Invictus follows the life of Farway Gaius McCarthy, a boy without a birth date whose only goal in life is to become a Recorder like his famous mother and spend his days traveling through time. After failing his final exam, he is adrift until receiving an offer from a black market overlord to captain a time machine in order to retrieve valuables from the past. Farway and his team are enjoying their secret adventures until one day a strange girl appears during one of their heists and throws everything into turmoil. Where did she come from? What does she want? As the team works to uncover answers to these questions, they may discover more than they bargained for...

With its cast of quirky, lovable characters and fast-paced action, Invictus draws the reader in almost immediately. Focus on the female and male leads is nearly equal, which will appeal to all readers. The story tackles a question most people probably wonder about time travel - what would happen if someone from the future had a child with someone from the past? What about if a child were born during time travel? This exciting novel pulses with camaraderie, loyalty, adventure, and love until the very end.

I have a weakness for time traveling stories, even though I am usually disappointed by them.  I also love a good heist story and lovable thieves, so when I saw this on Netgalley, I knew I needed to read it. I was not disappointed this time.

The crew of the Invictus was a fun group to spend time with.  They are all very smart, and creative and fast to come up with solutions to difficult situations.  I just loved them all. 

Farway is a very adorable and a good leader of his merry little band.  He is the captain and the one that takes most of the risks.  His crush on Priya and then their relationship is sweet and not overwhelming.  Their romance is sort of in the background though.  When we first meet Far he has a crush on Priya, and then the story jumps ahead a year and they are a couple.  So it was nice to see a YA with no major relationship drama as part of the story.  I really liked Priya, she is the engineer and medic of the group.  She is the rock in this group, always know what is going on and can handle herself when there is a crisis.

Gram is the genius of the group and handles the jumps in time.  He can mult-task like no other person I've seen. He is a sweet and kind of clueless when it comes to Imogen.  They both have crushes on each other but are too afraid to say anything to the other.  I loved Imogen, she was such a fun character and someone it would be easy to be friends with.  I loved that she changed her hair color everyday and sometimes even to the period that they were heading to.  She is the historian of the group and the costumer.  She knows a lot about history and talks Far out of some pretty difficult situations.

Eliot shows up and puts quite the kink in their little group.  She is an enigma even to the reader, and even though we see parts of the story through her point of view you still have no real clue who she is and what she is doing there until the big reveal of everything.

The one thing that many time travel books get wrong is that you can't travel through time and space at the same time.  By this I mean if I want to time travel to ancient Greece,  I need to travel to modern Greece first and then travel back in time.  I loved that the Invictus was a kind of air-ship that had a lot of fancy cloaking devices and was the time traveling machine.  They would take the ship to the place they wanted to end up in and then jumped to the time period they wanted.  That is how time travel would work if it was possible. 

There was not as much heisting and thieving of artifacts as I would have liked, but it was certainly a fast paced and action packed story that had me reading into the night.  There are some twists to the story that I was not expecting and that made this much more than a simple time travel story.  It is being advertised as a stand alone, and reads like one, but I would certainly pick up another book about our time traveling band of thieves.

I enjoyed this book. I loved how it so much humor! The characters were pretty great. I liked how their was time travel, which gave this story a mixture of sci-fi and history. Sometimes all the science stuff stretched my brain to where it kind of hurt, haha, but the comedy helped keep it from being overwhelming. The funny parts also helped with the sad parts. Because, yes, parts of this book were mood downers. However, there is more smile inducing moments than frown weighing moments.

If you are looking for an interesting time travel book that is sure to give you a smile, you just might want to try this book.

