Xolo Score 3.5/5
Infinity Alchemist follows eighteen-year-old Ash Woods, working as a groundskeeper at the College of Alchemic Science after being rejected from the school and any opportunity to be a licensed alchemist. When the young prodigal professor Ramsay Thorne catches Ash practicing alchemy, they offer Ash a mentorship in exchange for help finding the elusive and dangerous Book of Source. Growing up lower-class in a discriminatory society, Ash takes the deal, fully acknowledging the perilous quest for a book many are ready to kill and die for.
*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***
The diverse cast of characters draws the reader into the novel’s world of alchemy and mysticism. Kacen Callender masterfully creates some of the most gender-fluid characters the YA Fantasy genre has ever seen. The book also subverts the timeless and often cliched love triangle troupe between the main characters. The book is quick to define how gender is not a “simplified binary but rather an infinite energy manifested into physical bodies.” Kacen alternates between different pronouns throughout the novel to emphasize the point. At the same time, Ash struggles to feel comfortable in their assigned gender but is encouraged by Ramsay to lean into the transcendence of alchemy and how it can help us create expansive and adaptive genders.
As Ash learns more about his alchemic abilities, it also offers him insight into embracing who they are in a world that constantly pushes him to the margins and keeps him subjected. His ability to embrace alchemy as a tool for personal liberation is empowering and emotional. Seeing Ash develop their skills and emotional maturity while fighting off the country’s most formidable alchemists compels readers to see the rise of an epic hero.
While Infinity Alchemist excels in many aspects, there are moments where the novel leaves a lot to be desired in terms of its world-building. Without a better understanding of the story’s lore, the reader can’t grasp the stakes of Ash’s journey. It also causes the plot’s pacing to feel uneven and rushed.
Infinity Alchemist is a spellbinding, gender-bending, Queer fantasy for the ages.
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*Disclaimer: A galley of the book was sent by the publisher
| To what extent are there BIPOC leading characters or perspectives? | How well does the author avoid writing BIPOC experiences through the white gaze? | To what extent does the author challenge white-centered beliefs? | How well does the book explore nuances between intersectional identities? |
Score | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
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