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Infinity Son

(Infinity Cycle #1)

Adam Silvera (Goodreads Author)

3.25 · Rating details · 6,536 ratings · 1,863 reviews

Growing up in New York, brothers Emil and Brighton always idolized the Spell Walkers—a vigilante group sworn to rid the world of specters. While the Spell Walkers and other celestials are born with powers, specters take them, violently stealing the essence of endangered magical creatures.

Brighton wishes he had a power so he could join the fray. Emil just wants the fighting ...more

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Hardcover, 353 pages

Published January 14th 2020 by HarperTeen

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2020 YA LGBT+ Sci-Fi/Fantasy

44 books — 21 voters

LGBTQIA+ Witches and Magical School/Training Books

175 books — 16 voters

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Mar 08, 2017 Kai rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: queer, owned, overrated

A phoenix might live forever but my hopes just died with this book.

You might be shaking your head, thinking One star, for real? Bit of a dramatic move. Well, that makes two of us. I didn’t have high expectations when I started this book – both What If It's Us and They Both Die at the End were disappointing – and I thought I’d rate this with two stars, maybe three. The first few chapters were rocky but then I started to enjoy myself. And around the 100-page mark, it all went downhill again. So mu A phoenix might live forever but my hopes just died with this book.

You might be shaking your head, thinking One star, for real? Bit of a dramatic move. Well, that makes two of us. I didn’t have high expectations when I started this book – both What If It's Us and They Both Die at the End were disappointing – and I thought I’d rate this with two stars, maybe three. The first few chapters were rocky but then I started to enjoy myself. And around the 100-page mark, it all went downhill again. So much that I can’t justify giving more than one star. Never in my life did I think I’d rate a Silvera book so low.

Let’s start with something positive. I’m glad that a fantasy book with a gay main character written by a gay Latinx author receives such a hype. That would not have been possible ten or even five years ago. In addition, Infinity Son has lots of queer characters and people of colour, so the representation is there. Infinity Son also touches on the subject of body image, which seems to be a very important topic for the author. Now I wish all of this had been received a good plot and characters too but that’s not the case.

The world-building is non-existent. You are thrown into this world without any information and you have to make all the pieces fit somehow. Specters, Blood Casters, Spell Walkers, Celestials…I still have no idea what the latter is. There is no mention of the history of magical creatures such as phoenixes, how they came to be, what their relationship with humans is/was like.
The biggest problem though is the pacing. Attention to detail is crucial when you build any fantasy world. I’m not a fan of Cassandra Clare’s but what can be said for her is that she took her time introducing the characters, the magical object, the legends and lore. And we do get a glimpse of that at the beginning of the book when we learn about all the different sorts of phoenixes that exist. But with Silvera it’s mostly dialogue and then we dive straight into the action. There is no room for the magical world to unfold, for us to wonder about certain characters as we slowly get to know them.
That’s another major problem: Silvera hands you all the solutions to what could have been exciting mysteries on a silver platter approximately two pages after the mystery was created. When he doesn’t, the reveal or plot twist is easily predictable. And as I mentioned before, we don’t get to know the characters. There are loads of them. They’re from different backgrounds, different sides of the war, with different abilities and complicated relationships with one another. But then why do they so entirely interchangeable? The only person who has a distinct voice is Brighton, one of the two main characters. He may be annoying and self-centred and fame-hungry, but he totally has that down. It makes him unique, which is more than I can say for every other character. They don’t have depth, and as a result, I didn’t care whether they lived or died.

Let’s also talk about clichés. And the fact that they’re really not that bad when they’re a) gay and b) executed well enough. The thing is though, being “the Chosen One” doesn’t all of a sudden seem less realistic because you start pointing out how much of a cliché it is. It just makes it ridiculous. Then we of course have the tortured main character torn between fighting the good cause and not wanting to hurt and kill people. Which is a valid struggle but then make me feel it! (view spoiler)

What I’ll never understand is why authors won’t just call magic & superpowers “magic” & “superpowers”. Instead, we get “gleamcraft”. This is not the first time Adam used weird synonyms in his books to reference concepts (or fandoms) that already exist in fiction. But just because Rainbow Rowell did it doesn’t mean we all have to. It didn’t work for her, and it sure didn’t work for Adam.

