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A review by votesforwomen
Invictus by Ryan Graudin
3.0
I have so many mixed feelings.
After Wolf by Wolf, I was pretty sure I'd love anything Ryan Graudin wrote; after all, that was one of my favorite reads of 2017. I picked this one up with simultaneously no expectations and high expectations. I didn't know anything about it, other than that she was the author.
And that's not to say there's anything wrong with it, just that it's not as good as I'd hoped.
Eliot, for example. I absolutely adored her. She felt very much like one of the Wolf by Wolf characters. A history-hopping, time-travelling, alternate-universe-spinning girl with no hair and penciled-on eyebrows she writes secret messages into? Who collects ridiculous curses from other languages and uses them often? Who's out to save the multiverse before it completely falls apart?
I seriously wish she'd been the protagonist. I would have followed her to the ends of the multiverse. Eliot is easily the best thing about this book.
The other characters shine too, but only to various degrees. Empra's story wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped at the beginning. Farway is definitely a unique protagonist, and I enjoyed him, but not as much as I'd been expecting to. Normally I love the cocky pilot boys so I'm not sure why I didn't this time. Priya was sweet and complex but still kind of boring; Gram was just kind of there. Imogen was definitely my second-favorite character. Her eternal sunny outlook (I love optimist charries!), her crazy rainbow hair, her sense of humor, her love of gelato, her adorable red panda....I loved it. Eliot and Imogen were the best part of this book for me.
Otherwise, meh. It wasn't a bad book, don't get me wrong, and perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations weren't sky-high after reading Blood for Blood. But there it is.
The time travel aspect was cool. It got confusing and I didn't always understand what was happening, but it was still nice that this one wasn't /quite/ as mind-boggling as a lot of time travel/alternate universe books.
Graudin's prose is absolutely gorgeous as usual, and the romance shines. The plot moves quickly all over history, which I loved.
Overall? I wanted to love this one so much. I didn't, unfortunately. I still recommend it, though.
After Wolf by Wolf, I was pretty sure I'd love anything Ryan Graudin wrote; after all, that was one of my favorite reads of 2017. I picked this one up with simultaneously no expectations and high expectations. I didn't know anything about it, other than that she was the author.
And that's not to say there's anything wrong with it, just that it's not as good as I'd hoped.
Eliot, for example. I absolutely adored her. She felt very much like one of the Wolf by Wolf characters. A history-hopping, time-travelling, alternate-universe-spinning girl with no hair and penciled-on eyebrows she writes secret messages into? Who collects ridiculous curses from other languages and uses them often? Who's out to save the multiverse before it completely falls apart?
I seriously wish she'd been the protagonist. I would have followed her to the ends of the multiverse. Eliot is easily the best thing about this book.
The other characters shine too, but only to various degrees. Empra's story wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped at the beginning. Farway is definitely a unique protagonist, and I enjoyed him, but not as much as I'd been expecting to. Normally I love the cocky pilot boys so I'm not sure why I didn't this time. Priya was sweet and complex but still kind of boring; Gram was just kind of there. Imogen was definitely my second-favorite character. Her eternal sunny outlook (I love optimist charries!), her crazy rainbow hair, her sense of humor, her love of gelato, her adorable red panda....I loved it. Eliot and Imogen were the best part of this book for me.
Otherwise, meh. It wasn't a bad book, don't get me wrong, and perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations weren't sky-high after reading Blood for Blood. But there it is.
The time travel aspect was cool. It got confusing and I didn't always understand what was happening, but it was still nice that this one wasn't /quite/ as mind-boggling as a lot of time travel/alternate universe books.
Graudin's prose is absolutely gorgeous as usual, and the romance shines. The plot moves quickly all over history, which I loved.
Overall? I wanted to love this one so much. I didn't, unfortunately. I still recommend it, though.