Jeremy Robinson's Infinite 2 - Seventh Book of the Infinite Timeline

 

From the Back Cover

William Chanokh is immortal...and he's trapped on the Galahad, an interstellar starship on a never-ending journey through open space.

His only companions are Capria--mortal and in cryo-sleep--and Gal, an artificial intelligence, and the love of his life, with whom he spends every waking moment in the 'Great Escape,' a virtual paradise. After untold years living countless lives, Gal begins acting strange. Possessive. Violent. Paranoid.

Positive that something in the real world is causing her to malfunction, Will attempts to leave the Great Escape, but he finds himself a prisoner. Guided by a voice from reality, he is thrust into a series of torturous narratives, each one designed to break his will and keep him trapped in virtual reality.

Betrayed by his digital love, his long-term memory overwritten, and enduring violent manipulation, Will painfully peels back layers of simulation, fighting to reach reality 1.0--where the nightmares are real.

Infinite 2 by Jeremy Robinson

I have been reading Jeremy's novels for some time now and have been keeping abreast with the rest of his writings especially his ambitious 12 book cross over "The Infinite Timeline" which started with Infinite. 

Infinite left us on a high with a love story of epic proportions, it seemed wholly improbable that there would be a sequel that would stand the ones set by the first book. In many articles and blogs Jeremy had stated the same about his avoiding to write a sequel because he may not be able to recapture the magic. 

Like Jeremy, I too faced the same problem, having seen the high of Infinite it was wildly inconceivable for me to be able to feel the same about its sequel. Despite the early acquisition of the book it took me quite a long time to complete the book. For a better feel of the book which was a letdown during my initial reading, I waited a good six months to re-read the book again and to understand whether my feelings have changed. 

I was happy that Jeremy attempted to "reconfigure the wheel" with this book. Infinite 2 also goes on a distinct new direction from the first book and has different resonations and story arcs. I respected the idea of moving the book in a different direction and approached the reading of this book accordingly. 

We have our protagonist Will Chanokh aboard the ship Galahad like in the first book, deeply immersed in the VR coding interface. In the first book Will had decided to stay in the coding interface without knowledge of the fates of his crew or the mission. 

The AI of the ship which manages the VR has started acting up and we start and stop with consecutive stories, all VR generated realities as Will tries to take back control of the system and in extension the control of the ship. 

In the VR Will is immortal but in the realities he is not so we have continuous booting and rebooting of the simulations with each of the repetitive stories end in the same place with Will being killed. The arc shows that the deaths are a part of the plan for Will to take control but the repetitions start getting on the nerves and I started skipping pages as there was nothing that was interesting happening after the first few boots. The Italics have a field day in these pages. 

The references to various pop cultures and the nods to many are of some interest and needs a nod from me to Jeremy for putting together in this mash but still too much and the deaths are full of blood and gore by the truckloads. 

There is loads of humor and when explained the scientific phenomena that seems to interfering with the systems are logical and believable. Unfortunately Will has a tendency to keep going back to the VR like a baby to its womb or curling up into a comfortable fetal position every few pages. 

This draws the focus away from the serious part of the story and the story just never seems to starts akin to a car with a faulty carburetor, all stops and starts. 

The overall feel of the book is mixed and there is just the feeling that there is a little too much seasoning in the mix. 

This works as a standalone novel but Jeremy has put enough a lot of Easter eggs and connections to his other books, the infinite timeline crossover among others and someone who has read them does feel the connect. What works is the character of Gal the AI who shows every sign of human emotions and a malevolent intellect with a high paranoia and possessiveness for Will. For me the star of this sequel is Gal and it is her emotional upheavals before being purged that give this novel the bite. Her impersonations to secure her love is in a class itself and elevates this novel from a low 2* to a 3 to 3.5 * book. 

Like all his novels the writing is frenetic and you do get caught up with the story but some better editing earlier in the book to remove so much of context setting would have saved a lot for the reader without taking away any details and delivering a much better impact. 

3 *** for me. I would recommend this for series readers and people who have invested in the Infinite timeline crossover. I have and I am reading the other books in the 12 book crossover but still feel that this book does not live up to the expectation even if we remove the first part from the equation. 

Jeremy has been delivering tremendously despite his personal health issues and I expect much better from him. 

Please do not forget to post your comments. I am an equal opportunity person so would love to hear your love or your hate for the review or book in any order. Please write what you did not like or whether the book was an absolute disaster for you and why.

You can also follow/like my review at Goodreads here - 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4469825725