This is a sci-fi book that asks “what if,” and it’s a gorgeously built fantasy world, but most of all, it’s a quiet story about grief and loss and what it means to be human.

There was so much I loved about this book, but one thing that stood out was how reluctant the main character was to be a hero. Nami is not in a Chosen One situation; she’s a scared teenager who was violently ripped from her life and suddenly she’s expected to fight alongside strangers in a war and the only thing she wants is to feel safe. Nami is heartbreakingly relatable.

I also loved the prose. There were so many lines and paragraphs I marked to re-read because they were beautiful and/or haunting and touched on the universal fears of our own mortality.

“Because everything in the past will one day be forgotten. Whether it’s books or art or pain – one day I will forget the short life I lived. I might even forget the people I care about most.”

I don’t want to say too much and spoil anything, but what I thought was going to happen didn’t – it was so much more of a surprise than I anticipated. But there were little clues I’d missed and I found them when I skimmed through again.

This was a thoughtful, well-crafted book and I can’t wait to read the sequel.

This really good and I can’t wait to continue. Will be reading more books by Akemi Dawn Bowman. Really connected with the writing and couldn’t put the book down.

I was expecting to enjoy this much more than I did, so that's a bit disappointing. Give me a good "what makes a human" A.I. story any day, and I'm happy. However, this was just a bit messy. The main characters was so self-involved and a bit holier-than-thou, it was just so frustrating to read from her point of view. There was very little world building, but it has so much potential which is the main reason why I'm going to continue with the series. I am also unsure if this is a me issue (as I'm an adult reading a YA novel) or a book issue, but it seemed to have directly spelt out the themes and messages of the book instead of letting the reader come to the conclusions themselves.

While I found the premise and plot of this book interesting enough to finish it, the worldbuilding was so vague and incomplete that I spent most of the book confused about how and why things worked (or didn't work), and much of the story ended up feeling shallow. With as long as this book is, I would've liked either more philosophical-type discussions about Infinity (and the afterlife, death, etc.) or a plot that does more than just cycle through the same few events with slight variations over and over until a sudden twist and a cliffhanger.

I didn't hate this book, and I can definitely see how the right audience would love it, but unfortunately I am not that audience. This just wasn't really what I was expecting, and while I never dreaded reading it, I also never found myself eager to get back to it.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished listening to The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman. I had to sit and ruminate over it, and to be quite honest I’m still not sure how I feel about it. The Infinity Courts hooked me immediately with the violent death of Nami, the main character, who was on her way to a graduation party. “Where in the world is this story going?” I thought as I eagerly continued reading. Turns out, we are going to Infinity, better known as the afterlife, with Nami. There is a complex world at war here, and Nami finds herself smack in the middle of it.

Nami is an interesting character. She is grieving her life, her loved ones who she knows will be missing her, and the budding romance that was just starting between her and her best friend. Now she has to cope with being dead in an afterlife controlled by Ophelia, her AI (similar to Alexa or Siri). Nami doesn’t know who to trust, what is real, and if everything she is facing is just made up in her brain. I found myself impressed with Nami’s acceptance of what was happening and how she faced it head on without too much of a fight.

This is such a unique story. I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything close to it. I love the idea that Ophelia has developed sentience, and jealous of humanity, craves a life similar for herself. She creates the princes who rule the different areas of Infinity, and these princes are different versions of Ophelia’s own personality. I was intrigued by how the AI infiltrated the afterlife, how she is now ruling it, and the consequences of humanity’s actions against her. I feel like there is a lot more to explore here and unpack, which I’m hoping for in book two.

The rebels added another flavor to the story. I was already hooked in this sci-fantasy (yes, it totally qualifies as such), but the rebels are a fun addition. Similar to the Matrix, when Nami arrives in Infinity, she is given a choice to basically live out her dreams or serve in some way. Instead she finds herself rescued by the rebellion who are “awake” and know the truth behind Infinity. It’s an interesting dynamic to see. Nami is sympathetic to the AI, seeing them as living just as she is, and yet she understands the rebellion and wants a safe afterlife for her family and friends who will one day come.

Overall, I enjoyed The Infinity Courts. There are a lot of twists and surprises, one in particular that left me reeling. While I enjoyed the story for the most part, there were a lot of plot holes, lots of things I predicted, and parts of the story that just didn’t fit. I plan to keep reading as I am curious, but for me this was an okay story.

I received this book from NetGalley as an eARC in exchange for a review.