Closer to 3.5 stars: Invictus is a fun YA time travel tale with a lot of jumping back and forth through time to try and save the universe. The book is set in the year 2371 where people are obsessed with the past and where time travelers go back and record history through video for the general public to watch. Farway McCarthy's mother is a famous recorder and he wants to follow in her footsteps. His plans go awry and he finds himself instead the captain of a time travel ship that steals artifacts from the past right before they get destroyed and lost for good. Farway and his crew go to the Titanic right before it sinks to steal a book when someone else beats him to it. There is a lot more going on then Farway and his crew realize and the fate of the universe depends on them. The book is a pretty fast book to read for 400+ pages. There is a lot going on but not overly technical on the science stuff and the plot wasn't overly convoluted and was easy to follow.

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

Invictus by Ryan Graudin
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 26, 2017
Rating: 4 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher

Summary (from Goodreads):

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.

What I Liked:

I've read all of Graudin's previous books (two with HarperCollins, three with Little, Brown), and I've enjoyed them all. I had no doubt that I would enjoy this new book. It is quite different compared to the others, with the subject matter being time travel, and I'd been looking forward to reading it since the announcement about the book was made. This book got off to a slow start, but I enjoyed it very much!

Farway Gaius McCarthy - better known as Far - was not born in a time that he should have been. His mother was in between time periods when he was born, and nothing could be done about this. Seventeen years later, Far is taking exams to progress in his time-traveling career, and he is expected to pass with flying colors. But something goes wrong, and he is expelled. His expulsion is cruel and unjust, but he isn't out of options. He accepts a position as captain of a ship (which he names Invictus), smuggling rare goods from the past before they are destroyed. The heists go very well, especially with the exceptional crew Far has chosen. But a heist on the Titanic proves to be a disaster when a mysterious girl shows up and demands her way into the crew. Everything seems to unravel with the appearance of this girl, and Far discovers that nothing about his life is as it should be.

Time-travel stories can be hit or miss for me. My favorite series is the Ruby Red trilogy by Kerstin Gier - that was a fun and intriguing series, entertaining from start to finish. Other time-travel stories have been boring and confusing. So I'm always wary of new ones. But when I saw that Ryan Graudin was writing, I didn't really think twice about the content of the story. I trust Graudin's storytelling and I had a good feeling about this book.

From the start, I adored Far. He is confident and a little arrogant, but not in an obnoxious way. There is something entirely endearing about him. He's the kind of hero that you love without having to know why. But there are so many good qualities about him - his persistence, his determination, his fearlessness, his selflessness, his confidence. He has an interesting sense of humor and he is a fun guy to follow. While this story isn't just about him, it definitely wouldn't be the same with him as a lesser character. He is a very fun and well-written protagonist.

Arguably, all of the crew are primary characters. This book is written in third-person POV, and it seems like the majority of the story is told from Far's third-person POV, but the POVs of other characters are common. Gram, the Engineer of the Invictus, is a constant presence. He is incredibly smart and logical, which makes sense since he is the one that does the calculations to perform the jumps in time. Imogen, Far's cousin, is the Historian of the crew. She is responsible for knowing about the details of the historic periods of time (for costumes and such). Priya is a medic, which is kind of necessary since Far gets into scrapes every now and then, on heists.

The newest addition is Eliot, who is the mysterious girl who came out of nowhere on the Titanic. She is very strange and not someone I trusted at any point in the story. Her identity is revealed very slowly, so you're left wondering who she is for a bit in the story (though all is revealed, don't worry). Her plans were unknown to readers at first, even though we read from her third-person POV occasionally. We can't tell if she is friend of foe, but she is a very important character in the story.

There is romance, and I loved it because it is already established romance. Far and Priya are already dating, which is cute. Usually YA stories do the meet-cute thing, in which the two characters meet and go on adventures together. In this case, Far and Priya had already known each other, and started dating, in the early heists (long before problems with time traveling and Eliot arrived). There is NO love triangle. The arrival of Eliot does not signal a love triangle. I promise! There is also another couple whom I shipped (you can probably guess who). No love triangle there either. Far and Priya are the cutest, as are the other couple. Neither romance is very important in the story, though both are there are both are adorable.