If someone had given me this book ten years ago I would have eaten it up as twelve-year-olds tend to do. But this is Adam’s 5th book and I don’t understand how it turned out to be so amateurish. This was worse than everything he’s published before. Yes, I didn’t have high hopes for Infinity Son. I wanted to love it. But I’m disappointed to say that I was right.

Find more of my books on Instagram ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 Adam Silvera added it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Hint: PHOENIXES.

flag 1220 likes · Like · see review

Apr 17, 2019 chai ♡ marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq-rep, fiction, 2020-releases, ya-sff, young-adult, poc-rep

Adam Silvera + fantasy + gay is a combination that can defeat Thanos

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Jan 07, 2020 Jesse (JesseTheReader) added it · review of another edition

I still need to sit on this one for a bit to know how I really feel. There were parts of it that I really enjoyed. I loved Emil's storyline, I loved all the celestials that we got to know, & I love all the twists this story brought on. On the other hand I found issue in the world building and the pacing. This felt like a very in and out book for me when it comes to enjoyment. I do think it sets up nicely for the sequel & I'm looking forward to seeing where book two takes us. (especially because ...more

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Dec 16, 2019 Alex ✰ Comets and Comments ✰ rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: alex-rolled-her-eyes-way-too-often, fantastical-creatures, unpopular-opinion, enemies-to-lovers, arc, unlikeable-characters, what-the-actual-fuck, alex-rants-shelf, most-anticipated, not-memorable

"Times passes, and the agony doesn’t go away. The faintest phoenix song begs me to survive, but I’m tired of the music and wish someone would put out my fire for good."

description

Adam Silvera is keeping his crown on making people cry with his books. This book definitely made me want to cry.
description

_______________

Having all the ingredients and not following any recipe.

I'm going to start everything by saying if this is your first AS book (or if it will be and you end up sharing my feelings about it) then ...more

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Feb 15, 2020 jessica rated it it was ok

OH NO! WHY, ADAM!? WHYYYYYY?? WHAT HAPPENED?!?

can we please make a pact and just agree that we are all suffering from collective amnesia and this book never happened? because i love adam silvera, hes a sweetheart, and i really dont want to drag him and his new book, but its really the only thing i can do.

many reviews do a great job with going in depth as to why this book is such disappointment, so let me just leave this brief list:

- no world building. none. zilch. zero. nil. nada. its a contem

...more

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May 15, 2020 Miranda Reads rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, published2020

A new BookTube Video is Up all about whether you should buy, borrow or burn 2020 YA books! Let me know what you think!

The Written Review

20 pgs: THIS BOOK ROCKS MY SOCKS.

50 pgs: Let me get my rainbow flag and shout it from the rooftops.

100 pgs: I don't know why everyone is hating on this glorious superhero book.

150 pgs: Ohhhh...now I get it.

The Full Review :

The strongest power above all is a living heart. Humanity is what makes heroes, not powers. The strongest power is human

...more

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Jul 23, 2019 Hamad rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, 2019-reads, good-covers, arcs

This Review ✍️ Blog 📖 Twitter 🐦 Instagram 📷

“I didn’t grow up with powers, but I’ve been a brother for eighteen years. No fire burns brighter than that.”

🌟 I am going to be the villain in this story and say that maybe Adam should stick to writing contemporary novels and I am going to explain why. I initially gave the book 3 stars as I felt pressured to do so in support of Adam but that would not be honest. I think 2 stars is a rating I feel more comfortable with.

🌟You see, there is an idea and ...more

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Dec 14, 2019 sarah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs, ya-fantasy, read-2019, my-reviews

New York. Magic. Phoenixes. Gay. Adam Silvera.
An indestructible combination right?
Wrong.

L I K E S

- The idea
I will expand on this later, but I really thought I would love this book for a variety of reasons. The summary intrigued me, and my excitement was only increased because it was by one of my favourite authors. The bare bones idea of this book was amazing, but unfortunately the execution didn't do it justice. I think it could make a good movie if adapted right!

- Ness
A character only introd ...more

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May 09, 2017 farith rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, read-in-english, lgbt, nope

bye

rtc ...more

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Jan 28, 2020 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it it was ok · review of another edition

NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! Did you hear me say NOPE! This is not my cup of latte, any kind of heavy liquor!

I was so excited as soon as I saw this amazing cover and reading a blurb introduces us a gay main character on the board! But I finally found out only thing I could enjoy about this book is LGBTQ representation with lots of queer characters! Unfortunately that’s the one and only thing I loved!

