When Stassi learns that she won’t be exiled from Branson Isle for returning from the past with slightly more than a kitschy souvenir, she is elated. When she learns that her boss is forming an elite team based on their performance in Paris, she is stunned.
After a month on Branson Isle, tasked with acclimating the syndicate’s newest runner to a time more than 500 years in his future, Stassi and … Stassi and her new team are off to 16th century England to procure an artifact only rumored to exist.
With rebellions rising and the Inquisition marching towards England, the stakes are higher than ever for the syndicate’s runners. Their target is sixteen-year old Lady Jane Grey, one of history’s most tragic figures. When Stassi and the gang arrive, Jane is awaiting execution after her nine-day reign as Queen of England.
The runners thought that penetrating the fortress would be their biggest challenge. They were wrong.
For Stassi and her teammates, only one thing is certain: Heads. Will. Roll.
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After the events of the first book in 1925 France, back in 2465, Stassi and her friends are now part of the Syndicate’s first quad team, with Gaige, Molly, and Charles. To test their team’s capabilities, and Charle’s ability to blend into an unfamiliar environment, they are set up on a mission in their own time. This book seems more intended to establish them as a team, to show how things are in their current time, and develop their relationships a bit more. It definitely grounds the reader more in what they’re doing for the Syndicate, while giving an interesting look into a very futuristic society. There are some really interesting “historical” events outlined, adding even more to the overall engaging aspects of the story. We also continue to get more tidbits on the mysterious locket and pocket watch, and more questions about Stassi’s past. It was an enjoyable story, and a solid continuation of the series.
Atlic by Sophie Davis is part of the Timewave series.
Stassi is back home from her ordeal in Paris with more questions than she had before. This is definitely a fun time travel series. The plot twists and action keep you guessing and wanting more. The audio is well narrated and enjoyable to listen to also.
I got to be honest. Compared to The Syndicate, Atlic was kind of a let down. Not in a big way and not in any way that made me disappointed in the outcome. It just wasn’t what I had expected after such a dramatic and thrilling first book. Maybe it isn’t fair of me to judge the book by my own high expectations, but even looking at the story with an open perspective the story was tame compared to the action-packed first book.
With such a beautifully and cleverly written story I was so excited to read the next installment, especially with that powerful and unanswered ending. Little did I know that those slowly revealing mysteries, like the connections to the jewelry, Stassi’s heritage and why Charles was allowed to stay, that made me hold on for dear life would stay solidly unanswered and almost untouched throughout Atlic. Those mysteries were what kept me truly invested in the story and while I am all for the enigmas building up, in this book they stood completely still.
Atlic was more focused on Stassi’s past and what would had been her future had she not had luck on her side. I did like that I got to see more of her life as a camp kid and what happened to people who did not get as lucky as her. It shone some light on her background that I felt was missing in the first book and it made her a much more complex character. However, digging into her past did not give any answers to the mysteries I was waiting for. It was almost like they were all forgotten for the time being and it wasn’t until the ending that I at least got some clue for the whole jewelry business.
There is a balance to enigmas. Reveal to quickly and you don’t give the reader the time to get hooked or invested enough to care. Reveal too slowly and the reader will sooner or later lose interest all together. A good book, like the Syndicate, will be in the middle balancing it perfectly. Atlic however was really toeing the line of the latter. If it weren’t for the revelation in the end to said jewelry mystery I might not consider continuing with the series.
It also didn’t help that the biggest unanswered question, as to why Charles got to become a runner and what transpired between him and Cyrus, was left in the air like nothing. That should have had a big impact on the story and in the relationship between him and Stassi. There was some tenseness and reservations between them, but that was it. It was handled as such a minor issue in the story that it was almost not there. Even Charles role in the story felt minor even as he was one of the main characters. He was often quietly in the background and easily forgotten and when he was in the center his personality resembled almost the opposite from his personality in The Syndicate. He acted very childlike, with a lack of a better word. That, plus Stassi’s there-but-not-focused-at-all-on reservations towards him made the romance a huge snooze fest.
I make it sound like I hated Atlic, but believe me, that is far from the truth. I enjoyed the romance that I did get, as well as, the action, twists and the light on Stassi’s past, as well as some descriptions of the future the book takes place in. I am happy with the story. However not as exhilarated as I was with the first book, mainly because all of the unanswered questions I had are still just as unanswered. I had come up with some of my own theories, for example Cyrus either being Stassi’s father or at least knows something about it and J. Jacobson in that case being her mother. I really want to know if I am either very clever or very off the mark and Atlic did not help me get closer to that answer. Hopefully Legends Untold will.