A review by erinarkin20
Infinity by Jus Accardo

4.0

When I found out there was a new Jus Accardo book coming out I was super excited. I have always enjoyed her stories and Infinity, book one of the Infinity Division series, falls into that category right alongside her other books.

Kori is a typical teenager with a few exceptions. Her father is a pretty high ranking army general which requires her to move around quite a bit which means she doesn’t really get close to anyone. When her mother died, Kori had a rough time and because of her father’s job, he wasn’t there for her. In an attempt to stay close to her, Kori starts a mural on a public wall. Since her work is against the law, she only goes out late at night to paint and when the story opens, she crosses paths with someone who will change the course of her entire future.

I like Kori. She hasn’t had things easy and she isn’t afraid to stand up for herself. When she is put into a situation that seems completely unreal, Kori is able to look at things objectively and figure out what the path forward should be. Yes, at times she acts rashly but in the end, she puts some thought into what she is doing and her end goal is almost always, protecting the people she loves/cares about.

On the day we meet Kori, she is caught by the local cops defacing the wall with her painting. When her father finds out what she has been up to, he isn’t happy and when he feels like he can’t trust her to stay in line, he has some of his army privates hang around to make sure she does. Since he’s headed out of town, Kori expects them to show up at any time and sure enough, two guys (Cade and Noah) she has never met before but apparently work for her dad, come to “babysit” her and keep her out of trouble. Kori, of course, finds it ridiculous and decides she is still going to get out of the house…without her wardens.

This is the part of the story when things begin to pick up and Kori begins to find out things she never expected. The first important piece of information is that there are alternate universes that include different versions of her and the people around her. The second thing she finds out is that the two men sent to protect her are actually from another universe and they are both linked to her in that universe. Not only that, but her mom and dad aren’t exactly who she thought they were. Yes, her father works for the military but he leads a secret program that Kori’s mom developed which involves the ability to skip from one universe to another.

The characters in this book were very well-developed. I thought the backstories for both Cade and Noah were believable and their links to Kori (from the other universe) helped keep the story moving forward. The tension between these characters was well done and it helped them realize just how different they are from one universe to the next. They all were pushed to realize that even though there are multiple versions of someone, they aren’t always the same due to the circumstances they grew up with.

The bad guy in the story is linked to Cade and Noah’s universe. Dylan is searching for something he may never find and he doesn’t really care who he hurts as long as he gets what he wants. I thought Accardo did a good job of building his backstory around what he was doing and linking the rest of the story to his conflict with Cade. As emotional as he was about the situation, I found it interesting that he always had a backup plan and was able to get out of whatever plan the group had to stop him.

One other thing I can always count on with books from Jus Accardo is a bit of romance. Of course, because Kori and Cade have a history from his perspective, initially he looks at her and sees the Kori from his universe but that definitely changes. This Kori is so different from the one he grew up with and I have to say, I was really glad that Accardo cleared the air around that bit of detail because I wanted Cade to be better than that. I am also glad he had the opportunity to tell Kori because otherwise she would have continued to doubt his feelings.

Once Kori learns more about what is really going on and she, Cade, and Noah start working together, the story is almost non-stop action. Kori, Noah, and Cade are constantly on the run either trying to find answers or people and I thought Accardo did a fantastic job tying everything together. This was a fast-paced, action filled, story that kept me turning the pages. I found it to be a fairly quick read and although I thought the ending felt slightly rushed, I enjoyed the story. I love a good parallel universe story and look forward to seeing what happens next for these characters. If you are looking for a YA sci-fi that has strong characters and a great story, definitely check this one out. I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series when it is released.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy!