My Review

Oh…my…hazes…god! 

I’ve read some books this year but nothing like this, not in a loooong time. This book needs to have the television or film rights to it, because this should be seen in all media. It’s absolutely truly mesmerising and totally addictive. I couldn’t put it down! 

In 95 AD, Recorder Empra McCarthy fell in love with a gladiator, she’s been a part of this time for over 9 months, she is about to give birth to his child. Leaving her love was the hardest thing to do but right now the baby inside of her is coming out… born out of time on the ship Ab Aeterno lives a boy, a soon-to-be cadet and future Recorder Faraway McCarthy. In present time (at the moment), 2354, Far wants to travel, explore time, record history first hand, but when a Maria Antoinette, winks at him, he fails his right to even graduate as a Recorder and be captain on an Academy vessel. He gets a second chance and becomes captain of his ship, the Invictus, with his cousin historian, chai tea extraordinaire, Tetris nerd he couldn’t be more at home in the stars. But his story both begins and ends with him. Time as we know it is about to be erased, Far’s existence has defied the laws of nature, and now he needs to fix it against the Fade. 

This book people, it blows your mind! I completely at the mercy of Ryan writing, it’s pure genius and it won’t be the last compliment I will be giving her. What I loved about it is that Invictus is a journey, a journey of characters, of time, of history, and more importantly of self discovery. I was enthralled and fascinated by the world of this novel with the imagination, accuracy and history. How although primarily Faraway and his crew record time, it’s like your part of that time with them and they were recording you with Maria Antoinette or next to the band on the Titanic, or in tunic in 95 AD. It’s totally surreal but that’s just how amazing Ryan is in her writing style, the imagination and creation of that within the book. I adored it!

Told is alternate characters of the crew, you really have a bag of different characters. My favourite being Faraway’s cousin, Imogen, she chalks the ends of her hair everyday, she bright, wonderful and always full of happiness and optimism. Her persona is just totally infectious, sweet and just makes me laugh. There was also some very untold chemistry upon the vessel too, I loved the romantic aspect between Faraway and Priya and also the sweetness of Gram and Imogen, that relationship was particularly adorable and frustrating. You just wanted them to bang each others heads together. Although I admit, I would have loved to have seen more of a development of the their relationships from the beginning. But I’m totally nit picking. At the end of the day, they have each other’s backs throughout time and whatever happens, these characters are a family and you completely fall in love with them all.  

This is my first venture into Ryan’s novels, and her writing is golden, powerful and completely addictive. As soon as you start the book it’s action from the word go, it’s fast-paced, full of adventure you really can’t put it down. The Matrix, Doctor Who and Star Trek, it combines the greatness of the time-travelling genre in one book. A sci-fi time travel novel in YA is very hard to come by these days, the last one I read was probably a good couple of years ago. But I have to say that Invictus really hits the sci-fi nerd in me.

Rating – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