World-building-Nope! It collapses on your body in the middle of the book. You just jump into an ocean full NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! Did you hear me say NOPE! This is not my cup of latte, any kind of heavy liquor!

I was so excited as soon as I saw this amazing cover and reading a blurb introduces us a gay main character on the board! But I finally found out only thing I could enjoy about this book is LGBTQ representation with lots of queer characters! Unfortunately that’s the one and only thing I loved!

World-building-Nope! It collapses on your body in the middle of the book. You just jump into an ocean full with sharks and you swim as fast as you can do to save yourself! That’s how I felt to use my remaining grey cells to understand WTH is going on in this story.

Pacing: Yes, somebody grabs my body and throws me from the skyscraper and I kept on screaming! (This book made me feel like I am attacked by King Kong or having my worst ride experience at Universal Studios) Oh come on! I loved fast pacing stories but first we have to know more about the magic world, characters, their back stories, motives, passions to understand theirpaths but instead of that we’re urgently introduced Spell Walkers, Celestials, Blood Casters, Specters bla bla bla and then story declared its independence and flew away from our hands. Where did it go? Did we have a story ever?

Characters: There are lots of them but I feel like I read the same person over and over again. It was hard to differentiate them! None of them has a unique voice!

Cliffhanger: Oh please! That so easily predictable thing from the beginning shouldn’t be called like that. Let’s call it “cli” and yes it failed, too!

I though an epic Phoenix fantasy plus queer representation and freshly created alternative universe would be dreamy combination. Your dreams can be shattered in a second with wrong elements and bad choices of story-telling.

I don’t want to give one star. I only give the books which have offensive, vulgar language or too stupid for the reviewers’ attention (yes, it reminds me of my experience when I read “Mister”) so I will give my two frustration stars and search for better epic fantasies to devour! ...more

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Sep 04, 2019 Claire ✨ rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: age-ya, genre-contemporary, rated-1-star, reviewed, advanced-reader-copy, genre-fantasy, overhyped-and-underwhelming, great-concept-shoddy-execution

An amateurish first draft of a book, INFINITY SON drags itself through juvenile writing and lifeless characters in a poorly-built world.

Yikes. I had never read an Adam Silvera book before INFINITY SON... and safe to say I'll probably not read anything else by him again.

His contemporaries, the premises of which don't interest me, are praised to the moon and back, so naturally when I heard he was writing a fantasy I was immediately piqued. INFINITY SON is about sixteen-year-old Emil, a regular wal ...more

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Nov 28, 2020 Charlotte May rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, romance, supernatural-paranormal

Ok, so this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. But it wasn’t great either 🤷‍♀️

I really enjoyed They Both Die at the End and More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera, i was excited to give this a go but I went in with trepidation as the reviews are pretty bad.

Emil and Brighton are twin brothers, and they have always dreamed that when they turn 18 they will gain the powers to become ‘celestials.’

But when Emil gets powers and Brighton doesn’t it tests their brotherhood to the max.

Main gripes were - I ...more

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Jul 04, 2017 emi marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I can't believe we are to be #blessed with an Adam Silvera fantasy book.

We don't deserve this.

~~I may or may not be stalking his social media everyday in hopes of just a sneak peak at this book. Love you Adam.~~ ...more

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Dec 01, 2019 C.G. Drews added it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2019, young-adult, magical-fantasy

I have a deep love for both (a) urban fantasy books, (b) books about complicated messy brothers...so this delivered on BOTH those fronts and I'm so so glad I got a chance to read it early. I've been sort of obsessing over Infinity Son, because I freaking adore Silvera's contemporaries (History Is All You Left Me basically is one I think about all the time) so I'm really grateful I got to read an early eARC!

highlights definitely are
→ more of an emphasis on magical creatures than most fantasises I ...more

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Feb 16, 2020 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book, audio, young-adult

My library let me skip the line to listen to the audio BUT, it wasn’t for me. I skip listened. Sigh...

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more

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Aug 20, 2020 Becca & The Books rated it did not like it · review of another edition

It's a yikes from me ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 h o l l i s rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-reads, nope, zzzz-snooze, arc, urban-f, family-focused, grief-or-loss, meh, baa-baa-black-sheep, contemporary

Here's the thing. I didn't really want to be here, posting a review for a much hyped book that I clearly didn't like, but up until the 60% mark I was at least hoping to have one or two good things to say to warrant a two star "hey man, you tried, good on you" rating.