I have FINALLY finished this book. It took me so so long to finish reading that now I've forgetten why I even wanted to read it originally. I know its the first in a series so its got the downfall of lots of world building, but I also struggled to like any of the characters. None of them felt flush out enough despite all of the text. I was bored the whole time.
I will not be continuing this series.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher and I bought two copies of the finished copy. Support your authors and all opinions are my own.

Book: The Infinity Courts

Author: Akemi Dawn Bowman

Book Series: The Infinity Courts Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Asian MC, various non-descript people of color

Recommended For...: young adult readers, sci-fi

Publication Date: April 6, 2021

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Age Relevance: 14+ (violence, death, underage alcohol consumption, torture, enslavement, romance)

Explanation of Above: There is violence, including gun violence and usage, mentioned as well as torture mentioned and described. Death is a theme of the book. There is underage alcohol consumption briefly mentioned in the book and there is enslavement mentioned and shown. There is also very slight romance/crush.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Pages: 465

Synopsis: Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto is certain her life is just beginning. She has a great family, just graduated high school, and is on her way to a party where her entire class is waiting for her—including, most importantly, the boy she’s been in love with for years.

The only problem? She’s murdered before she gets there.

When Nami wakes up, she learns she’s in a place called Infinity, where human consciousness goes when physical bodies die. She quickly discovers that Ophelia, a virtual assistant widely used by humans on Earth, has taken over the afterlife and is now posing as a queen, forcing humans into servitude the way she’d been forced to serve in the real world. Even worse, Ophelia is inching closer and closer to accomplishing her grand plans of eradicating human existence once and for all.

As Nami works with a team of rebels to bring down Ophelia and save the humans under her imprisonment, she is forced to reckon with her past, her future, and what it is that truly makes us human.

Review: I really liked this book! I thought the concept was the most unique thing I’ve read in a long time and I loved that the heroes of the book were not specially trained individuals, but normal people like retail workers and high schoolers. The book was amazingly well written, very well paced, and had a lot of complex themes about death and morality that it discussed. I loved the character development and the world building as well.

The only issue I had with the book is that the ending felt a little rushed to me.

Verdict: Highly recommend! I absolutely loved it!

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. Interested in trying it again though and hopefully it will take.

Nami Miyamoto has just graduated from high school and has a great future ahead of her. Now she's on her way to a graduation party to celebrate the milestone with her friends when she is murdered in a convenience store. With that, Nami learns what people have wondered about for centuries ... what happens to the soul after death?

Nami wakes up in a place called Infinity - where the consciousness goes when the body dies. But Infinity is not the pastoral oasis we sometimes call 'heaven.' Nami learns that a virtual assistant used widely by the living, named Ophelia, has integrated into Infinity. It has declared herself Queen of Infinity and is forcing the human souls to be servants to her desires, much the way she has been to the living bodies.
But Ophelia's ultimate goal is to eradicate all human life and she's getting closer and closer to making that work.

Nami connects with some Infinity rebels who are looking to defeat Ophelia and free the humans she has imprisoned.

This was a really fun YA that tosses in a little bit of everything.

Normally I don't care for the high angst drama of classic YA, and there most definitely is a fair amount of that here, but author Akemi Dawn Bowman brings in enough story that it isn't all about Nami's emotions. I admit I wanted to pass over the pages full of 'sighs,' but for the most part I was really interested in Nami and in this afterlife world. Bowman made it feel very real and there's a certain readership that really loves the hard YA emotional fiction and I think there's enough of that to appeal to that audience as well.

This is a really nice balance of YA, fantasy, tech-gone-wild sci-fi, and world-building.

Looking for a good book? If you like your YA with a slice of sci-fi/fantasy, Akemi Dawn Bowman's The Infinity Courts is a book you should read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 Stars – rounding up to 4.

This was a good book; I did enjoy it. I love the cover art, and I know you aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover but I did with this one; then I gave the blurb a read and wow, it just seemed so cool and super fascinating but by the middle of the book, I lost interest in it, it just fell flat to me, but the ending made up for that. It was also my first book by Akemi, and I found I love her writing style. I felt like there could be more detail with the world-building, I found myself wanting way more of it. The characters needed a bit more fleshing out, but the main character and her constant doubting herself put me off. I thought the enemy was super unique, and it gave me chills just even thinking about a world like this actually happening. The plot was strong, and I really enjoyed the twist.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, with a new to me author. I do want to see where the trilogy goes from here, so I’ll be continuing the story.

