Representation: Asian character
Trigger warnings: Fire, explosions, plane crash, death of a sister, parents in the past and other people, gun violence, physical injury, military violence and war themes
Score: Six points out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.

One year ago, I mistakenly read The Infinity Files' sequel, The Infinity Guardians, a letdown from the get go. One year later, it was time to read The Infinity Files, so I picked it up from the library and read it. When I finished the novel, it was such a disappointment, and I hoped that I would enjoy it, but I didn't.

It starts with the first character I see, Ash Yang, who is on the cusp of graduating from Star Corporation Academy when she inexplicably failed her final test. Ash's dreams shattered in front of her eyes, but fortunately for her, SCA is not done with her yet because they want to assign her one final occupation: The Guardian. Ash goes to the library at the end of the universe where she meets Orius who tasks her with the first of many missions to come. The library's most imperative objective is to collect objects from planets to preserve their cultures or leave a record of them if a civilisation ceases to exist. I thought I would get a satisfying reading experience with that premise, but The Infinity Files did not deliver. Its most prominent flaws lie in its characters, plot and writing style. I couldn't connect or relate to any of the people, the narrative quickly got repetitive and the author didn't write engagingly enough for me to delight myself in reading her piece of literature.

I reach the conclusion around the 350 page mark when the pacing stopped being tedious and started being more action-packed, which I liked. The conclusion finishes on a cliffhanger, but now I already know what happens in the second and final instalment. To summarise, The Infinity Files initially showed promise, but in the end, it disenchanted me, and it would be an insult to compare it to outstanding pieces of YA science fiction like The Aurora Cycle by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. ( )