The cover is what drew me in! The at work is beautiful. This story is definitely unique. It was full of action, The works building was amazing. I enjoyed the pot twist and just overall enjoyed the read.

The Infinity Courts ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I try and not to judge a book by it’s cover , but in this case I want to . What a gorgeous cover , it’s absolutely stunning .

If you love Sci-Fi and high stakes you’ll want to read this book .

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

DNF, had trouble getting into the story.

First off, the concept this book is built on is super fascinating, and wholly unique from things I've read before. It's set in this world's version of the afterlife, Infinity, and follows Nami after her untimely death as a teenager. However, this world has been taken over by AI, namely one that everyone has been using in the real world to do their bidding for the past few years (think Siri and Alexa). Including AI opened a whole new can of worms regarding humanity, morality, and who deserves the chance to be alive and be free.

The setting of the story is built on a mix of fantasy and sci-fi, and overall feels like a dystopian novel with touches of magic and more focus on the humanity of things vs. the science. There are loads of tech that both sides of the conflict are using, but the addition of sci-fi makes the world feel less concrete and clear-cut, as any lines that science draws, magic can overcome. It leads to a world with rules that both sides are constantly trying to overcome, either through experimentation or sheer force of will. It was a perfect setting for the discussions Bowman then introduced into the story through plot and characters.

What was strongest for me in this book was Nami, and the way her thoughts seemed to break through the binary of good and evil that humans and AI, or residents, seemed to paint around themselves to keep themselves from thinking too much about the pain they were inflicting on others. The other side was evil, and therefore any pain they felt was unimportant. Nami tried and hoped to change that, and it was a running theme throughout the book. She had discussions about change with both sides, about accepting and giving the other side a chance to show their 'humanity.'

I also loved how AI as a whole was handled in this story. From the beginning, Nami is a character that thinks of Ophelia/AI as something more than just a tool to be used, unlike most of those around her. It makes her stand out when she reaches Infinity, and the questions she poses regarding the humanity and worth of those who aren't truly human, and how everyone deserves a chance to choose and be free led to interesting conversations between Nami and other characters.

Most of my reading this book was spent thinking about these things and wondering where the book would eventually take it. Would Nami be forced into the binary anyway due to the rigidity of the opinion of those around her? Would she be able to make the divide between the residents and the humans smaller? But then, in the last few chapters, almost all thoughts of this were pushed away to due to the pure shock that came with the plot twist. I think I'm still reeling from it! I was so focused on everything else to even see any of the signs!

Overall, I'm really excited for the sequel and to see where this series goes!

I’m again late in reading this book despite having an advance copy but I just couldn’t make myself pick it up earlier. But I have been quite excited about it for a while now and I have to say, it lived up to all my expectations. The biggest thing that this book has going for it is the concept of it. It is very interesting, and it's like nothing else I've read before. I also thought the plot twist at the ending was truly shocking, and I didn't see it coming AT ALL. A lot of strong aspects within this book, well executed storyline and plot that is truly original, and a great start to a series. The biggest issue I had was the characters, as I didn't feel like they were extremely likable or enjoyable quite a few times throughout the story.

Akemi Dawn Bowman’s The Infinity Courts is a great read with a very interesting premise. After dying unexpectedly, Nami Miyamoto wakes up in Infinity and learns that her favorite artificial intelligence, Ophelia, has become the self-proclaimed queen of the afterlife. Rather than complying with the Residents’ (the name of the artificial intelligence beings that reside in Infinity) demands, Nami joins the resistance, self-named The Colony, to help her fellow humans reclaim Infinity.

It is through Nami’s death that Bowman explores what it means to be human. Nami is a great POV character because the readers get to witness her first struggle with The Colony’s aggressive tactics towards the Residents and then formulate her own opinions about the Residents. The book even contains some great discussions (and excellent starting points for book clubs) about empathy, kindness, and cruelty. However, as much as I loved those discussions about humanity, I also felt bogged down by them. At times, it felt like the discussions were unintentionally distracting the reader from the main plot.

That being said, it is the big reveal in The Infinity Courts that really piqued my interest, changing my final rating from 3 stars to 4 stars. After reading how the events in the last 1/3rd of the novel unfolded, I am anxiously waiting to read the next book in this series. Many thanks to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the e-ARC! All opinions are my own.

If a YA dystopian doesn't have a ballroom scene, is it even a YA dystopian?

