Title: Invictus
Author: Ryan Graudin
No. of pages: Hardback; 454
Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Time Travel
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: September 26, 2017
Date Read: January 14, 2018
★★★
Blurb:
Time flies when you’re plundering history.
Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, Far’s birth defies the laws of nature. Exploring history himself is all he’s ever wanted, and after failing his final time-traveling exam, Far takes a position commanding a ship with a crew of his friends as part of a black market operation to steal valuables from the past.
But during a heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets a mysterious girl who always seems to be one step ahead of him. Armed with knowledge that will bring Far’s very existence into question, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to discover a frightening truth: History is not as steady as it seems. (Goodreads)
Review:
I first heard about this book on Instagram and I saw really good things about it. But, I’ve finally read it and for me, I liked it, but I didn’t love it. There were many points in time while reading this book that I wanted to stop reading. I didn’t, but I REALLY wanted to. I also think that’s part of the reason why it took me forever to finish.
One of the things that intrigued me the most when I picked it up was that it dealt with time travel. I haven’t read many books that have time travel in it, and the way that the first chapter was written, and the boy born out time, that intrigued the CRAP out of me. Once the thrill of that died down, so did my attention to the book. For me, there were too many things while reading that weren’t resolved and then it got really complex, and then more problems were added until it was a mass knot of unresolved issues that weren’t solved for me until the last 50 pages of the book.
I do have to tell you though, that the characters were what kept me in the book. Far, Imogen, Priya, and Gram were so precious and deserved all the good things in life. I loved these characters and the interactions between them. Far and Priya were adorable and I loved how their relationship played out and was written. I highly identified with Imogen and Gram and their awkwardness regarding each other and feelings relationship things. But, Eliot. For the first half of the time that Eliot was in the book, if she were an actual person, I would have punched her in the face. It wasn’t really until the end that I liked her as a character.
Personally, I more than likely won’t read this book again. I may pick it up in a couple and years and try again because I think I owe it at least that due to my love of the characters. But for me, it didn’t really flow, there were many things that weren’t resolved and it became a knot of problems with no end until the end of the book. I loved the idea when it started, but for me, this book just wasn’t together.
Adventures and Reading 