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bluedaisygirl's review
3.0
Maybe a 3.5 star book for me. I'm conflicted because I liked it, but it also had a lot of things that I wish were better or different. I feel like it didn't live up to its premise because time traveling thieving is only a very small part at the beginning of the book, and then it goes in a whole different direction.
Other people have mentioned lack of character development, and depth. I have to agree. I didn't feel really emotionally connected to them and not a real sense of suspense or urgency.
Other people have mentioned lack of character development, and depth. I have to agree. I didn't feel really emotionally connected to them and not a real sense of suspense or urgency.
labunnywtf's review against another edition
4.0
My book loves did not love this book. If you look at the chat, you will see that every time someone said they didn't love it, I took a sip.
I took a few sips. I am quite tipsy. That's okay, though. I'd say the average rating between the lot of them is a 3, and I'm okay with that. More liked than disliked. Though I think they were being nice because I was having the vapors in the chat.
I did re-read it, I do still love it. Though on re-read, I read it from the perspective of someone who hadn't fallen in love with it on the first read, and I can see plenty of flaws. For one thing, I genuinely wish Graudin had spent more time on the heists. We're rushed through them, and so much time is wasted before we get to the meat of the story. I think if this had been even a duology, where the first book focused on the heists, successes, near misses, and then the second book dealt with the multiverse aspect, a lot of the complaints about the book would've been diminished.
I do still adore this book, I do still want my TV series based on it. But I'll deduct one star, because I can see where complaints could be made.
::goes to pour another glass of wine::
I took a few sips. I am quite tipsy. That's okay, though. I'd say the average rating between the lot of them is a 3, and I'm okay with that. More liked than disliked. Though I think they were being nice because I was having the vapors in the chat.
I did re-read it, I do still love it. Though on re-read, I read it from the perspective of someone who hadn't fallen in love with it on the first read, and I can see plenty of flaws. For one thing, I genuinely wish Graudin had spent more time on the heists. We're rushed through them, and so much time is wasted before we get to the meat of the story. I think if this had been even a duology, where the first book focused on the heists, successes, near misses, and then the second book dealt with the multiverse aspect, a lot of the complaints about the book would've been diminished.
I do still adore this book, I do still want my TV series based on it. But I'll deduct one star, because I can see where complaints could be made.
::goes to pour another glass of wine::
labunnywtf's review
5.0
Man waits for no time.
This is a book about time travel. This is a science fiction story, set on a spaceship time machine, with loads of jargon and math and timey wimey flippity floppity phlebotinum. Other than the time travel part, everything I should be completely uninterested in reading.
It is absolutely marvelously brilliant.
You've got two cups of this
A quarter of this
And a healthy dollop of
This is a story about time, space, and family. A crew of (technically) Bad Guys Doing Cool Shit on a damn spaceship time machine. Led by our illustrious captain, Farway Gaius McCarthy. A cocky know-it-all, born to a long dead Roman Gladiator and a time traveler, in a time that does not exist, inside or outside of recorded history.
With him are his cousin Imogen, she of the multi colored hair and furry pet red panda Saffron, his medic/love interest Priyah, she of the Hindu faith, spiced tea and screaming music, and Far's best friend Gram, super geek, player of Tetris, solver of Rubik's cubes, flyer of the ship.
This band of buggered steals history. Nothing so big that you'd notice. They're not snatching the Hope diamond, or Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
But what about Da Vinci's crumpled up, tossed away sketches? What about items that burned in long ago fires, lost to history forever? What about items thought destroyed hundreds or thousands of years past the date when anyone who saw them in person lived? Who would know if someone went back in time to take those? There is no butterfly effect in stealing items that shouldn't exist anyway.
Right?
I. love. this. I was rushing to get through, and after the adrenaline of it all died down, I was INSANELY sad to have finished it. I want sequels. I want prequels. I don't want this made into a movie, I want a television show with eight seasons.
