Review // The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen

This review was also posted to my Goodreads on February 15th

Summary

Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings that are out of the ordinary for even a teenager, his life moves beyond “typical.”

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a very real book, even though it’s a work of fiction dealing with fantastical elements. It follows Caleb, who can feel the emotions of others and is struggling to cope in emotion-laden high school, and Adam, whose feelings don’t overwhelm Caleb in the same way.

I’ve never listened to the Bright Sessions (though I plan to because of how much I loved The Infinite Noise) however, I didn’t have any issues easing into the world. Lauren Shippen did an excellent job of introducing information as needed and not infodumping, which made the plot run smoothly.

I also feel like the way Caleb’s empathy was explained, as well as Atypicals in general, was really great, and something that isn’t necessarily seen much in novels that involve powers. The way that Caleb’s powers were described as well was very immersive. The example given in the book was mirror-touch synesthesia, and the descriptions of people’s emotions as both colours and feelings reflected this, making it easy to conceptualise his empathy.

The two POV characters, Caleb and Adam, were both excellent, and both very realistic. They have their own issues, and those issues don’t necessarily go away just because of the other. I thought it was especially important seeing Adam’s depression, and how both he and Caleb reacted to it. The early interactions between Caleb and Adam were really well written, and their relationship development was the perfect balance between slow enough to feel substantial, and quick enough to not be excruciating. I also felt like it was a realistic representation of teenage relationships, and I loved it for that.

I think perhaps my only issue with this is that the conflict seemed to fall a little flat. What I thought would end up being the conflict didn’t end up happening, which made the actual conflict feel a little bit superficial, however this was not a huge issue in my opinion.

Overall, this was an absolutely fantastic book, and I’m really looking forward to Lauren Shippen’s next books. I’d highly recommend this to those who like contemporaries with fantasy elements, and well-developed relationships.

What enhanced ability would you have if you could choose? Let me know below!

Marley out!