This felt like a 2013 book, in the best possible way.

It was like walking into the familiar tropes—love triangle, gowns, spies, revolution, dystopian society split into various factions, the chosen one who doesn't want to be the chosen one, self-sacrificing—and stepping into a warm hug, a gentle feeling of ahhhh, this is the good shit.

Because Bowman takes these familiar tropes and makes them relevant once again.

And also very invested in not ever using Siri or Alexa.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the lovely May @ Dreamer of Books and Coffee for buddy reading with me!

5/5 stars

The Infinity Courts is an imaginative take on the afterlife with complicated characters and plot twists that will keep you guessing!

At first, I presumed this book would be your run-of-the-mill evil AI story. But The Infinity Courts is so much more than that! It brings up some deeper questions while still being a fun sci-fi novel. It's probably one of my favorite books of the month!

After Nami dies she wakes up in a strange place called the Infinity Courts, where an AI assistant from Earth, Ophelia, has taken over as that strange afterlife as its queen. Humans are offered a pill that is supposed to take their pain away, but little do they know that it's actually a ruse to steal their consciousnesses and turn them into servants, much like Ophelia was on Earth. When Nami refuses the pill, she is rescued by rebels who, with their intact consciousnesses, intend to take down the AIs and regain the afterlife for the humans.

The one element I wasn't 100% on was the worldbuilding. I love the idea of the worldbuilding and I love most of the execution, but I had a few questions. For example, if this is an afterlife why aren't there more old people? That is the most common age to die. If these are all the dead people ever, why aren't there people from different time periods? It requires a suspension of belief, which is something I'd rather not have to do.

I really enjoyed Nami as an MC. She brought up some important questions that are normally glossed over in this kind of story. Do a few bad people doom the whole group? Just because AI are artificial, does that mean they aren't people too? Though that might have even been overplayed, I like that those questions were brought to mind. I could have done without all the sacrifice-everyone-for-one-stranger shtick that she had going, but I did like her compassion.

This was a very thought-provoking read. But not annoyingly so; the sci-fi elements take care of that. But it was thought-provoking in the way that all books about death are. Life's greatest mystery, no? There were also some questions raised by our main character about the AI that I really enjoyed and believe can be applied to real life too.

I was enjoying the story, but the moment I knew that I was going to rate this book five stars instead of four-and-a-half was when all the plot twists started dropping like bombs in the last 10%. I mean...what? How on earth am I supposed to wait until 2022 for book two now?

All in all, I loved this book. I would highly recommend it, and you better believe I'm buying a physical copy ASAP!

I am impressed by this book. It was thought-provoking, intelligent, and heartfelt. The ending though left me gobsmacked. I cannot believe it ended that way. I an now left bereft and in need of the sequel.

I received an eARC copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
This book had me reeling.

Nami was trying to find her place in this new world while fighting with the lose of her family. She is thrown in to a world where the option seems black and white, but she is pulled to a more grey interpretation. Her character was well developed and interesting. Struggling with the lose of her family and being told by her new found family that she was wrong and needed to just do her job was an interesting dynamic. I thought it was realistic that as a new member of the afterlife, she still maintained some form of humanity and questioning.

I think a beautiful thing about this book is it will leave you questioning who is the real villain of the story. That quality is hard to find in a book with espionage and rebellious themes. I think the author adequately got this theme across without beating it over the readers head.

The world of Infinity itself was really well built. While most of the action happens in only one court, the rest of the world already seems to be very well fleshed out. The idea that each court has its own leader and way of dealing with the afterlife is fantastic.

If you are looking for an original novel with espionage, questioning humanity, and finding your voice in front of a mass of people telling you no, then this is a book for you!

Great concept! I’d like to have seen the characters have a but more development but the story was so intriguing I was hooked anyways.

Very intense read. I loved the story line. It was unique. It was very exciting and adventurous.

The characters were great!

Akemi Dawn Bowman is one of my favourite authors and an insta-buy author for me. I cannot lie to you and say I was completely calm about the switch between contemporary to sci-fi and fantasy genre for Akemi, even though I know the author is absolutely incredible. Contemporary is my favourite genre and I really struggle with fantasy novels, so going into this I did not know what to expect. I was blown away with how much I enjoyed this one though!

