By popular demand, here is a list of content warnings for THE INFINITE.
By their very nature, lists of content warnings are not exhaustive; the nature of what’s potentially upsetting about a story will be different for every reader. My content notes for this book, like those for THE OUTSIDE and THE FALLEN, are based on the lists of warnable items used on The StoryGraph (as of January 2021). In some cases I’ve changed the phrasing of an item, either to make it more specific or to blend several items together when the distinction between them is not clear to me; and in some cases I’ve added an item that occurred to me. However, if you need warnings for a plot element that isn’t related to anything from The StoryGraph’s list, it may not appear here.
This list comes in two variants: brief and detailed. The brief version of the list has only the names of the warnable story elements (e.g. “Mental illness”), sometimes with a one- or two-word note about the intensity of these elements (e.g. “Mental illness (major theme)”). The detailed list has longer verbal notes about the role of these elements in the story; this list may contain spoilers.
Scroll down to get the brief version, followed by the detailed version.
Content Warnings: Brief Version
Blood
Climate Change / Natural Disasters
Confinement
Cursing
Death
Domestic abuse (minor)
Genocide
Gore (minor)
Grief
Kidnapping
Medical content / medical trauma
Mental illness (major theme)
Religious bigotry
Sexual content (minor)
Suicidal thoughts (minor)
Torture (mentions only)
Toxic relationship
Violence / War (major theme)
Content Warnings: Detailed Version
Blood
See “Gore (minor)” and “Violence / War,” below.
Climate Change / Natural Disasters
In flashbacks to a past era, the effects of climate change significantly affect characters’ daily lives. The characters work frantically to try to counteract these effects. Breath masks need to be worn outdoors due to air pollution. A character’s home is destroyed by a hurricane.
Confinement
Two characters, having been kidnapped at the end of the previous book, are held prisoner by one of the villains and forced to perform tasks such as reconnaissance.
There are mentions of backstory in which a larger number of the major characters were prisoners.
In flashbacks to a past era, a character is held in a military prison and is implied to have died there.
Cursing
Various characters use occasional swear words in their dialogue and/or narration.
Death
A battle is coming up and the fact that battles cause people to die is extensively discussed. A major character is asked to sacrifice themselves in the battle and many characters have conflicted feelings about this. Apart from that character, background characters are shown dying as a result of the battle, as are a couple of major villain characters.
A villain character euthanizes a patient, ostensibly to save the patient from a worse fate. Later, the character’s motives are called into question.
In flashbacks to a past era, several dying volunteers have their souls uploaded into a computer, including a character’s terminally ill wife. A character attacks another character in a rage and accidentally kills them. A character is held in a military prison and is implied to have died there. The spirit of a dead character seemingly appears.
Domestic abuse (minor)
The fact that a character’s partner hit them, in a previous book, is mentioned and the character struggles with their feelings about the relationship.
Genocide
A faction of villains intend to destroy all human life in a certain section of a planet, potentially with large collateral damage to humans in other regions as well. Humans on other planets view propaganda explaining why it’s better for the affected humans to die.
Gore (minor)
An explosive goes off inside a character’s body, causing significant injuries.
Characters suffer from burns as a result of handling intense occult energies.
A character performs neurosurgery on a patient.
Grief
See “Death,” above.
Kidnapping
See “Confinement,” above.
Medical content / medical trauma
Several characters are cyborgs, with circuitry to augment their brains and, in some cases, elaborate prosthetic limbs or other additions.
An explosive is surgically implanted in a character’s arm.
A character performs neurosurgery on a patient.
A minor character is revealed to have had their brain modified and controlled in a way that disturbs the other cyborgs.
A villain character euthanizes a patient, ostensibly to save the patient from a worse fate. Later, the character’s motives are called into question.
In flashbacks to a previous era, terminally ill or injured characters are allowed to die in a medical-like setting as part of an experiment.
Mental illness (major theme)
Virtually all of the characters, especially the heroes, have some form of mental illness or neurodivergence.
Religious bigotry
The main setting of the story is an oppressive techno-theocracy and the AI Gods are the main villains.
In flashbacks to a previous era, human characters cynically put the beginnings of the techno-theocracy in place, hoping it will help them influence the population. A queer character’s experiences with Christian fundamentalism are briefly discussed.
Sexual content (minor)
There is a brief, vague description of two characters in an established relationship having sex.
Suicidal thoughts (minor)
A character has had suicidal thoughts in the past and this is discussed. Characters express unease about the blurry line between suicide and self-sacrifice.
Torture (mentions only)
Torture is something that happens frequently in this setting and is mentioned in brief moments throughout the book, but not directly shown.
Toxic relationship
A group of characters reluctantly collaborates with a character who has treated them badly and coercively in the past. The extent to which this character’s attitudes and behavior have really changed is ambiguous.
The fact that a character’s partner hit them, in a previous book, is mentioned and the character struggles with their feelings about the relationship.
Violence / War (major theme)
The whole book’s plot revolves around preparing for, and then waging, a space battle. The battle is depicted in detail. There are various other moments of violence, including a different war shown in flashbacks to a previous era.