Infinity Gate | Brainfluff

I’m a fan of M.R. Carey’s writing – see my reviews of The Girl with all the Gifts, The Boy on the Bridge, and his popular post-apocalyptic Rampart trilogy – The Book of Koli , The Trials of Koli. and The Fall of Koli. So when I learnt that he was producing a sci fi series, I was delighted and was looking forward to this one with huge anticipation.

BLURB: The Pandominion is a political and trading alliance consisting of roughly a million worlds.

REVIEW: I am aware that my huge excitement at getting hold of a copy of this one probably didn’t do me any favours – because I was initially somewhat disappointed. I’m not a fan of info-dumps – and when the book starts with an explanation of the world and the main characters and what their role is going to be, then my heart sinks. Particularly when the author is as accomplished as Carey. I’m not even sure it’s in the right place – for going back and rereading it, I think it would have made a better epilogue than prologue.

There is also a lot of foreshadowing throughout the story – and again, I didn’t feel that was necessary. It’s almost as though Carey didn’t quite trust that his story is capable of bringing the reader along without those extra assists, which is a bit annoying, because it clearly does. For example, one of the main protagonists has an unexpected transformation. At least – it would be unexpected, but for the fact that we’re told well in advance what has happened to her. This was irritating on two levels. For starters, I would quite like to have experienced the plot twist alongside the other characters involved, who were clearly upset and shocked. The other consequence is that because I already knew the important part of her fate – and therefore was able to put together exactly what has actually happened to her – I was ahead of the characters involved with her for quite a large part of the book. And that never helps with the pacing, because it meant that until they caught up with me, I felt that aspect was a bit draggy, even though all sorts of exciting things were going on.

That said, I’m aware that I’m in a minority as a number of my book blogging buddies have read this one and absolutely loved it. I wanted to – and indeed, there’s much in the story that I thoroughly enjoyed. I love the world and the premise, which is clearly highly relevant and Carey’s take on the parallel world theory is interesting and rich. The settings are vividly portrayed with economy and power – vital when there are a variety of places and part of the wonder is the sheer scale and difference. And Carey’s ability to produce nuanced and difficult characters that we nevertheless can care about – I’m looking at you, Essien Nkanik – is impressive. And I hasten to add that this isn’t a bad book by any means. If it had been written by another author, I’d probably be singing its praises – but I wasn’t expecting such technical glitches to interfere with my enjoyment in a story by M.R. Carey. While I obtained an arc of Infinity Gate from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
7/10

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books they’ve read and share what they have got up to during the last week.

The weather has still been quite wet and chilly – I keep looking at the Spring blossoms with surprise as it doesn’t feel as if winter has really lifted. On the plus side, the flowers and blossoms are looking fabulous as they haven’t wilted and died too fast, which happens when we get an unseasonably hot spell at this time of the year.

Other than that, it’s been a normal week with nothing outstanding happening – and I’ll take that as a win. I have been contacted by the Long Covid clinic, who have given me suggestions as to how to move forward. I’m a bit stuck with being terribly out of condition and unfit, but afraid to do normal fitness activities in case I trigger another relapse. Let’s hope their solutions help. Talking things through with them made me realise that I’ve come a very long way in a relatively short space of time, given that this time last year, I was still spending most of my time in bed and hardly going anywhere. So I need to be patient and perhaps a bit kinder to myself. The photos are from yesterday – the boys were both away for the day, so Himself and I went for an afternoon treat to the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust and were lucky to get there for a boat ride through the reed beds. It was a gloriously sunny day – the warmest of the year so far…

I’m now line editing Flame & Blame. It’s a slow business as I follow the manuscript while listening to Word’s text-to-speech option, but I pick up bloopers and awkward sentence constructions that I don’t see when just reading it through to myself. I also have completed my outline of the next book in the Picky Eaters series, Conclave of Dragons and I’ve now started writing an exclusive story for my newsletter followers – ‘Casta and the Giggling Knight’. It’s huge fun to be able to sit down and have the words just pour out of the ends of my fingers, again😊.

I just don’t seem to be reading all that much at present – by the time I get to bed, I’m so tired I fall asleep almost at once.

Last week I read:-

AUDIOBOOK – Lost Truth – Book 3 of the Truth series by Dawn Cook
Alissa is steadily advancing in her magical studies with the last surviving Master at the legendary Hold. But she’s haunted by dreams—dreams revealing that other Masters have survived.

Alissa’s dreams lead her to a distant island where she and a rescue party discover countless Masters, alive and part of a flourishing magical society. But instead of being welcomed, Alissa finds that she herself may need to be rescued. The Masters’ leader, Keribdis, believes that she should be Alissa’s teacher, whether Alissa likes it or not. When Alissa rebels, she endangers not only her magic but also her life.
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this series. For those who are interested in such things, Dawn Cook is a pen name of Kim Harrison, who also writes successful urban fantasy adventures. I’ve grown very fond of impetuous, disaster-magnet Alissa, though I was increasingly fed up with the love triangle around her. And I’m glad that it’s been resolved in this book. Cook has created a vivid world where magic-users are all somewhat arrogant and short-fused. Which has interesting consequences… Marguerite Gavin does a wonderful job of the narration. 9/10

Infinity Gate – Book 1 of the Pandominion series by M.R. Carey
The Pandominion is a political and trading alliance consisting of roughly a million worlds.

But they’re really all the same world – Earth – in many different dimensions. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they’ll eradicate it by whatever means necessary—no matter the cost to human life.
I wasn’t as blown away by this one as I’d expected. Given this is the author who gave us The Girl With All the Gifts and the wonderful Rampart trilogy – see my review of The Book of Koli – I was rather disappointed at the info-dump prologue and the foreshadowing in places. That said, the world is vivid, the characters nuanced and the action well described. And I definitely want to know what will happen next. 7/10

AUDIOBOOK – Bleeding Heart Yard – Book 3 of the Harbinder Kaur series by Elly Griffiths
Is it possible to forget that you’ve committed a murder?

When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job–as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory.

One day her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School–among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them, Garfield Rice, is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent–and controversial–MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again.
I’m a fan of Elly Griffiths writing – but although I’ve enjoyed the Ruth Galloway series, the Harbinder Kaur books are even better, in my opinion. And this latest offering hasn’t changed my view. Griffiths’ masterfully depicts the tensions within a group of eighteen-year-olds and how that impacts on their subsequent lives, for good and ill. And what happens when a shocking murder rakes up a tragedy all of them would rather forget. I thoroughly enjoy Kaur’s dry, slightly sarcastic take on the world – and seeing her get to grips with now living in London. All in all, a cracking whodunit. 10/10

My posts last week:

Castellan the Black and his Wise Dragonic Musings on Life

Can’t-Wait-Wednesday featuring Cursed Crowns Book 2 of the Twin Crowns series by Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NOVELLA And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Hope you, too, had some brilliant books to tuck into and wishing you all a happy, healthy week😊.