Book Review: Invictus by Ryan Graudin

Yesterday, November 23, was the anniversary of Doctor Who‘s first airing, aka Doctor Who Day. In honor of such a remarkable time-travel story, here’s the best (and probably only) time-travel book I read this year!

Farway McCarthy, the son of a time-traveling recorder from the 24th century and a gladiator from the 1st century, was born out of time. After failing his exam to become a time-travel recorder like his mother, Far jumps at the chance to become the captain of a time machine by looting history. During a heist on the Titanic, he runs into someone who shouldn’t be there–someone who seems to be one step of Far and his crew.

Alright, so I’m a sucker for a good time-travel story. But if you throw in a good plot and a fantastic cast, I’m sold. And Invictus by Ryan Graudin had all of this and more.

First off, the time travel stuff was phenomenal. The time periods and the details were gorgeous, and I’d like to order at least twelve more adventure stories with these characters. The science-y time travel story stuff was pretty flipping awesome, and it made sense (though I’m not a time-travel expert).

Second, I adored the characters. From Farway’s bravery and his cousin Imogen’s crazy hair to the quiet yet swoon-worthy Gram and the smart and sweet Pryia, the crew of the Invictus is basically a mash-up of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the crew of the Firefly. Then there’s Eliot and her eyebrows and her mysteriousness. I seriously love every single one of them, and they all proved their worth. Everybody was necessary and each of their narrative voices was unique and clear. Aka #squadgoals

Third, the plot was fun. Yeah, there was definitely a lot of serious stuff packed into the story, such as Farway growing up without his mother or that history itself starts unraveling, but there were a lot of just plain fun moments. Imogen’s daily tallies and Gram’s Rubik’s cubes. Pryia and Far’s relationship. And Eliot and her eyebrows.

Basically, Invictus was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. It was a clean, easy read with time-traveling thieves, fun things like paradoxes, and so much to gush about that I wouldn’t have time even if I could go into the Grid and freeze time. If you like time-travel stories or fun characters, read Invictus! (And give me a TV show or something. I’m dying.)

~I chose to check out a copy of Invictus by Ryan Graudin from my local library and write a review of my own free will. All opinions are my own.~

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