This is the crew of Serenity if they could go back and visit the Alamo. This is the Doctor and Rose arriving to the Library of Alexandria just as the fires started to catch. This is the Leverage team stealing Blackbeard's gold.
This is everything I could want in a time travel story, but I want so much more. We didn't get nearly enough adventures before The Big Plot kicked in, and I feel cheated, because it appears this is a one-off. I could've done with less romantic plot line, and more historical jumps. I will never have enough historical jumps, not by a long shot.
As much as I hate the content the channel puts out, this would be an excellent SyFy channel show. Who do I need to bribe?
This has been an amazing month of books, and I haven't decided whether I love this or [b: Moxie|33163378|Moxie|Jennifer Mathieu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494950979s/33163378.jpg|46824140] more. I think it's impossible to compare the two, and I'll have to be satisfied with a hashing tie.
Crux.
Also, I recommended this to a small handful of people in my GR friends group who I knew would like this and some of you, I suspect, will read it without even needing to see my review.
To the rest of you, just be grateful I don't do mass recommendations. Because this is a mass recommendation book. You all need it. You don't know you need it, but you. need. it.
Matter of fact, hang on, I'm about to go recommend it to a few more of you. If I didn't recommend it to you, it was an oversight on my part, just go get a copy and we'll pretend I sent you the recommendation directly. So. ::shoos you:: Get on that.
This is a book about time travel. This is a science fiction story, set on a spaceship time machine, with loads of jargon and math and timey wimey flippity floppity phlebotinum. Other than the time travel part, everything I should be completely uninterested in reading.
It is absolutely marvelously brilliant.
You've got two cups of this
A quarter of this
And a healthy dollop of
This is a story about time, space, and family. A crew of (technically) Bad Guys Doing Cool Shit on a damn spaceship time machine. Led by our illustrious captain, Farway Gaius McCarthy. A cocky know-it-all, born to a long dead Roman Gladiator and a time traveler, in a time that does not exist, inside or outside of recorded history.
With him are his cousin Imogen, she of the multi colored hair and furry pet red panda Saffron, his medic/love interest Priyah, she of the Hindu faith, spiced tea and screaming music, and Far's best friend Gram, super geek, player of Tetris, solver of Rubik's cubes, flyer of the ship.
This band of buggered steals history. Nothing so big that you'd notice. They're not snatching the Hope diamond, or Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
But what about Da Vinci's crumpled up, tossed away sketches? What about items that burned in long ago fires, lost to history forever? What about items thought destroyed hundreds or thousands of years past the date when anyone who saw them in person lived? Who would know if someone went back in time to take those? There is no butterfly effect in stealing items that shouldn't exist anyway.
Right?
I. love. this. I was rushing to get through, and after the adrenaline of it all died down, I was INSANELY sad to have finished it. I want sequels. I want prequels. I don't want this made into a movie, I want a television show with eight seasons.
This is the crew of Serenity if they could go back and visit the Alamo. This is the Doctor and Rose arriving to the Library of Alexandria just as the fires started to catch. This is the Leverage team stealing Blackbeard's gold.
This is everything I could want in a time travel story, but I want so much more. We didn't get nearly enough adventures before The Big Plot kicked in, and I feel cheated, because it appears this is a one-off. I could've done with less romantic plot line, and more historical jumps. I will never have enough historical jumps, not by a long shot.
As much as I hate the content the channel puts out, this would be an excellent SyFy channel show. Who do I need to bribe?
This has been an amazing month of books, and I haven't decided whether I love this or [b: Moxie|33163378|Moxie|Jennifer Mathieu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494950979s/33163378.jpg|46824140] more. I think it's impossible to compare the two, and I'll have to be satisfied with a hashing tie.
Crux.
Also, I recommended this to a small handful of people in my GR friends group who I knew would like this and some of you, I suspect, will read it without even needing to see my review.
To the rest of you, just be grateful I don't do mass recommendations. Because this is a mass recommendation book. You all need it. You don't know you need it, but you. need. it.
