summoned an ancient force so powerful even the gods fear it. As Nick learns to command and control the elements, the one he must master in order to combat his latest foe is the one most likely to destroy him. If he is to survive this latest round, he will ultimately have to sacrifice a part of himself.

WHY I BOUGHT IT

Infinity (Book 1) got me interested as basically the first YA book I had seen widely marketed featuring a male protagonist (If you’re thinking Percy Jackson that comes under MG in most listings). Once I had finished reading that I knew was in for the long haul with this series which is funny action packed and features lots of interesting lore. I can highly recommend it to that endangered species like me known as the male reader.

WHAT I THOUGHT

Ah Nick Gautier is a very interesting character someone who is both strong and weak as a result of his coming into his powers, his social class and the fact he is going through puberty. Those aspects of him play a major part in Inferno as they do in all the books. It is hard in this book to tell if Nick is growing in confidence or just being manipulated down a path and that just adds to the book.

I still for the life of me I can’t see what Nick sees in Kody, one issue I think is the way that she is described constantly going on about her beauty instead of less physical aspects makes me prefer most of Nick female friends to her. She is only slightly less judgemental than Cherise and she drives me totally to distraction. I think it is a product though of excellent writing that you have to be impressed by the way Nick doesn't destroy Stone and the others with the crap he has to put up with.

In this book we delve a lot into the supernatural outside of New Orleans visiting a host of dimensions and getting at least a hint at what Death has in store for our favourite Cajun and learning about a few others of the big players, for those who didn't know before the Dark Hunter Universe is a very large one indeed.

The rest of Nick's friends get some time including Bubba who is amazing as always but if there is one thing that I would like to see is a few more human characters especially after what is revealed near the end of this book. The anti-bullying message is pretty strong in this book and the statement/manifesto came across to me at least a little over the top and might have been better at the end of the book instead of shoe horned in like that.

BEST PART OF INFERNO

Simi. Simi. Simi. There definitely wasn't enough of my favourite demon but that little bit was still a lot of fun. I’m not a Dark Hunter reader outside of Chronicles of Nick so I don’t know a lot more about the Simi other than I like her a lot hopefully this lack of Simi will be dealt with in future instalments.

WORST PART OF INFERNO

Oh my god that ending – WHAT THE HELL? After a story that went on at a breakneck pace then careened off into the ditch of an apparent alternate universe a universe I did not like the look of. It is too early to pre-judge the next book but colour me concerned about how much time we might spend before things get back to normal.

So all in all though I do have some reservations about Illusion the next book in the series I can still say plainly that I love Chronicles of Nick and can’t wait to get my next fix.

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