**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Kacen Callendar has their young adult fantasy debut with Infinity Alchemist. Readers follow Ash as he navigates a world where unlicensed alchemy, the only kind available to him, is illegal. As Ash stumbles into an opportunity to be formally taught alchemy, he also begins to see the webs of secrets and corruption on which his society is built. It doesn't take long for Ash to realize that these secrets could easily cost the lives of Ash, his friends, and whole cities worth of people.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I wanted to DNF around 35%, but powered through. Things did get better, but overall I found this reading experience to be a bit cluttered.

First, I recognize I am not the target age demographic for this book. But also, I'm not sure if that would make much difference given the issues I had. I found the pacing to be incredibly uneven. The start was slow and full of dense info-dumping, then falling into an action-filled zealous middle space, and a tidy little wrap up within the last 30ish pages. There was certainly room left for a sequel, but the combined effect of this pacing was unsatisfying. Ash was a frustrating, hot-headed character, but he is young and stupid, as so many are at his age. Ramsay was equally this sort of character, to me, which compounded the issue. Conceptually, the book should have been amazing, but the execution seemed to fall a bit short for me.

What I liked was the representation of queerness. Ash is transmasc and Ramsay is gender fluid, often shifting gender identity day by day. Both characters were handled with the appropriate respect both by the author and, for the most part, by other characters as well. I also liked the introduction of potential for a polyamorous triad with Callum and the way the three characters were open to each other.

I do hope this book finds its audience, but I think that readers who frequent the fantasy genre may share my frustrations. I look forward to exploring Callendar's backlist as I have heard wonderful things about their other works.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Contains closed door romance

In the world of Infinity Alchemist, practicing unlicensed alchemy is a punishable offense. This story follows Ash Woods, who wants nothing more than to be a licensed alchemist. One day he's caught by shunned alchemist, Ramsay Thorne doing just that. Ash is recruited by the former to assist at locating the mythical Book of Source in exchange for Ramsay not reporting him and teaching him alchemy. Though they are hunted by those who wish use the book for nefarious reasons along the way, a romance unfolds with new and old.

I've been seeing other reviews say the pacing was not their favorite but I thought it was fine. The writing style reminded me of Lessons of Chemistry, but the story gave Grishaverse and Ninth House vibes.

The romance between Ash, Ramsay, and Callum was just so sweet. It was new for me to read such a fleshed out LGBTQIA+ and polyamorous romance and characters in a YA novel no less. The MCs gender and sexuality were really well written, and handled in a way where it was not confusing to read on the page. Not that I mind the "touch the MC and die" vibes I get from reading my why choose RH OV books but it's nice to read compersion which is opposite of jealousy.

The last 90% did feel a little rushed but I was also strangely transported back to the last philosophy class I took lol. It does have a HEA but a minor cliffhanger so it'll be interesting to see where the story goes.

Overall, I enjoyed it and will definitely be checking Kacen Callender's contemporary works too.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.