Matter of fact, hang on, I'm about to go recommend it to a few more of you. If I didn't recommend it to you, it was an oversight on my part, just go get a copy and we'll pretend I sent you the recommendation directly. So. ::shoos you:: Get on that.
christiana's review
3.0
Hrm. I was drawn to this book because I was promised heists and time travel. I mostly think I got that, but the plot plodded along more than I expected. Overall, memorable for having something new to say about time travel, pocket universes, and alternate timelines and pivot points, but not sure if this one will withstand the test of time for me. Also, safe for middle schoolers because of a Maze Runner like futuristic swearing system, albeit kind of annoying to me that that is the main thing this future has (also, lots of TV watching a la "datasets").
rachelcdm's review
3.0
This is such a hard book to review.
I LOVED the beginning.
I LOVED the end.
And I LOVED so much about the characters and the setting and the confusing timelines and the thievery and what not.
But there was just a whole chunk in the middle that seemed to flounder. The pacing was slow and a bit all over the place, that at one point I struggled to pick the book back up.
So I’m stumped as how to rate this. Typically, I’m a big fan of Graudin’s work and I want to say I’m a big fan of this book. It’s got some great humour and some lovely prose. (Some cheesy, purple prose as well if you’re into that sorta thing. Which I AM.)
So... yeah. It’s definitely somewhere in the 3/4 star range?
I recommend it if you’ve read any of Graudin’s stuff before and are a big fan of Firefly/Doctor Who mashups. :)
Imogen and Gram! *swoon*
I LOVED the beginning.
I LOVED the end.
And I LOVED so much about the characters and the setting and the confusing timelines and the thievery and what not.
But there was just a whole chunk in the middle that seemed to flounder. The pacing was slow and a bit all over the place, that at one point I struggled to pick the book back up.
So I’m stumped as how to rate this. Typically, I’m a big fan of Graudin’s work and I want to say I’m a big fan of this book. It’s got some great humour and some lovely prose. (Some cheesy, purple prose as well if you’re into that sorta thing. Which I AM.)
So... yeah. It’s definitely somewhere in the 3/4 star range?
I recommend it if you’ve read any of Graudin’s stuff before and are a big fan of Firefly/Doctor Who mashups. :)
Imogen and Gram! *swoon*
nyeran's review
1.0
“The world is a large place and time is even larger”
♠ Ho capito di essere superficiale e quindi voglio che si sappia che avrei droppato senza pietà questo libro al primo capitolo. Perchè posso capire (quasi) tutto, posso perdonare (quasi) tutto, ma sul realismo no. E sono d’accordo che una nei libri fantasy deve cercare di farsi andar bene le cose però il realismo stà anche nei piccoli dettagli.
♠ Io devo davvero credere che nell’anno 2371 tra i classici della musica non ci sono Madonna, Lady Gaga e Beyoncè!? Senza offesa ma se fra trecento anni il mondo si sarà dimenticato canzoni come Single Ladies o Bad Romance allora l’umanità avrà fallito. Devo accettare il fatto che questi hanno i viaggi nel tempo però nessuno di loro è mai capitato nell’anno di Poker Face? Questi non conoscono Britney Spears?
Sono superficiale, si, e quello era il primo capitolo.
Poi questo si chiama Farway Gaius, capito!? Farway Gaius. FARWAY Gaius. FARWAY. Abbreviato in Far. Che poi lui sia un Mario Sue stronzo non ha aiutato.