The time-travel aspect is not at all confusing or poorly explained. Even if you're not a mathy/sciencey person, you'll be fine when following the explanations and whatnot, when it comes to time travel and anomalies and such. The big conflict deals with a rift, and the author makes sure readers know how and why and what. Things didn't make sense at first, but as the author revealed more and more, things started to come together.

By the climax of the story, everything becomes clear - who Eliot is, why Far is critical to the huge problem, what happened to Far's mother, and so on. Many questions are answered. The end of the story is a little sad at first! Certain things are unavoidable, and so the ending had a bit of a bittersweet tone to it. BUT. It doesn't end that badly. In fact, the ending is hopeful and somewhat of a HEA, even if it isn't truly a HEA. It's a good ending, overall.

This exciting and heart-pounding science fiction novel is perfect for anyone looking for adventure and high stakes. Cute romances and great friendships make the novel even stronger!

What I Did Not Like:

I suppose the only thing that made me a little sad was the ending - but again, it was a good ending overall. I can't say much beyond that. But I do hope that, in the future, the author releases some sort of check-in for some of the characters. There is an epilogue in this book already, but it wasn't enough. (If anything, it was more of a tease than anything else!)

Would I Recommend It:

I love science fiction but often struggle with time-travel novels, but I definitely recommend this book! It is fun and interesting, with high stakes and nonstop action and intensity. I loved following this crew, with their strong bond and friendships. This is a standalone novel so you wouldn't need to worry about waiting for another book to follow.

Rating:

4 stars. I have yet to be disappointed by Ryan Graudin! All of her stories are so unique and different, and there is a lot to love about each book. I can't wait to read what she comes up with next!

Invictus is a fun ride through time while giving all the feels. It reads like a mash-up of Firefly and Doctor Who with a hint of Fringe thrown in. This story of thieving, falling in love, and saving the world is full of humor and heart.

Invictus
by Ryan Graudin
Dear Ryan Graudin, this book needs to be released in paperback. Wow, a great concept, and love the mystery at the core of the book. A great book for young adult readers. Invictus comes from the science fiction theory and ideas of time travel. A young time observer has betrayed the rules of her organization, because of unexpectedly finding love in the past. Her resulting child makes the world change, the universe change, the multiverse change. The book shows the need for people to have support, personal and loving to over come things that challenge us. Most of all love, which is why things need to have exceptions, and love trumps all. You are drawn into the character of Faraway from his birth, until his personal sacrifice. His connections to his friends and family are not only a great support system but shows how love and self-sacrifice are the keys to life. Love the speed and depth of this book. I will be recommending this book to my local Middle school Library.

Summary: Farway, Far, McCarthy was born outside of time.  His mother was a time traveller from the future who fell in love with a man from the past and Far was born while she was on a mission.  Far has grown up with the goal of following in his mother's footsteps.  But when Far's plans are derailed he finds himself the captain of a group of time traveling thieves that go into the past to "recover" lost historical artifacts.  However, when on a mission to the past the crew meets a mysterious girl who is also a time travel and she and the crew they must team up to protect the future.

Review: I had a very mixed reaction to this book.  First, I have to state I was a fan of Graudin's "All That Glows" series so I had high expectations for this book and they were kind of met.  Graudin has a skill that many authors lack and that is that she is really good at creating characters that you want to read about.  All of the members of Invictus crew are just so likable and their personal interactions were just so entertaining.  I wanted to know what happened to them and I wanted to keep reading about their romantic entanglements.  However, I just couldn't get into their actual mission.  The parts of the book where they were traveling through time trying to save the world never really grabbed my attention.  However, the story is fast paced and will likely appeal to many science fiction fans.

I'm not usually a fan of time travel synopsis, but this one was exceptionally unique. I really enjoyed all the characters, especially level-headed Priya. Thank you NetGalley for sharing this arc with me. This was a creative take on time travel, getting more in-depth as the story progresses. Would love to see some short stories, know more of Far's mother.

