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A review by junghoseok
Invictus by Ryan Graudin
5.0
Ryan Graudin is well on her way to becoming one of my favorite authors. I adored her Wolf by Wolf duology (and wrote a rant about it), so when I heard she was releasing a standalone science fiction book pitched as a cross between Firefly and Doctor Who, I couldn’t hit the “want to read” button on Goodreads fast enough. Then my library bought it and at long last I got to read it.
First of all, the title comes from a poem by William Ernest Henley with lines like “unconquerable soul” and “I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul,” which is super cool. Secondly, the book follows Our Hero, a boy who was born out of time (in the “Grid” between time periods when their ship jumped back to the future from A.D. 95) and now wants to be a certified time traveler. Unfortunately, his final test is sabotaged by a winking Marie Antoinette and he flunks out of the academy. A smuggler recruits him to steal rare and precious lost artifacts from the past, but our story doesn’t really get going until Our Hero runs into a mysterious time traveler named Eliot who carries secrets and an agenda dark enough to match her drawn-on eyebrows (Read the book and it will make sense).
I really can’t go into more depth (though I would love to) without spoiling the book, and this is one of those books where you really want the secrets to be revealed naturally. Suffice it to say that the plot took some twists and turns even I didn’t see coming and I’ve been around the block a few times and am an avid time travel fan. It’s extremely difficult to write time travel (trust me, I tried, and I had to scrap the book because it was so terrible my own mother said it was awful and confusing), but Graudin pulls it off well. The plot does drag a bit in the first third of the book or so, but once crap starts going down and secrets start being revealed, you’ll want to plunge full speed ahead. There’s some sensuality (not a lot) and weird not-curse-words, making Invictus one of the cleanest YA books I’ve read in a while.
I do want to mention that Ryan Graudin has a beautiful way of writing. The words just come together in a musical way that can hit you in the gut at the same time. Also, due to the nature of its subject matter the book has some great quotes and brings up good questions about life, love, memory, nature, time, death—tons of good stuff. Here’s a quote: “When you witness the breadth of history, you understand how small you are. And yet at the same time you realize how much your life matters…how much you shape the people around you. And vice versa.” Couldn’t have put it better myself.
I highly recommend this book if you’re a time travel Doctor Who fan, or if you just want a good, clean story.
Review can also be found on my blog: https://elawrencewriter.weebly.com/book-rants/invictus
First of all, the title comes from a poem by William Ernest Henley with lines like “unconquerable soul” and “I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul,” which is super cool. Secondly, the book follows Our Hero, a boy who was born out of time (in the “Grid” between time periods when their ship jumped back to the future from A.D. 95) and now wants to be a certified time traveler. Unfortunately, his final test is sabotaged by a winking Marie Antoinette and he flunks out of the academy. A smuggler recruits him to steal rare and precious lost artifacts from the past, but our story doesn’t really get going until Our Hero runs into a mysterious time traveler named Eliot who carries secrets and an agenda dark enough to match her drawn-on eyebrows (Read the book and it will make sense).
I really can’t go into more depth (though I would love to) without spoiling the book, and this is one of those books where you really want the secrets to be revealed naturally. Suffice it to say that the plot took some twists and turns even I didn’t see coming and I’ve been around the block a few times and am an avid time travel fan. It’s extremely difficult to write time travel (trust me, I tried, and I had to scrap the book because it was so terrible my own mother said it was awful and confusing), but Graudin pulls it off well. The plot does drag a bit in the first third of the book or so, but once crap starts going down and secrets start being revealed, you’ll want to plunge full speed ahead. There’s some sensuality (not a lot) and weird not-curse-words, making Invictus one of the cleanest YA books I’ve read in a while.
I do want to mention that Ryan Graudin has a beautiful way of writing. The words just come together in a musical way that can hit you in the gut at the same time. Also, due to the nature of its subject matter the book has some great quotes and brings up good questions about life, love, memory, nature, time, death—tons of good stuff. Here’s a quote: “When you witness the breadth of history, you understand how small you are. And yet at the same time you realize how much your life matters…how much you shape the people around you. And vice versa.” Couldn’t have put it better myself.
I highly recommend this book if you’re a time travel Doctor Who fan, or if you just want a good, clean story.
Review can also be found on my blog: https://elawrencewriter.weebly.com/book-rants/invictus