But no. I can't round up on this.

A combination of mostly annoying (oh god I wanted Brighton to go DIAF times infinity) and or doing-nothing-for-me characters, so little world building that I honestly only understood maybe like 15% of ...more

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Aug 04, 2019 Jaye Berry rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, ya, fantasy

*Record scratch, freeze frame* So you're probably wondering how I got in this situation.

A couple days ago:
Friend: Hey I got an arc of Infinity Son do you want to borrow?
Me, knowing damn well I don't like Adam Silvera's writing: Sure!

And another 1 star book is born.

***

In other news: for as much as I've heard Adam Silvera talk about this book and how excited he was to write it, I really thought this would be a high fantasy but no. This is an urban fantasy with a magic system that never really make ...more

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Jan 21, 2020 Ashley Nuckles rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was a decent first fantasy story! I liked Emil and Ness, but I couldn’t truly get into the fantasy part of this book, and some of the other characters felt a little rushed. Probably won’t read the sequel, but I still enjoyed my time reading this one! I’ll probably think of more to say later in my wrap up video but that’s all I’ve got now!

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Feb 01, 2020 Ben Alderson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

QUEER
X-MEN
AND
MAGICAL
CREATURES.

That is all.

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Jul 20, 2020 Gavin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq, 2020-reads

The Problems With Infinity Son Are ∞

Are we surprised? At least it's *slightly* better than What If It's Us. If you’d like to see me talk about this book, I have a bit of a scathing review on my booktube channel explaining why I gave this 1 star: https://youtu.be/spVsIQQLFws ...more

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Aug 02, 2019 Sol ~ TheBookishKing rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: absolute-trash, diverse, cover-lovin, dnf, lgbtqiap, latinx, edelweiss, e-arcs

This book had so many elements that would have made me It's Bitch.

~ queer Latino main characters
~ a beautiful cover
~ magic and magical birds
~ Latinx families and upbringing

but this felt like I was reading a little kids third-grade free time essay ,,, it's messy, the writing isn't good at all, the storyline is so jumbled it just doesn't make sense, and on top of that this magic system isn't explained at ALL and it just throws you in expecting you to just know what all these terms mean. After mak ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 Cody Roecker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

update: 2/21/21

finished my reread just under two weeks before the release of INFINITY REAPER and there are so many genius moments in this book like daaaaaamn

UPDATE 7/20:

Dreams have come true. I have finished this brutal book, and am so incredibly in love with each and every character.

Update: 7/13/19

Hell. Fucking. Yes. I. Need. This. Now.

Update: 12/2/18
Honestly it doesnt matter what this is, I'm sure to love it, and its sure to burn me to ashes so...I'm ready for.it
update 5/26/17: I have a theor ...more

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May 26, 2019 Tucker (TuckerTheReader) marked it as not-released-tbr · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy

[1/1/20] - actually, after reading the reviews... I think I'll pass

------------------

well, Dhonielle Clayton told me that i "have to get myself a copy"

so...

i will...

THROUGH ANY MEANS NECESSARY

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Apr 11, 2020 ♡ Dakota ♡ (Sarcasm is my middle name) rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2020-new-releases, people-with-magical-powers, utterly-dissapointed-wish-was-bet, lgbtqia, books-i-did-not-enjoy, as-boring-as-watching-paint-dry, fantasy, could-not-finish, series, urban-fantasy

DNF at Pg. 69. This book holds the quickest dnf I have ever done on a book in my life. So there’s that. I just wasn’t enjoying it and honestly I have too many books that I want to read that this is just a hard pass. Oh, and Brighton can still choke. :)

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Aug 04, 2019 Linaria rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, fantasy, ya, lgbtq

Wow. Well, that will be my last Adam Silvera novel. I hope he finds his audience, but it is not me. The whole narration style is written as if by a 15-year-old boy, 5 years in the past. So the whole book is stuffed with what feels antiquated slang. Coupled with the super casual narration that uses absurd comparisons, and I just couldn't. The writing style will work for someone, that someone is not me.

