So I'm sitting in the Georgia Tech library at like 11:30 PM, supposedly debugging a procedural dungeon generator for my thesis, and instead I've got my earbuds in listening to a fourteen-year-old from New Orleans fight zombies with a chainsaw. Dr. Patel would be so proud.
Here's the thing about Infinity — it's basically what would happen if you took a teenager with a Charisma score of 18 and a Wisdom score of 6 and dropped him into an urban fantasy campaign where the DM went absolutely unhinged with the monster manual. Werewolf football captains. Vampire-slaying crushes. A demon named Simi who wants to eat everything. My D&D group would love this. Like, I'm already stealing the "your classmates are secretly zombies" plot hook for my next one-shot.
Nick Gautier Is the Sarcastic Rogue We All Rolled at Level 1
Nick is the kind of protagonist who mouths off to immortal warriors and somehow survives on sheer audacity. The only other audiobook protagonist I've encountered recently with that same doomed-by-his-own-mouth energy is Ralph in Lord of the Flies — though that one ends considerably less fun. Sherrilyn Kenyon writes his sarcasm with a rhythm that's almost musical — fast, cutting, and occasionally self-deprecating in a way that actually lands instead of feeling try-hard. Holter Graham gets this kid. His Nick voice has this restless teenage energy, like the character physically cannot stop himself from making a quip even when zombies are literally eating people. I caught myself laughing out loud during a walk across campus and got a look from someone. Worth it.
What surprised me is how much emotional weight sits underneath the humor. Nick's relationship with his mom — single parent, struggling, fiercely protective — has genuine warmth without getting saccharine. And his shame about being poor, about his dad being in prison, that stuff isn't played for cheap sympathy. It just... exists, the way it does when you grow up in a place where everybody knows your family's business. (Growing up in rural Georgia, I felt that in my bones.)
Holter Graham's New Orleans Is a Character Unto Itself
Graham won AudioFile's Best Voice in Sci-Fi & Fantasy back in 2008 for another Kenyon book, and you can hear why. His Bubba — the big, lovable, conspiracy-theory-believing redneck with a weapons arsenal — has this thick New Orleans drawl that's distinct from Nick's slightly lighter accent. Then he pivots to Nekoda with these sweet, careful cadences that make her feel genuinely different from every other character in the room. The non-human characters get their own tonal shifts too, so you're never confused about who's talking even when the scene gets chaotic.
The action pacing is solid. Graham accelerates through fight sequences without swallowing words, and he knows when to let a joke breathe. There are a couple of audio glitches around the middle of the book — little hiccups, nothing catastrophic, but noticeable enough that I rewound once to make sure I hadn't accidentally skipped something. Minor ding on an otherwise strong performance.
The World-Building Is More "Campaign Setting" Than "Sanderson Appendix"
Look, I need to set expectations here. This is not Sanderson-level world-building with hard magic rules and detailed appendices. The Dark-Hunter universe is more kitchen-sink urban fantasy — vampires, werewolves, demons, gods, all coexisting in a version of New Orleans that's basically a supernatural melting pot. Kenyon throws a LOT at you in under eight hours: multiple factions, ancient histories, power hierarchies. Some of it sticks, some of it washes over you. If you don't like info-dumps, this isn't for you (but you're wrong).
What works is that Nick is learning all of this at the same pace you are, so it never feels like a textbook. It feels like a session zero where the DM is explaining the setting while the party is already getting ambushed. Chaotic? Yes. Fun? Also yes.
The pacing does wobble in the middle third — there's a stretch where exposition outweighs action and it loses some momentum. But Kenyon recovers with a third act that stacks revelations on top of each other fast enough to keep you locked in.
Who's Rolling Initiative on This One
If you're a YA fantasy fan who likes Percy Jackson's tone but wants something a bit darker and more Southern Gothic, this is your jam. If you've got a teenager in your life who plays D&D and reads urban fantasy, hand them this audiobook. At just under eight hours, it's a quick listen — perfect for a road trip or a week of commutes.
Skip it if you need your fantasy systems to be rigidly defined, or if sarcastic teen protagonists make you want to throw your phone. Also, content note: there's violence, some language, and mild sexual content, so maybe not for the under-twelve crowd.
I Read This Instead of Writing My Thesis (No Regrets)
The progression is satisfying — Nick goes from a kid who knows nothing to a kid who knows slightly more than nothing but with a chainsaw, and that's exactly the right arc for book one of a series. Graham's narration sells it with energy and specificity. Not a perfect listen — the mid-book glitches and some pacing lulls keep it from the top tier — but it's the kind of book that makes you immediately queue up the sequel. Which I did. At midnight. With my thesis tab still open and untouched.
Sorry, Dr. Patel.
