Review: Invictus by Ryan Graudin

Title: Invictus
Author: Ryan Graudin
Series: Standalone
Genre: Time Travel/Sci-fi/YA
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Edition: Kindle Edition, 464 pages
Source: NetGalley
Purchase/Pre-Order: Amazon US | Kobo | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | iBooks | BAM

Synopsis:

Time flies when you're plundering history.

Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, Far's birth defies the laws of nature. Exploring history himself is all he's ever wanted, and after failing his final time-traveling exam, Far takes a position commanding a ship with a crew of his friends as part of a black market operation to steal valuables from the past. 

But during a heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets a mysterious girl who always seems to be one step ahead of him. Armed with knowledge that will bring Far's very existence into question, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to discover a frightening truth: History is not as steady as it seems.

Review:

This is my first-time reading a book by this author, and with the premise it has, I was really expecting to love this book. Doctor Who meets Firefly kind of book. 

But honestly, for me, this book was just okay. The characters weren't that interesting. The plot itself felt kind of boring as well. There was a severe lack of heist...ing. We see them do maybe two missions. There's a lot more telling, rather than showing, of how skilled they are supposed to be at their job stealing items from history to sell on the black market.

I am really picky about the sci-fi I read, it's not my favorite genre, so for me to really stick to and with a Sci-fi book it has to be really special and grab me early on. This book had a great opening chapter, but everything after that was just kind of average. 

The biggest flaw with this book is the characters, they are all forgettable. I had to look at the synopsis to remember the MC's name. That is one of the things I judge a book on, and what I think should carry a book. Since there are no visuals, the book has to rely on well written and developed characters, and for me, this book just did not have that. The premise was interesting, but with out good characters to drive the plot that part of the book felt boring as well.