Sherrilyn Kenyon - Inferno

Nick has his driver’s license and he’s not afraid to use it. But turning sixteen isn’t what he thought it would be. While other boys his age are worried about prom dates and applying for college, Nick is neck deep in enemies out to stop him from living another day. No longer sure if he can trust anyone, his only ally seems to be the one person he’s been told will ultimately kill him.
But life spent serving the undead is anything except ordinary. And those out to get him have summoned an ancient force so powerful even the gods fear it. As Nick learns to command and control the elements, the one he must master in order to combat his latest foe is the one most likely to destroy him. As the old proverb goes, fire knows nothing of mercy, and if Nick is to survive this latest round, he will have to sacrifice a part of himself. However, the best sacrifice is seldom the sanest move. Sometimes it’s the one that leaves your enemies confused, and you even more so.
And sometimes, you have to trust your enemy to save your friends. But what do you do when that enemy is you?

Comment: This is the fourth installment in the Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon. To be honest I wasn't that eager to read this but some friends, also SK's fans, have convinced me so I gave in...

In this book, Nick has to deal with school, apparent friend's betrayals and the knowledge you should be the person you feel you are, not what other make you do or what you think others want to see. In the middle of many adventure an ricks, can Nick be true to himself?

What a mess this book. Really, there are so many people and so many details to bear in mind....

Nick is a teenager but we also get glimpses of the possibilities from the past where things weren't changed and from the future where things might reach. But there's also the one from the future which is actually the past where we know he will end up...so, so tricky to maneuver!

The the cast, well, there's Nick, there's the friends he has whom we know (if we read the DK series), there's the friends he has now because of the whole time messing around and there's people we know will be important, there's the people who never showed up but now are here, there's the people we never imagined existed but apparently are key figure here...

To summarize, the place where things are at the moment in this spin off are so tricky, so confusing and weird with new things new people and new turnabouts all the time, not only is my head fuller, but it gets more difficult to follow the connection all the time.

After persevering from the previous books, Nick is at a point where he needs to learn lessons in order to stop his future self to become evil. This is the biggest issue here for what I can tell. The best way to do so is to avoid temptations and distractions that might make him change who he is. Teenagers aren't known for their certainty of anything even when they do say so, so this part annoys me.

Really, if not for the fact the things happening in this spin off might induce change into future DK books I wouldn't read anymore. But seriously, then what has been the meaning of the previous DK books about this issue? Meaning Nick and his problems affecting the time line and the plot. Once again, what a mess!

Good things about this book, well, we get to see happy times between Nick and Ash. We get possibilities about how hopeful it is to dream of better times for the future books and we finally learn more about some characters and who they are. Although that also makes me more confused because one of them is actually offspring of someone we know but we never got a clue and how is that possible if no one ever mentioned even the possibility? Really confusing and odd.

Then something major happens at the end which will certainly have influence in the future..but how and why did it happen now? Mysteries...

The end of the book is very cool in terms of adventure and action scenes, but - again - it just entails possible situations which don't seem wise or easy to deal with in terms of making all this look right or closer to any sort of conclusion. Frustrating...

Plus, I just saw the series - which I thought would be about 9 books - on Goodreads and the indication there is 15...if one thinks one book a year...dear God.

Ok, I liked some things but honestly, there's too much happening, too many ideas, characters, pantheons, stuff mixed together, I don't think even the author has control over what is happening. Oh well, maybe the next one is better...

Grade: 5/10