Loved, loved, loved Invictus! This is for any fan of sci-fi, romance, or for anyone just looking for a good book. I haven't read them yet, but Invictus makes me want to pick up all of Graudin's other books. One of my picks for 2017 and one of my new favorites.

Invictus has a very good start. Opening with a time-traveler named Empra who fell in love with a gladiator and a baby born outside of time.
Farway (Far) is Empra's son. He's always wanted to explore history but his dreams are crushed when he unexpectedly fails his time-traveling exam. When Far is approached with an offer to captain a ship as part of a black market operation to steal valuable relics from the past..he accepts. Given the opportunity to hand pick his own crew, Far recruits Imogen (his cousin), Gram and Priya. Everything is going well for them until a mission that involves stealing an important book from the Titanic is compromised by another time-traveler named Eliot who gets to it first. She's very mysterious and always seems to be one step ahead of him so naturally Far doesn't trust her when she demands to join his crew. Under the circumstances, he has no choice but to accept.

Now, Invictus is about 450 pages long - which is great, I'm all for long books! - but at times felt like it was too lengthy. The writing is excellent and I love that it alternates between the members of the crew so we are able to see things from everyone's perspective as opposed to just Far's. I have to admit though, I found myself looking forward to some characters more than others. And Saffron - Imogen's red panda - was an adorable little addition to the crew!

If you're a fan of time-travel, I'm fairly certain you'll enjoy this. It's got a little bit of everything. Time-travel, romance, action, likeable characters who work amazingly well as a group, and a few things that will definitely remind you of Doctor Who ;)

This is my first-time reading a book by this author, and with the premise it has, I was really expecting to love this book. Doctor Who meets Firefly kind of book.

But honestly, for me, this book was just okay. The characters weren't that interesting. The plot itself felt kind of boring as well. There was a severe lack of heist...ing. We see them do maybe two missions. There's a lot more telling, rather than showing, of how skilled they are supposed to be at their job stealing items from history to sell on the black market.

I am really picky about the sci-fi I read, it's not my favorite genre, so for me to really stick to and with a Sci-fi book it has to be really special and grab me early on. This book had a great opening chapter, but everything after that was just kind of average.

The biggest flaw with this book is the characters, they are all forgettable. I had to look at the synopsis to remember the MC's name. That is one of the things I judge a book on, and what I think should carry a book. Since there are no visuals, the book has to rely on well written and developed characters, and for me, this book just did not have that. The premise was interesting, but with out good characters to drive the plot that part of the book felt boring as well.

When I saw this one Netgalley I was immediately intrigued by it. I am inexplicably drawn to books about time travel. The allure of being able to wrong past mistakes and take in a part of history that we would never experience otherwise has always been something I've been fascinated by. Add in a small dose of sci fi and characters that you can't help but be drawn to and Invictus surprised me in the best ways possible.

Truly from the alluring prologue this story captured my attention and refused to let go. Instead, one chapter turned into two and before I knew it I was reading late into the night and unable to fall asleep until my eyes grew so heavy I had no choice but to put it down and even then I resisted the Sandman's charm with superhuman strength I didn't even know I possessed.

This series was so much fun. From the characters to the whole time travel aspect to the sci fi appeal of what the future could be like if we're not careful to the mystery of Faraway and Eliot themselves, it was so addicting and so very hard to put down. I was enthralled with the it all and once again I find myself being blown away by a story that not only took me by surprised but made me excited about this genre again.

I am a huge fan of sci-fiction and I love space opera. Add in the fact that it is young adult and I was very excited to start reading Invictus. So I was a little surprised and disappointed when I couldn’t get into the book until about midway through. I know that it is because I felt that the book crept until about midway. It was after Eliot revealed everything that I felt the book picked up steam and I actually got into reading it.

