You might want to reach for a tissue to suppress your nausea because I have a feeling I'm going to get a bit gushy about this book. I'm joking. Maybe. Anyway, Infinite Days. You know, I've read reviews about this and while not all of them were favorable, I was still intrigued because this book presents a rare occasion. And a rare character.Let's look at the heroines we are familiar with and love. Katniss, Evie (from Paranormalcy) and others whose names elude me at the moment - these heroines all have one basic thing in common. Their innate goodness. Oh sure, they are plenty flawed but once you peel away those flaws, take away that gruff exterior, who you have is a good person who might be pushed to do terrible things but not by choice and not without a conscience. In Infinite Days, we are given a different kind of heroine. One who has committed atrocious, horrible deeds and has reveled in committing them. She is the epitome of what evil might be. And the audience, the readers are asked to love her anyway. We are asked to accept what she was and move on from that - see beyond the monster she was to the person she may become.I loved that, you guys. No, I don't mean I have a thing for monsters, I mean I have a thing for complex characters. And Lenah is nothing if not complicated. There is this coolness in her at the beginning that bespeaks her previous immortal life. Her calm in the face of sacrifice and her acceptance of the tragedy are somehow regal and make her lineage true, make it easier for the readers to believe that she was a vampire queen. What I found particularly intriguing was Maizel's treatment of the guilt that would eventually catch up with Lenah as she became more human. It was elegantly done, the gradual build up of emotions and the breakdown of the stone heart that she had courtesy of her eternal life. There is a distinct, almost tangible, difference between the human Lenah and the vestiges of the Vampire Queen Lenah and the readers are able to pick up the different nuances between the two. The book asks what the meaning of being human is and it's a question we would all benefit from pondering.I also thought it beyond cool that one of the side characters (one very important one, in fact) was Japanese. I did not, however, agree with how things played out with him but that's just me. I thought it was unnecessary. Moving on, what I also liked about this book was its treatment of love. While there is the expected one true love etc, it is tempered by the redefining love (and doing so without shame) and situations which showed that there are many men in the heroine's life and that she loves them in different ways. That was refreshing in so many ways.What convinced me about this book's brilliance, however, was the ending. I know that a lot of people wouldn't agree with me but dude, what an ending. The cliffhanger just about kills you for one long minute when you can do nothing but wail at the number of days till the next book in the series is released. To wrap this up, the book, while not perfect, is a wonderful read. Each reader is different but Maizel convinced me to cheer for her heroine and as a reader, that's all I wanted. (Apart from lots of entertainment and hot guys, which is this book also provides.)