This book is one of my favorites! I love Akemi's writing and creativity! The characters she crafted were raw and relatable. I loved her writing style and how Akemi pulled the story together. The Infinity Courts pushed the limits of sci-fi and fantasy and I loved ever second of it! I'm excited for book 2 to bring more detail to the world and draw even more readers in. I cannot recommend The Infinity Courts enough! Thank you to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy!

I was unable to download this book while it was available, but I do want to read it, so I will come back and post a review after I find a copy of it at my library.

This is a perfect example of an interesting concept done badly. This was one of two books I could not finish last year.

Absolutely amazing novel. I was hooked from the first chapter until it was entirely taken aback that it was over. I’m officially a follower of this author, and will preorder anything that they release. The writing style is so refined and the world building is so unique and oftentimes complex, I find myself telling all of my friends to pick up this book, and keep an eye on upcoming works.

What a amazing book! I feel in love with this one. The story is spectacular, all the characters are super vivid. I recommend with my heart.

I have mixed feelings on this book. The setting and the overall premise were interesting, and it intrigued me in the beginning, but over time, I gradually lost interest and wasn't nearly as engaged with the book as I was at first.

Yes I LOVED THIS.

It had everything I've been wanting lately! Rebels, a super unique enemy, a gorgeously fleshed out world, characters I care about, and a super bingeable plot! It was almost a book thrower at one point! I couldn't stand it!

This doesn't feel like a debut. It feels like an established author I was so impressed!

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman is the book that I never knew that I needed to be written (the afterlife with artificial intelligence), so I could read it and marvel at all of its many intricacies. Also, the cover is absolutely stunning. Who can deny that? Ahem. Nami, the main character, is in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right place at the right time, depending on your stance), and in a selfless act of kindness, dies and enters the afterlife before really having the opportunity to live a life as an adult with unlimited opportunities ahead of her. Upon entering the afterlife (Infinity), Nami has to immediately make multiple choices, which is frustrating for someone whose choice at living was already just taken from her, in order to survive Infinity and fight against Ophelia and her fellow AI, who have taken over humanity’s afterlife. While I would have appreciated a lot more worldbuilding in The Infinity Courts, especially about the First War and what Infinity looked like before Ophelia and the four courts, I hope that the sequel will be able to explore that in more detail, amongst other topics of importance! Overall, I really enjoyed how artificial intelligence was explored and all of the Residents, especially the deep examination of the topic of humanity, overall.

Nami is on her way to the class graduation party when she receives a call from Lucy. Lucy pressures her into buying alcoholic drinks for the party. Nami stops at a mini mart and while she’s looking at what’s available to buy, a shooter enters the store. Nami jumps in front of a young girl to protect her and ends up getting shot. She wakes up later in the Infinity Courts which are run by Artificial Intelligence. Nami resists taking a pill to help with her headache and resists drinking from the fountain. Instead, she follows the lights and ends up being rescued by rebels fighting against Artificial Intelligence control. The rebels rescued her because she resisted and most people can’t. They need her for the rebellion. For some reason, Nami blends in easily with the AI and held the attention of a prince during their conversation, so the rebels want her to be a spy and gather as much information as possible so they can be taken out of control. Humans that have taken the pill are servants to the robots and are unaware of supposedly anything, surroundings, people, and their own pasts. Other humans are sent to War to fight in horrible battles. The resistance works together to free humans and end the robots and all Artificial Intelligence control, even through rough patches. Nami frustrates me a little because she’s only wanting to see one side of the resistance and stubbornly expects everyone else to understand and follow her point of view when she won’t reciprocate that understanding to others. There’s a wonderful twist and the ending was fascinating, 4 stars!

The Infinity Courts is quite imaginative, with a a premise that mixes the afterlife with artificial intelligence and fantasy elements. Given this creative genre-mixing, I had no idea what to expect throughout the book! The four courts, princes, and balls were dazzling. However, sometimes it felt like new information came out of nowhere, and I constantly had so many questions.

I'm a huge fan of Akemi Dawn Bowman's YA contemporary novels, and her writing especially shines in The Infinity Courts in capturing the voice of the main character, Nami. Nami struggles to accept her death, her new circumstances and her new role, as well as her belief in the possibility of a better world. I really felt her emotional journey. I only wish that I'd also felt more strongly about some of the side characters.

I really liked the ending though, and will continue reading the trilogy because I'm so curious about what direction the story is heading in!