I thought the plot of the book was good. Time travel has been discovered and is being used. People can go back in time to sight see. Then there are the people who go back in time to record the events live for the people in the future to study. This is where Farway’s story starts. His mother, Empra, is a Recorder and she has done the unthinkable. She has fallen in love with a gladiator named Gaius and has gotten pregnant. After witnessing a fight in which Gaius dies, Empra goes into labor. She delivers Farway on her ship in a place called the Grid. Which is outside of time. So, a great start to the book. It fell flat and I had a very hard time keeping my attention on it until Eliot dropped a bombshell on Farway and his crew. Then the book picked up steam and I couldn’t put it down until it ended.

I do think that Invictus was a great space opera. It fills in that genre very well. The time travel was written wonderfully and I thought that it was a very different take on that. I thought the usage of camaflouged ships was great. But I didn’t care for the YA part of it.

Farway got on my nerves from page one but I liked him. I thought that he was very immature. That part of him grated on my nerves. I did think that he was a good captain and he did put his crew first. He also had good instincts about people. I mean, he was right about Eliot. But in the end, he was willing to do whatever he could to save his mother and his world.

Eliot had some brass ones, let me tell you. She stole the book that Farway trying to find on the Titanic. She then used it as a bargaining chip to get aboard the Invictus. I was surprised as Farway and his crew about not only who Eliot was by why she was there.

Surprisingly, for a YA book, there is sex. Farway and Priya have sex a few times. The book doesn’t get into details but you definitely know what they were doing. The romance between Priya and Farway was sweet and very heartfelt. I had tears in my eyes during the scene where Priya…..well, you need to read the book.

The end of the book was very heartfelt and I got a little emotional during it. Not going to say anything but I did like how the storylines were resolved.

3 stars

My Summary of Invictus:

Invictus didn’t hold my attention as it should have. The first half of the book seemed to drag and only picked up speed after a crucial scene in the middle of the book. I did think that it was wonderfully written with rich dialogue between the characters. I am disappointed that I just didn’t like it as much as I should have.

Will I reread: Maybe

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Older Teen

Why: Mild violence and sexual situations. Nothing graphic but you know that the two characters are having sex

I would like to thank Ryan Graudin, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for allowing me to read Invictus

Any and all opinions expressed in this review of Invictus are mine and mine alone

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Farway Gaius McCarthy has a bit of reputation because he was born outside of time. His mother (from the 2300's) recorded history and fell in love with a Roman gladiator in 95 AD, which of course is forbidden. Facts are fudged so Farway's parentage doesn't come into question. His dream is to travel through history like his mother, who never returned from one of her assignments. Farway's whole world comes crashing down when he fails his final exam and is forever barred from his dream. A less savory man offers him a job to illicitly travel through time to obtain lost artifacts, but it all goes wrong when the girl who sabotaged his test holds one of those artifacts hostage to join their crew. Who is she and what does she want?

I really enjoyed the first half of the book. I love the idea of a world where time travel exists and it's an actual job to go back in time, blend in, and record key events for both historical record and public enjoyment. Even on illicit trips to the past, it's important to have a good engineer to do all the calculations and a good historian who will know what fashion, materials, and language would be commonplace for the time. I wish we could have seen a little more what a typical day in that world would have been, but more time is spent in other times.

Farway and his crew really drew me into the story. While Farway is a bit conceited and annoying, his romances with Priya is adorable and keeps him grounded. Priya is the medic onboard. Her steadfast nature balances out the more flighty and wild people on the crew and I liked her best. I do find it a little annoying that they are already in love when they start so we don't get to see how it developed. Another unspoken romance blossoms between carefree, colorful Imogen and by the numbers Gram. To round out the crew, they have a red panda generally being adorable and getting into mischief. The crew dynamic is balanced and they are really more family than friends.

The second half of the book revealed the mysterious girl's identity and introduced a whole disparate concept to the story that I didn't enjoy as much as everything else. The story was exciting and the characters grew and changed, but that concept just didn't really mesh with everything else for me. I rode out the story and generally enjoyed it, but I probably wouldn't read another book if it were a series. I would definitely read more from the author, but maybe not a science fiction based book.

