World War XYZ
Reading Infinity is like watching an entire season of The Originals. Not only is it set in New Orleans, but there is so much supernatural mumbo jumbo flying around that you have no idea how it's all going to wrap up at the finale.
And it doesn't.
Of course it doesn't. Sherrilyn Kenyon wants you to move on to the next book.
This book has bullying, zombies, demons, a force called Dark-Hunters, time travelers (maybe?), dangerous prophecies (probably?), and more. Now, Kenyon does wrap up one major plot at the end of Infinity: the zombie plot. Thankfully, this plot ties in with a few other subplots, so we get a few plots closed up with a bright red bow. It's red because it's splattered with zombie blood.
So what happens? Well, Nick learns that his lab partner, Madaug, has created a video game that turns people into zombies. No, this isn't about ethics in video game journalism. Madaug did it to stop someone from bullying him and other kids. Digitally lobotomizing these bullies seemed like a safe remedy.
What Madaug didn't expect was for a group of vaguely defined, unnamed villains called mortents to steal the game and use it to zombify the good folks of New Orleans en masse. The mortents both want to control humans and to turn Nick to the dark side.
The Force Awakens
That brings us to the book's most complicated subplot, one that is clarified a bit but not resolved. There are three things we learn by the book's end.
- Nick has a power that has not yet been awakened.
- A variety of people want to use Nick for a variety of reasons.
- If Nick commits an act of vengeance, he will turn evil, and the world will end, or something.
The Mortents want Nick on the dark side, so they force him to play the video game in an attempt to get him to kill his peers.
He almost does it, too. He considers killing his bully, Stone Blakemoor. But Nick takes pity on Stone and lets him go. He realizes he doesn't care what his stupid bullies think, and he'd rather have true friends than people who only pretend to be his friend. This is all an instant revelation for Nick, and it's kind of out of left field—but it sure resolves the bullying plot.
This is Thriller
Speaking of things flying in from left field, the zombie plot is resolved when Nick realizes that he can control zombies and shoot lightning from his hands. Why? Because he believes.
"Visualization. In order to make something happen, to become something else, you had to see it clearly in your mind. That was the first step of achieving success" (18.108). Yes, Nick's major power is Rhonda Byrne's The Secret. When Nick becomes super powerful, we're willing to bet that his sidekick will be Oprah.
After dissolving a few zombies, Nick gets a victory smooch from Nekoda (cue "oooooohs" from the audience) and receives a surprising invitation to move in with his mentor, Kyrian, so that he can learn what the lifestyles of the rich and famous are like from the inside.
To recap, Nick moves into a mansion, gets a date with a hot girl, and finds out he can control the dead in the span of about ten pages. Miami is sometimes called the Magic City, but that moniker might be more appropriate for New Orleans, at least in this world.
Everything else in the book, like Kyrian's true identity, what the deal is with Ambrose, and Nick's frenemyship with Acheron, is left until the next book. This one literally ends with the line "Oh crap. Here we go again" (Epilogue. 37-38), in case you didn't realize it was a cliffhanger.
Hang on tight.