♠ E poi ormai si sa, a me se non mi dai un worldbuilding perlomeno accettabile per me è no (cit.). Si, ok mi dici che questi viaggiano nel tempo come se andassero a fare la spesa però, per esempio, non mi spieghi per quale cazzo di motivo esiste Vecchia Roma. È la Roma vera spostata non si sa dove perché non sappiamo dove siamo? È una riproduzione? Se è così, cos’è successo alla Roma vera? Ci sono anche Vecchia Londra, Vecchia Berlino, Vecchia Tokyo? Ma poi avete i viaggi nel tempo, le astronavi, gli stracazzi e dovete fare i debiti per mangiarvi una fottuta coppetta gelato? Quasi svenite alla vista di un vero pezzo di carta? Siete viaggiatori nel tempo la saprete fare la carta!? Potreste imparare, no? Alla fine ‘sti grancazzi di quello che mangiava Maria Antonietta nella sala degli specchi, costruitevi una cartiera. Priorità.
♠ Ho capito di essere superficiale e quindi voglio che si sappia che avrei droppato senza pietà questo libro al primo capitolo. Perchè posso capire (quasi) tutto, posso perdonare (quasi) tutto, ma sul realismo no. E sono d’accordo che una nei libri fantasy deve cercare di farsi andar bene le cose però il realismo stà anche nei piccoli dettagli.
♠ Io devo davvero credere che nell’anno 2371 tra i classici della musica non ci sono Madonna, Lady Gaga e Beyoncè!? Senza offesa ma se fra trecento anni il mondo si sarà dimenticato canzoni come Single Ladies o Bad Romance allora l’umanità avrà fallito. Devo accettare il fatto che questi hanno i viaggi nel tempo però nessuno di loro è mai capitato nell’anno di Poker Face? Questi non conoscono Britney Spears?
Sono superficiale, si, e quello era il primo capitolo.
Poi questo si chiama Farway Gaius, capito!? Farway Gaius. FARWAY Gaius. FARWAY. Abbreviato in Far. Che poi lui sia un Mario Sue stronzo non ha aiutato.
♠ E poi ormai si sa, a me se non mi dai un worldbuilding perlomeno accettabile per me è no (cit.). Si, ok mi dici che questi viaggiano nel tempo come se andassero a fare la spesa però, per esempio, non mi spieghi per quale cazzo di motivo esiste Vecchia Roma. È la Roma vera spostata non si sa dove perché non sappiamo dove siamo? È una riproduzione? Se è così, cos’è successo alla Roma vera? Ci sono anche Vecchia Londra, Vecchia Berlino, Vecchia Tokyo? Ma poi avete i viaggi nel tempo, le astronavi, gli stracazzi e dovete fare i debiti per mangiarvi una fottuta coppetta gelato? Quasi svenite alla vista di un vero pezzo di carta? Siete viaggiatori nel tempo la saprete fare la carta!? Potreste imparare, no? Alla fine ‘sti grancazzi di quello che mangiava Maria Antonietta nella sala degli specchi, costruitevi una cartiera. Priorità.
steph01924's review
5.0
I have no idea why this took me two months to finish. It's definitely not indicative of anything except that I made this my work-lunch read and I often decided to watch Hulu instead. Now that I've spent so long with them, I feel like I may even miss the characters more than usual since we spent a lot longer together than the day or two it normally takes me to finish a book.
I loved the time travel-y aspects, the found family, all the characters, the fact that it's a rare standalone! Something about the writing just went down super smoothly. I'm now really interested to read Graudin's other books.
I loved the time travel-y aspects, the found family, all the characters, the fact that it's a rare standalone! Something about the writing just went down super smoothly. I'm now really interested to read Graudin's other books.
nklosty's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
samrushingbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This was an enjoyable time travel adventure with an interesting cast of characters. I'm simultaneously glad that it is a standalone, but also sad because that means that the story is over. I'm glad that I read this book, and I hope to read more by Ryan Graudin in the future.
books4susie's review
5.0
This book completely blew me away! I loved the Wolf By Wolf duology and this book was just as good. The reader thinks that they know where the story is going, only for Ms. Graudin to throw a well-placed loop and plotline change to drive the story even further. I loved the interaction between our main characters, the jumps through time and the mystery they are trying to solve. Readers will be quickly turning the pages to see how Invictus ends.