When fans last left Nick Gautier, he was fighting for his life. Again. What started with football-team zombies in Infinity (2010) continued on with demons possessing his friends in Inferno (2013), leading fed-up Nick to wish, not for the first time, for normalcy. In this latest installment in the Chronicles of Nick series, from New York Times best-selling Kenyon, he gets his wish, and it's not at all as he expected: he's a short blond nerd, the son of a beefy pro-football player, and nothing is as it should be. "Nothing about any of this was right or normal," he says, upon finding his mother, once a stripper, is now a Realtor. How did he get here, and, more important, how can he get back to his old life? The details of Nick's "new" life come in little trickles, which makes the revelations pop that much more. Kenyon writes for a mixed audience to great success, easily maintaining the excitement, intrigue, and humor of a series that appeals to guys and girls alike.

Nick Gauthier wakes up at his high school prom with no idea how he and his friends got there. They are not only dressed for the event, they are also dressed in completely different personalities, without the supernatural powers that Nick vividly recalls. Nick is the Malachai, the most powerful magical being in any realm. Nick's soul has been exchanged with a parallel Nick's in a parallel world, and enemies are converging from all sides to destroy the now powerless Malachai. The first book of a promised fourteen in the Chronicles of Nick, a prequel to Kenyon's adult Dark Hunter series, covers a lot of ground. Much of this volume contextualizes the layered worlds and multitudinous characters of an already established supernatural universe. Abrupt scene changes, frequent introductions of new characters, and intrusive paragraphs of backstory stall the momentum. The New Orleans setting is not specifically evoked, and Nick's part-Cajun heritage is oddly embodied; still, the frantic chases and convenient escapes comprising the action do finally connect the contextual pieces.The last third of the book settles into a strong forward trajectory as the structure of Nick's universe clarifies and his coming-of-supernatural-age story takes hold: Nick battles his own self-doubts, confronts his most dangerous enemies, allies with questionable confederates, and stays true to his love. The fight scenes are fast and visceral, and the dialogue flashes with occasional snarky humor that is very promising for subsequent books in the series. If young adult readers can tolerate the somewhat cumbersome world-building (or if they are already familiar with Kenyon's universe), this series may be just the ticket for a lengthy paranormal ride.Janice M. Del Negro.