This book has such an amazing concept, which is what originally intrigued me to the story. I enjoy stories that show different versions of an ‘afterlife’ because they get me thinking. This ‘afterlife’ is so interesting due to it being run by a virtual assistant that humans used on Earth. It shows us as readers what it really means to be humans. I found the world building in this novel very easy to understand which helped me to enjoy the novel more.

I enjoyed the discussions that this book brings up. Such as, what it means to be human and who controls what in our lives. It really got me thinking about some philosophical questions which I loved. Akemi always touches on a few key themes in her books such as family, identity and grief. These topics play a huge part in the character development and inner conflict that Nami is facing. Akemi has such a way with writing these topics. You can tell she puts a lot of thought and consideration into how that are written, especially given that they are such difficult topics and it really makes for excellent reading.

Nami is a wonderful main character. She is curious, kind, considerate and she is going through a little bit of an identity crisis. Nami goes from struggling with her identity as she goes through graduation to someone who has to come to terms with dying and being in 'Infinity’. I loved her character and how she went about making decisions, some of which were incredibly difficult. It is clear to see her heart is always in the right place.

The secondary characters in this book are also excellent. My personal favourites being the Princes of Infinity or more specifically, Caelan. There is also the band of characters from the resistance who I loved. Of course, there is also the villain Queen Ophelia who I like to think of as Alexa turned evil. The readers get to know certain characters more than others but I am sure we will learn more about the others in the next book in the series!

I have to admit that at times I struggled with the pacing of this book. The book starts out being all about action and then it slows down quite a lot. This took me out of enjoying the book for a while and made it so I struggled to want to pick it up again. But, very quickly, the pacing picks back up and then I found it to be unputdownable!

Overall, The Infinity Courts is packed full of twists and turns and it is a thought-provoking and all-round excellent read. I highly recommend giving this one a go if you are fan of fantasy and sci-fi novels. Also, if you have read Akemi’s previous novels and are looking to dive into different genres, this may just be the perfect route!

I wanted to like this. I wanted to love it. And for the first few chapters, I completely did. I liked the character and the writing and the world of the afterlife seemed so cool and new. I was so excited to keep reading. So I did.

And then I stopped liking it.

I struggled with the characters and the pacing and the repetitiveness of the story and its themes.

First, the characters. All the side characters felt generic to me. All were very tropey, I knew how each of them would turn out f0rom the moment they are introduced. Then there was Nami, the MC. I thought I was really going to like her, based on her introduction when she was still alive, and even a bit after she died and entered the afterlife. Then she became annoying to me. She constantly went on about how she's not a hero, yet has such a raging hero complex. I love that she's selfless at times and willing to sacrifice herself for others, but the fact that she's so focused on saving a single random individual that she's willing to endanger the entire community angered me.

The main issue I had with the MC is one that ties into the story's repetitiveness that I mentioned. Nami brought up a lot of moral questions throughout the novel on what it means to be human and who deserved a second chance. Nami also acknowledged that the bad guys also had some valid points and that perhaps they too deserved their freedom, maybe even at the cost of humans. All of this was great. I love when books like this bring up the morals of their actions and actually acknowledge the villain's side.

Except that every other chapter there at least one paragraph of Nami going through this same moral crisis in her head and each time it was exactly the same. It was exhausting hearing her repeat the same inner monologue and same moral questions over and over. There was no subtlety. The author really beats you over the head with this and doesn't let the reader draw their own conclusion and morals.

Then there were the relationships between the characters. They somehow took forever and yet felt rushed. So much happened and yet nothing happened. Their relationships developed over a long period of time, and yet very suddenly. I don't know how else to explain that.

The worldbuilding was cool in concept but I have so many questions. Too much was just vaguely explained. Too many things weren't explained at all. And I usually don't care if a book had vague world-building, but when a story's plot is so heavily entwined with the world, I'm going to need more info.

Throughout the book, I kept thinking I might give the book at least three stars but then I put it down one day because it was dragging and forgot about it for almost a week. I had no interest in going back to it. I had honestly forgotten I was reading it. And when a book means so little to you that you have no desire to even keep going, that's not a three-star book. Continuing to read it felt like a drag afterward, I just wanted it to end. The last few chapters did pick up a bit, but by then, I was just tired.

Overall, this was an ok book. The writing style was fine. The concept was super interesting. But this just wasn't for me. I hope you all have better luck with it. I wasn't really feeling it with this one and won't be reading book two.

