If you took the magic and mystery of the Harry Potter world and combined it with the powers and social commentary of the X-Men, with a dash of the end-ofthe-world adventure you’d find in a Skulduggery Pleasant novel, you’d have something approximating the captivating world created in Adam Silvera’s new novel, Infinity Son. The narrative follows two brothers, caught up in an age-old conflict between the superpowered Celestials, who are born into power, and the shadowy Specters, who gain power by stealing the blood of mythical creatures.

Meaty themes including exploring ambition, the challenges of heroism and the media’s power to demonise or humanise in equal measure, support a backbone of compelling characters and the brilliantly complex relationships between them. The best of these is the familial bond between twins Emil and Brighton, intensely loyal and intensely conflicted at the same time.

Admittedly, if you are looking for gritty moment-to-moment action, you might come away disappointed, but the plot and character drama in Infinity Son was exciting enough to carry me through to the end. Perfect for fans of ambitious worldbuilding that doesn’t compromise on character development, and fans of Adam Silvera’s work who want some literal gut punches in between the emotional gut punches that his work usually delivers, Infinity Son is the start of something very exciting for YA fantasy.

Joe Murray works as a bookseller at Readings Kids.