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typedtruths 's review for:
Invictus
by Ryan Graudin
Invictus was a fun, fresh time travel adventure story. If sci-fi stories with large, dynamic casts are your thing, I think this book is going to appeal to you on a lot of levels. The premise is wonderful and the book does a lot of aspects well. I loved the fact that it takes place in a spaceship-like time travel device. It gave me a lot of Rampion crew and [b:Starflight|21793182|Starflight (Starflight, #1)|Melissa Landers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456568054s/21793182.jpg|41045510] feels. I thought that the world-building was realistic and well-written. Graudin obviously has a flair for writing atmospheric historical settings but her version of the future was also plausible and realistic. It balanced the line between dystopia and sci-fi very well.
The plot itself was a little more of a mixed bag. I thought that the pacing was off. The beginning hooked me. What a prologue! The middle, however, was a drag and the time jumps were awkward. It skipped over the most fascinating element of the whole story (imo): the heists. I definitely would have preferred this book focus on the team travelling throughout time and stealing significant objects. Time travelling pirates, anyone? It did wrap up nicely, with that being said. If the publisher pushes Graudin to write a sequel, I will honestly cry.
What let this down for me was the characters. They were so flat! Far was a very stereotypical arrogant jerk that I found particularly unlikable. I didn’t think anyone else - about from Gram, who was my fave (apart from Saffron) - had all that much of a personality either. I adored the fact that Far and Priya had an established relationship with no real angst or drama. We definitely need couples like this! They just had no chemistry and I was not invested. Imogen and Gram’s romance was appalling. It was so damn forced. It was awkward and juvenile and rushed. It really felt out of place in the story and their kiss scene made me so uncomfortable. Gram did not seem into it at all, only forced by the other crew members. I did like the effortless ethnic diversity of the cast.
Overall? I loved the premise and the atmosphere of this story. Graudin had a fantastic vision for this dystopian world and executed that element well. I just struggled with the characters a lot. Far was not a particularly likeable protagonist, and I found the secondary characters underdeveloped. I will definitely be giving Graudin another chance in the future.
The plot itself was a little more of a mixed bag. I thought that the pacing was off. The beginning hooked me. What a prologue! The middle, however, was a drag and the time jumps were awkward. It skipped over the most fascinating element of the whole story (imo): the heists. I definitely would have preferred this book focus on the team travelling throughout time and stealing significant objects. Time travelling pirates, anyone? It did wrap up nicely, with that being said. If the publisher pushes Graudin to write a sequel, I will honestly cry.
What let this down for me was the characters. They were so flat! Far was a very stereotypical arrogant jerk that I found particularly unlikable. I didn’t think anyone else - about from Gram, who was my fave (apart from Saffron) - had all that much of a personality either. I adored the fact that Far and Priya had an established relationship with no real angst or drama. We definitely need couples like this! They just had no chemistry and I was not invested. Imogen and Gram’s romance was appalling. It was so damn forced. It was awkward and juvenile and rushed. It really felt out of place in the story and their kiss scene made me so uncomfortable. Gram did not seem into it at all, only forced by the other crew members. I did like the effortless ethnic diversity of the cast.
Overall? I loved the premise and the atmosphere of this story. Graudin had a fantastic vision for this dystopian world and executed that element well. I just struggled with the characters a lot. Far was not a particularly likeable protagonist, and I found the secondary characters underdeveloped. I will definitely be giving Graudin another chance in the future.