I couldn't get The Guardians of the Galaxy out of my head the entire time I read this. Which is an unfair comparison since this motley crew in Invictus actually were Time-Hoppers, retained to steal irreplaceable goods from throughout history. The world building was phenomenal, although I struggled with the cerebral sci-fi explanations in which the detailed mechanics of how time travelling worked, or didn't work was lost on me. Many times the author's lengthy prose did not complement well with such a scientific, multiple dimensional sci-fi world.

There is a lot happening in this book. Historical Fiction, fantasy, time-travelling, romance, science-fiction. The first few pages are gripping! A pregnant time traveller in Ancient Rome! I thought... 'Now this is different.' Eventually the cast grew. Many points of view were established. As the story unfolded, I quickly discovered unlike Guardians of The Galaxy not every character was witty or interesting. Don't get me wrong, I understood their rolls (The Engineer, The Historian, The Physician). I just failed to connect with their banter as well I probably should have. I found myself frustrated when the points of view changed feeling unsatisfied that the story failed to move forward in sacrifice of knowing Imogene's hair color, Gram's Tetris score, or Priya's childhood. Farway, the main character was the star, and details about the others unrelated to him seemed redundant, perhaps even distracting when there was so much to cover.

I enjoyed the plot twist and reveals. When it is all said and done, I was curious for answers the entire book. Most were nice surprises. Many I found a bit confusing and far-reaching. Certainly ambitious. What a imaginative YA read for fans of many different genres. 3.5 stars.

So, I went into this book with fairly low expectations. Not because it’s Ryan Graudin (I love Graudin’s books!) but because I just don’t tend to fall in love with time travel stories. I’m going to be perfectly blunt and say that I find Dr Who a complete snoozefest, so, I wasn’t really sure whether the odds were stacked against this book before I’d even read it. Nevertheless, it was Graudin, the cover was shiny, it had gladiators, so I decided to give it a try.

I am so glad that I did.

So, without further ado, here’s a little precis of why I enjoyed this book so much.

-I haven’t fallen for a motley crew of characters so completely since ‘Six of Crows’. They’re present and multi faceted and all with their foibles. The interpersonal relations between them are engaging and real. We’re talking a bunch of teenagers who spend 50% of their time piloting a cramped time machine throughout the universe. Yes, the time travelling is fun, but so is their banter and how they deal with the fact they’re living double lives, so wildly inexplicable to anyone other than eachother.

-Without giving too much away, I really enjoyed Graudin’s use of theories of time and the universe.

-The threat levels in this book are through the roof. Honestly, as much as this book is fun and bubbly and adorable, the ‘enemy’ that our heroes face is absolutely terrifying. I had to sit and read it in one sitting because I was too tense to put it down!

-It’s light hearted but emotional…so emotional. I was actually quite surprised with how much the story made me feel. I was expecting a light hearted sci fi caper, and we got that but also with a side of real emotional clout.

-RED PANDAS.

-Established romance. I didn’t realise how much I like to see characters already in relationships until I started this book. You get to see the cute, fluffy stuff without any of the awkwardness.

-The worldbuilding was really cool. I loved the concept of recorders and the entertainment value of their work, but I also really liked the unexpectedness of having Rome as the centre of time travel rather than somewhere like New York, which, frankly, would have been a whole lot less interesting. It was really easy to imagine a new high tech city being built around and through the historical ruins and monuments of Italy. It also felt more like a global city for it, with people congregating from all around the world to work in the time travel industry. It’s not an American-centric future, but somewhere where you’re just as likely to get some proper Chai as an espresso.

-There is a lot of chai and gelato in this book, I was honestly developing cravings.

In the interest of writing a balanced review, I tried to think whether there was anything that I didn’t particularly like about this book. I really struggled. I suppose what I will say is that if you’re looking for some kind of grimdark hard sci fi time travel then it might not be for you. It’s as much about personal relationships between the crew as it is the time travel element. I really like that, but it might not be for everyone.