The plot is a mash-up of x-men and Harry Potter with much better diversity. Unfortunately, I thi ...more

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Nov 09, 2018 Xandra (StarrySkyBooks) marked it as to-read · review of another edition

UPDATE #2: It happened. I received the notice this morning! I got an eARC! 😭

//

UPDATE: ADAM JUST RELEASED THE TITLE - It’s called “Infinity Son” !!!! - AND ITS GOING TO BE A SERIES?? I AM NOT OKAY
SOMEONE HOLD ME

✨(PS I also made a blog post!) ✨

//

Fantasy AND Adam Silvera? Count me 110% in. ...more

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Jul 24, 2019 Sabrina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I can't fucking believe that I got a ARC of this book.

This had a unique concept (that I think wasn't executed as well as it could have been), multiple pov, a okay writing and LGBT representation.

-----

ARC received from publishers via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Official release date: 14th January 2020. ...more

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Aug 04, 2019 janel rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I apologize for the gif use but... I really needed it today. Lindsay's my entire mood on this book.

I didn't like What if it's Us but I'd never read any Adam Silvera before that, and we all know I'm really a fantasy slut, so while I went in with very low expectations, there was a chance that I'd vibe more with this book. But it did not happen, and I'm left very confused about what I just read.

Look, I appreciate the author's note he wrote so much. I look for representation in what I'm reading too, and I'm happy that younger generations are getting to see themselves in stories. I respect that and will not belittle that this book contains a gay protagonist, multiple queer ships, reference of a genderqueer person (I can't really call them a character because they're... not), and normalization of diversity, if at times a bit repetitive.

But for my subjective eyes, this book was bad. The writing is so lacking in description that I'm almost thankful it's an urban fantasy because otherwise I'd have no idea where we were. The fight scenes are so cut and dry and over in two paragraphs that it felt like they were there out of necessity but lacking any passion. The dialogue serves to give every plot twist, giving no characters the chance to realize things for themselves, and was so melodramatic at times that I rolled my eyes.

Emil and Brighton were, for me, completely unlikable. They're both prioritizing all the wrong things at the wrong moments, and if I had to hear more about Emil's instagram or Brighton's youtube, I was going to screech, even with Brighton's "so selfless" motive. Dude wants attention and I'm Tired. They were simultaneously obsessed with social media (Brighton even insists on taking credit for the idea to memorialize someone on instagram, which just sealed in how annoying he was to me) while shitting on it: “...others get out their phones to record. Maybe if I was their favorite show that was about to get canceled they would care more, but instead I’m about to become a headline they’ll glimpse before moving on” ch. 7(this is from an arc and subject to change). This line in particular annoyed me because it happens early in the book and then they continue to constantly use and misuse social media to try to benefit their cause (which I really just could have done without because it felt lame and the implications at the end make it seem like it's a slippery slope from craving internet attention to Bad Things).

The plot and the villain were very underdeveloped, in my opinion. The villain is present a lot but no real development happens, just repetition of goals and some twists of "oh wow look who talks to me!!" There was no real reason to care about stopping the villain other than "more of what's been happening will continue and maybe worse but no specifics!" - there were personal incentives on the "good" side because of past actions but we had no real reason to care about these characters aside from their standing and these backstories, so it became and endless cycle of me trying to care and being unable to actually feel like there were high stakes.

The magic system didn't work for me at all - there's nothing else to say there. It felt corny and like an x-men ripoff (kinda the entire book, really, good mutants v bad mutants and all) and I, again, couldn't bring myself to care.

I can't recommend this book to anyone but people who enjoy the author's other works, because then maybe his plot choices and writing style here will work for you, but it was a huge miss for me and my friends.

1/5 ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Challenge Corner: Infinity Son by Adam Silvera -> Starting February 13th, 2021	37	8	Feb 12, 2021 10:14AM
this is a discussion questio	1	2	Jan 11, 2021 02:10AM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Infinity Son (Infinity Cycle #1) by Adam Silvera - Restarting April 8th 2020	50	87	Apr 20, 2020 12:40PM
Goodreads Librari...: Please combine	2	10	Mar 31, 2020 04:56AM
Goodreads Librari...: Please update book cover	1	15	Mar 31, 2020 04:20AM

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About Adam Silvera

Adam Silvera

20,518 followers

Adam Silvera is the New York Times bestselling author of More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, and They Both Die at the End. His next book What If It's Us is co-written by Becky Albertalli (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda) and releases on October 9th, 2018.
He writes full-time in New York City and is tall for no reason. ...more