Publication Date: December 12, 2012
In The Infinity Bridge by Ross M. Kitson, Sam and his brother Ben have an ability to see things that others can’t; Nick is a computer genius able to design the sort of computer viruses to end the technological world and Annie is a highly trained fighter. These teens stand between their world and the dark forces looking to find the Infinity Bridge, a device that could destroy everything.
The author, Ross Kitson, gave me a copy of this novel in exchange for my review.
The Infinity Bridge is a heart-pounding, action-packed, edge-of-your-seat fabulous read. Kitson’s construction of his alternate world is flawless and his active voice is polished. From the explosive first lines of the novel, The Infinity Bridge grabs the reader and keeps readers locked into the story until the very end.
Ben has been institutionalized as a result of his special abilities so his brother, Sam, has learned to keep his own superpower well hidden. Kitson frames characters with big backstories and a far-reaching ability in the plot and does so in a way that doesn’t belie believability and yet allows us to know the motivations of the characters. Each character has suffered some sort of profound loss whether they’ve acknowledged it or not. There are no thinly crafted characters here. They are ideally suited for the little-to-lose moves they make as the story progresses and their stories are visual to the reader. I’d love to see The Infinity Bridge on a movie or television screen.
All of the characters are wonderfully three-dimensional but one of the best is rare to the action genre. Annie is a bad-ass girl. She lives with her grandfather and is trained as a Ninja and is someone you want by your side in a fight. She is an empowering character for girls. Annie Jones is tough, skilled and endearing fallible. She is not focused on the men in the story but the action, and her place in it while evading the bad guys. Kitson does female readers the rare favor in an action story of presenting a strong and capable woman who is an active and full participant in the story.
The Infinity Bridge is the third steampunk novel I’ve read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The complexity of the plot and elegance of the world while maintaining a sense of the real world simmering the background is nothing short of brilliantly managed. One moment Sam is watching a companion fall and trying to evade the androids with the pinstripe man and the next Nick is sitting in the square with his world utterly turned upside down while drunk college students stumble by laughing in their simple existence (Page 23). The shifts between characters and extreme situations are flawlessly smooth.
I did have a commonality with Sam in love of Green Day. Itoo blast the band (usually while doing household chores. In the 1990s I called it “motivational” music). While I enjoyed the shout-out to a familiar genre, I did wonder if perhaps it will have the same thrill for young readers as, after all, The Infinity Bridge is classified as young adult.
The Infinity Bridge is a cool and edgy story. This is a story we wouldn’t have seen ten years ago. The technology Kitson frames and the worlds he builds are decades ahead of their time and refreshingly unique. The bad guys and their pursuit of the Infinity Bridge is no holds barred and as a reader who appreciates a good antagonist, it’s been a long time since I’ve read better baddies than the viciously dogged androids.
The Infinity Bridge is a wonderful action read. If you enjoy fantasy, steampunk or just really good storytelling, pick up The Infinity Bridge today.
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For more information about Ross M. Kitson and his work, visit his blog and website. You can connect with him on Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter @rossmkitson.