The Infinity Courts follows Nami, a biracial teenager who is murdered within the first few chapters of the book on her way to her high-school graduation party. She wakes up to find that she is now an afterlife called Infinity, but realizes that something is very wrong. It turns out that Ophelia—the virtual assistant that Nami and so many other humans relied on to help them on Earth—has taken over as queen of Infinity, and is now planning to eradicate humans for good. Nami must join a group of humans who are leading a resistance against Ophelia and the other AI who also reside in Infinity in order to figure out a way to stop her.

This book promised to explore themes of what it really means to be human and who gets to decide that, and I while I appreciated how they were woven into the story, I am a little conflicted on their execution. On the one hand, there was a lot of powerful discussion about the gray area behind good and bad, and what the meaning of humanity truly is. Nami grapples with feeling guilt for killing the AI—called Residents—because even though they have been torturing humans in the afterlie, she doesn’t believe that killing an entire race of beings is the right thing to do. The other members of the human resistance, called the Colony, have the opposite mindset, as they have lived through the torture and just want to see the Residents gone. Nami’s discussions with the other humans provided a lot of depth to the novel and brought to light themes about the gray area between good and bad.

On the other hand, the themes also felt very preachy, such as the way Nami constantly asked herself questions about whether what she was doing was the right thing, and brought up the same problems every few pages. Her internal monologue got extremely repetitive, causing the themes to feel more forced rather than really allowing the reader to think about it themselves. I think that I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if the themes were more subtle.

Another thing I wasn’t a huge fan of were Nami’s motivations throughout the book, specificially how certain parts of her characterization were repeatedly told rather than shown. Don’t get me wrong: I liked how Nami was characterized for the most part. At her heart, she is just a girl who is trying to do the right thing, even though she’s unsure what the true meaning of “doing the right thing” is. However, there was a very specific problem I had with her thought process: how she always used her sister as a main motivator for doing the right thing. To explain, whenever Nami was unsure or worried about the danger she would be in, she told herself that she had to do it for her little sister Mei who was still alive, otherwise Mei wouldn’t get to experience a good afterlife once she died.

The main reason I had a problem with this was because we barely got to see Nami’s relationship with her sister in the first place. Nami was murdered only about 5% into the book, so there was only one scene of interaction between her and her sister, which did not strengthen their relationship. I found it hard to connect to how much she loved her sister, because it seemed as if we were being told about it rather than shown.

However, if you were looking forward to this book, don’t worry! These problems didn’t take away a lot from my overall enjoyment; I still really liked many aspects of The Infinity Courts, especially the plot and worldbuilding. Infinity was crafted in a really unique way, and it was so interesting to learn more about it. I never felt as if there were too many info-dumps, as the author revealed information about the world throughout the book without it getting to be too much. The pacing of this book was also done well; I normally have a difficult time reading SFF over 400 pages. However, although this one was almost 500 pages, it felt like much less; I flew through the chapters in about a few days, eager to see what was going to happen.

This was definitely helped by the fact that the twists and turns throughout the story had me on my toes, breathlessly eager to know what would happen. I finished the book late at night because I was absolutely astonished by the last few chapters and couldn’t wait to see how it would end. And speaking of the ending… I just don’t know what to say, because that plot twist was so astonishing. The ending absolutely gutted me and I read the last 10 pages in shock over what was happening. Looking back, there was also a lot of foreshadowing sprinkled in throughout the book that makes me want to reread it, just to be able to catch things better the second time around!

To conclude, The Infinity Courts is a promising science fiction debut that I am glad I was able to read, because the world was built so creatively and I was constantly on my toes keeping up with the plot! Other than the problems I had with the overzealous messages and Nami’s unfleshed characterization, I was able to enjoy the novel and absolutely lost my mind over the ending. I cannot wait to read the sequel and see how the author pulls off that last plot twist!!

★★★★☆ // 3.5 stars

Even though The Infinity Courts is a whole different genre from previous books by Akemi Dawn Bowman I read, this book felt like coming home. Akemi’s writing style is so lovely and wonderful. There were a lot of contemporary. elements and references to other fandoms that simply made my heart happy. Another thing I really love is how the title makes so sense so perfectly! I hadn’t realized this as I was reading the book, but now I’m thinking about it and I’m like… 'Aha!' It’s really clever.

Since the title of the book ‘The Infinity Courts‘ is 100% based on its world, let’s start there. The entire story is set in Infinity – pretty much the afterlife. Throughout the entire book, we get to know this kind-of-heaven (hell..?) with its different courts, mysterious locations, and beautiful backdrops. The world-building literally doesn’t end. As I’m a sucker for incredibly well-built worlds, this was obviously a treat!

