"The End of Infinity" by Matt Myklusch
Third and final installment in the Jack Blank Adventures. Contains spoilers.
People cannot become whatever they want. You, for example, may hope and pray and wish to become a carrot, but I'm sorry, that just ain't happening. Someone who suffers from hand tremors can never become a brain surgeon. These are facts of life; this is reality. But, I think the main idea behind saying "people can be whatever they want" is that we shouldn't limit ourselves. It may be impossible for just anyone to become a carrot, or a brain surgeon, or the President of the United States, but that doesn't mean dreams shouldn't be dreamt. A title like The End of Infinity may sound weird and oxymoronic, but it actually has a lot to do with this idea of fighting to become something other than what the world or destiny tells us we should be.
After the events of The Secret War, Jack has been a captive of the Rustov for a year. He has only vague memories of what happened, and he's pretty sure from what he does remember that he doesn't want to remember any more. The infection is slowly but surely taking over his body---there are physical signs now. And when he returns to the Imagine Nation with news of an impending invasion, panic breaks out in the different boroughs. It would appear that Jack---and the world---has already lost the war with the Robo-Zombies.
The Rustov are good at panic; it's their most-used gameplan. Throw in a bit of panic, and their enemies will tear themselves apart! Their horrifying appearance, the subterfuge and sneaking, the lying words, all these are meant to plant seeds that will lead to the downfall of their next victim. Letting Jack be rescued and taken to the Imagine Nation was their way to inducing the right conditions for invasion. Now that all secrets have been done away with---everyone now knows about Jack's future and the Mecha virus---his reappearance is just the final proof that he is a Rustov spy, ready at any moment to make the final transformation into the greatest threat our world has ever faced. Through fear and panic, the Imagine Nation has already lost the war with the Rustov.
Jack himself has been conditioned. At St. Barnaby's, he was told he would have to be a toilet brush cleaner; now, he can only be Revile. He's been taught for so long about destiny, about fate, about how he cannot change what and who he is, that he is starting to believe it. Through Khalix's confident whispers and the weight of the future, Jack has already lost the war with the Rustov prince. All of this is what makes the Rustov so dangerous.
There is so much to admire in these books. The danger of fear and panic, the consequences of keeping secrets from loved ones, fate and destiny, the nature of family, belonging, and friendship, the difference between being wise and being smart. This last book really ties up a lot of the questions that were raised in the series. A lot of crazy events and plot twists happen (the revelation of Jack's parents was really a shocker, and yet still made sense). There are heart-twisting moments, betrayals, and true love ;) At the same time, it has its flaws. The writing is still stilted, and sometimes I groaned at how trope-y and cliched the characters were, but it still worked. We started out at St. Barnaby's Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost, and came to the End of Infinity.
"It's crazy. I haven't felt this way in so long. Not ever, really."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Like I'm free. Right now I don't know what to do with myself. I finally got past the future, and for the first time in forever, I don't know what happens next." (pg. 398)
http://www.jackblank.com/
