Embedded Files
Main Character
Main Character
Representation
Representation
Trans main character identity.
Summary
Infinity Alchemist is a spellbinding novel about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward unexpected love and unimaginable power.
For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime.
Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic―so when Ash is rejected by the Lancaster Mage’s College, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret.
When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested―but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.
As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists―Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.
Featuring trans, queer, and polyamorous characters of color, Infinity Alchemist is the hugely anticipated young adult fantasy debut from the extraordinary author of Felix Ever After, King and the Dragonflies, Queen of the Conquered and more.
Student Reviews
Content Warnings
Content Warnings
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What parents need to know
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender is a polyamorous romantic fantasy novel featuring trans, queer and gender fluid characters of color. Ash, Ramsay, and Callum all have haunting family histories they are eager to make right as they search for the most powerful tool an alchemist can wield -- the Book of Source. On their unlikely journey, they recall and encounter bullying, neglect, child abuse, abandonment, betrayal, bloody fights, murders, executions and massacres. Violence is fantastical and realistic. Some readers may prefer a fantasy with less violence; what's here is intense but purposeful. Abusive family and societal systems set the main characters up to enact familiar harms, but they imagine a different future and move towards their goals with integrity and an aptitude for repair. Language includes occasional uses of "piss," "bullshit," "shit" and "ass." Students get drunk in one scene, a character smokes a cigarette, and smoke from an unnamed drug makes a room hazy in a party scene. While polyamorous romance is explored in age-appropriate detail, sex is implied rather than described. There's cuddling, kissing, touching, and four sex scenes, one of which includes three characters. Consent, affirmation, and sincere care are centered in each.
Author Info
Author Info
Kacen Callender is a Saint Thomian author of children's fiction and fantasy, best known for their Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award-winning middle grade debut Hurricane Child. Their fantasy novel, Queen of the Conquered, is the 2020 winner of the World Fantasy Award and King and the Dragonflies won the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Callender is Black, queer, trans, and uses they/them and he/him pronouns. Callender debuted their new name when announcing their next young adult novel Felix Ever After in May 2019.
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