The Infinity Courts follows 18-year-old Nami, who’s murdered on her way to a party and ends up in Infinity. I found her a bit of a questionable character. I loved her and all she stood for, but at the same time I felt like she just went a bit too far sometimes. It got her in trouble so many times! The reason I find this “questionable” because I feel like would she be any other YA character, I think it’d annoy the hell out of me! As for the other characters in this book; Oh my, I adore them! Besides Theo and Gill, we didn’t get a lot of backstory on them, which I think is fine. The book is about Nami, after all!

I hereby crown Akemi Dawn Bowman Queen of the Plot Twist. Because holy plot twist, Batman! I’m still in UTTER. SHOCK. Like, The Infinity Courts is this incredible story. It’s perfectly well-paced, captivating, mysterious and so, so fun to read. It has twists and turns, surprises, and then *boom* MASSIVE PLOT TWIST. I can’t say more without spoiling it though… And I don’t want to, ha! Read it for yourself! I love the beginning of the book is essential to the rest of the story. I feel weird for mentioning it; isn’t that usually the case? Let me put it this way: we dive straight into the main plot, starting on page one. You don’t realize it at the time, but then when you do… Oh man, you’ll LOVE this book.

Overall, The Infinity Courts is an absolutely incredible book. It’s probably one of my 2021 favorites so far! If you loved Akemi Dawn Bowman’s previous books, you’ll love this one for sure.

Big thank you to Turn The Pages Tours, the publisher, and the author for this advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion during the blog tour.

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman has been on my TBR ever since it was announced. As a biracial woman with a heavy interest in Japan, Nami interested me a lot, for several reasons. So when Turn The Pages Tours put out the call for book bloggers to join the tour, I didn’t hesitate for a second.

The opening sets the tone, but it’s quickly changed. The quick, nerdy references soon make place for internal dialogue, morals, and ethics. Nami has to make choices she never expected to make, especially not at her age. Everyone around her tells her what she needs to see, but she wants to follow her own path. This is the thing I love most about her. She wants to see the good, hope, and love, even in a world where war, hate, and submission rule daily life.

The world the author created is beautiful and scary at the same time. It’s a dystopian setting where beauty and pain are divided by a very thin line. I want to see more of it, but at the same time, I’m afraid to see all of its ugliness. You can’t help to root for Nami and her friends, to see this world changed, and see what it can become.

One thing not everyone may like is the pacing. There is a lot of internal monologue from Nami which slows down the pace. I think this is necessary to follow the changes she goes through, but if you want an action-packed novel, you better look elsewhere. This is a novel that’ll make you think about a multitude of things, about humanity, and the ‘other’. You’ll start wondering about your own morals and ethics. What would you do in Nami’s position?

I give The Infinity Courts five stars. For me, a good book makes you think, a great book makes you feel. The Infinity Courts made me think and feel. I can’t wait to dive back in and see what Nami does next.

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing
Genre: Sci Fi & Fantasy | Teens & YA
Publication Date: April 6, 2021

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman is the first book in the new series (by the same title)! This is the first book I have read by the author and I know it won't be the last!

This book was so good! I love fantasy books and this is such an interesting take on afterlife! This story is fascinating and I could not put it down! I loved the characters and was hooked on this book!

I can't wait for the next book to come out!!!

I'm so grateful to Akemi Dawn Bowman, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for granting me an ARC of this book!!</i>

<i>Actual rating:</i> 3.5 stars

<i>“I wonder if infinity is enough time to heal a broken heart.”</i>

In this book, we follow Nami, a girl gets shot and killed, ending up in Infinity, a place where humand goe when they die. There, she discovers that Ophelia, a virtual inteligence took over the place and became the queen.
I really enjoyed how different and creative this world was. I liked Nami as a main character, even thou she was quite stuborn at times (<I>with good reason!</i>). The other characters were well developed too. The plot was quite intriguing, and the ending got me <i>shocked</i>! My complaint was that the story felt very YA at times, which is a bit stupid since that's the target audience, but I wish it had a darker tone somehow.

This was absolutely amazing! I loved the main character, and the entire premise of the story is something I've just never heard of before! I would highly reccomend this to others if you're looking for a fresh new take on YA si-fi.