A heart-stopping adventure that defies time and space–New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu calls it “an incredibly intricate, brilliantly paced, masterfully written journey.”Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time traveler from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in ancient Rome, Far’s very existence defies the laws of nature. All he’s ever wanted was to explore … was to explore history for himself, but after failing his entrance exam into the government program, Far will have to settle for a position on the black market-captaining a time-traveling crew to steal valuables from the past.
During a routine heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets a mysterious girl named Eliot who always seems to be one step ahead of him. Eliot has secrets-big ones-that will affect Far’s life from beginning to end. Armed with the knowledge that history is not as steady as it seems, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to set things right before the clock runs out.
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I’m not usually a fan of time travel books — no matter how great the initial world building is, they almost always fall apart at the seams due to the unavoidable paradoxes and pesky multiverses born from time hopping. While I don’t think Invictus was an exception to this rule, I still really enjoyed the book and had such a great time reading it. It’s being compared to The Guardians of the Galaxy, and if you love the group of misfits running wild through space together trope, this should be right up your alley. The characters are engaging, the plot quick and fun, and the historical elements immersive enough to take the story to the next level.
This book is one of my favorite time travelling thrillers I have ever read. The characters were gripping and original, and the story kept unfolding in so many different ways it kept me guessing all the way through. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for something new and exciting.
Invictus by Ryan Graudin is science fiction novel that starts in the year 2371. Farway Gaius McCarthy is taking his final exam to receive his license to time travel. However, someone gets into the SIM and sabotages it for him. With no other alternative, Far accepts an offer to pilot his own machine (Invictus) and deal in black market goods. He assembles his team and begins his new career on the Invictus. On a mission to the Titanic, they encounter the mysterious Eliot. Eliot resembles the lady who sabotaged Far’s final SIM. Eliot is on a mission and needs assistance. They will race through time to right a wrong before it is too late.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Invictus. It was a delightful tale (who doesn’t love a good time travel tale). It contains great characters and is packed full of action. I found it be well-written and entertaining. Invictus had a fast pace with many twists and turns along the way. I liked how the characters developed over the course of the book. I started reading Invictus and stayed up very late to finish it (I wanted to know how it ended, but I also did not want it to end). I am giving Invictus 5 out of 5 stars (I loved it). There is time-travel, spaceship, a red panda (a cute little fellow), romance, humor, intrigue, and so much more. While Invictus is aimed at young adults, I believe readers of all ages will enjoy this time-traveling adventure.
This really is a *HASHING amazing book. Through the storytelling by Ryan Graudin and sheer expanse of time traveled, it feels epic. I pre-ordered ‘Invictus’ based on the recommendations of the other authors of the book, the intriguing one-liner, and feeling that the title implied a novel of immense proportions and it it didn’t disappoint me.
It may only be coincidental that my son’s name is Roman, but I happen to have a penchant for stories that include venturing to Ancient Rome, and combine that with time-travel, a red panda, Rubik’s cubes, as well as teleportation, and this is a must-read. The story is hard to explain in a neat little nutshell – and I can’t even imagine how the author Ryan quickly describes this book to people! One way would be to say that ‘Invictus’ is about a group of time-traveling-treasure-hunting-teenagers who basically end up saving the world from history and time fading away into nothingness. Make sense? Probably not (I guess you will have to read it).
I loved the crew of whimsical characters, and those wonderful chapter titles! Sometimes I’d get lost in the amazingly imaginative techie talk that Graudin somehow came up with for this book, but that’s a little because I’m still a sci-fi newbie (it happens a lot with many sci-fi/fantasy novels). I have to reread to grasp it all, but it feels like ultimate proof of the incredible world-building that has been accomplished. It’s so complex and rich, that a second read is necessary to absorb it all and bring more of it to life.
It also turns out I have forgotten all my Latin from my boarding school days but I was delighted to be transported back to the Coliseum that I’ve visited, except that it’s now in use and there are gory scenes described. Graudin also transports us to places like Vegas and back to the Titanic. All of that is a real treat. Since I have a movie background, I just couldn’t help but envision this as a movie (sorry, Ryan) because the imagery and storyline just scream ‘film it’ to me! Basically that just means it was so effective in terms of me visualizing the words I was reading into something vivid in my head. Read it and tell me how cool the costume and set design would be…
Anyway, I was kind of glad to read that this will be a standalone novel without any followup (some people may not agree). It’s so beautiful with its ending, leaving me to imagine what’s next. There’s so much that goes on for these characters, you trust that they will go on the right path.
This book really is a marvel and a real success for Ryan Graudin, who has made a side step away from her grittier other novels. I hope she writes more in this vein. Everyone needs to read this, NOW.
*And HASHING needs to be the next new word in everyone’s vocabulary. It was just one of the cool words Graudin came up with!