So, in short, an awesome book that got me through a direly dull weekend on-call. If I had to describe it in only a handful of words, I’d say it was effervescent, colourful and emotionally draining. If you like fast paced, quirky adventure stories then it’s definitely one you should check out.

Many thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for a copy in return for an honest review!

Far is a boy who shouldn't exist. Born outside of time from a romance between his time-traveling mother and a Roman gladiator, he has wanted more than anything to travel history. But when his final test is corrupted, Far is thrown out of the Academy and is approached by a black market merchant with an offer he can't refuse. A year later, Far and his crew of time-traveling thieves are about to pull off their great heist yet: stealing a book just before the Titantic slips into the ocean. Things don't go according to plan, as a mysterious girl steals the book and demands to be part of their crew. Eliot is hiding something, but Far and his friends don't know just how much...

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Oh lawd, this book. It was so hashing painful, right up until the 70% mark. Then it got pretty damn good.

Time travel books frustrate me, particularly when the travelers come from the future. I mean, of all the amazing periods in history to explore, why oh WHY do these people from the future go to the 1990s-2000s???! THERE IS NOTHING GOOD FROM THIS PERIOD. Trust me. And the fascination with the music of the 1980s and 1990s...there has been 250+ years of music since then! Surely we've had something noteworthy since then. And better games. [Don't even get me started on the ridiculous decision of heading off to Vegas (Vegas) to party and get CRUNK after being blackmailed by a mysterious girl who could end your career and now wants to join your crew for some reason. Stranger Danger much?

I am being too harsh, I know. I was just so excited for this book, particularly after the amazing Wolf for Wolf duology and the premise of this sounded amaze-balls. However. The book more or less absolves itself of the sins of its first 69% with the last bits. The last bits are pretty neat.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Writing about time travel is extremely tricky, but I think this book does a good job. I wasn’t blown away, but I rarely am by anything so definitely read this and be your own judge.

Pros: First off, I actually didn’t have a problem with any of the characters. I have read a lot of books that, while the characters aren’t problematic, they’re pretty insufferable and I just want them to shut up most of the time. And while there was very little that was intriguing about the characters in this book, I didn’t find myself hating any of them. Their personalities are different, but fit well together. They are selfless, courageous, diverse, and genuine.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the use of Latin throughout the book. With the title being Invictus, it was obvious there was going to be some Latin strewn about. Being an English major and having taking Latin for a year and a half, I love coming across it in literature to see how much I actually remember (hint: not that much).

As I said before, time travel is hard to write about so I’m not usually a fan, but I was surprised by how well this book turned out. I’m not gonna lie - there are a few instances where things start to get confusing based on alternate timelines and universes, etc., but that’s to be expected. It’s one of the few times I’ve seen time travelers going so far back in time, Ancient Rome to be exact. While a lot of books will start in the present and jump to the future, this book does the opposite, but doesn’t make the future (their present) so unbelievable like most stories are known to do. Besides time travel, the future (their present) in Invictus isn’t so much different. There is slightly advanced technology, but it’s nothing that we probably won’t see in a few years anyway.

Cons: There aren’t many so I’ll try to keep it brief. The conflict (known as the Fade) was a little hard to wrap my head around, which is unfortunate because it makes up most of the plot of the book. The detail that brings the Fade into existence seems pretty minor in the scheme of things but is supposed to be pretty major. And I just couldn’t see such a catastrophic thing coming from something so small. (I’m sorry if this sounds vague; I’m trying to keep it spoiler free.)

While there is a lot of action, most of the story was pretty average. I rarely found myself excited to pick up the book and finish it.

I would say that if you’re a fan of time travel and history and science fiction, then this is a definite must read. There’s some romance in there too. Don’t let my not being blown away by it deter you from reading what is probably a really great book to most people.

A fun and original ride. Great for binge-watchers of Roswell, Firefly, Doctor Who, Stargate, etc. and for young readers who like a fast-paced sci-fi read. Wish it were a series instead of a one-off!