Invictus
- Eloi Bronze Medal
- by Ryan Graudin
- Novel
- Science Fiction
- Young Adults
- Definite Time Travel
- English
- Invictus by Ryan Graudin (Little, Brown, September 2017).
After Farway Gaius McCarthy fails his final examination at the Central Time Travelers Academy, he puts together a rogue time travel crew to swipe valuable artifacts from the past at moments when they won’t be missed. And it’s all roses until a mysterious girl sidetracks them on the Titanic and steers them into a multiverse of fading timelines.
As you might guess, we enjoyed Far and his friends, but the thing that sealed an Eloi Bronze Medal was the fact that when a particular timeline actually managed to branch (not an easy feat) and the traveler then jumped to the future, she found her another self—the her that was born on that timeline—waiting for her. Most branching timeline stories ignore this issue entirely.
As you might guess, we enjoyed Far and his friends, but the thing that sealed an Eloi Bronze Medal was the fact that when a particular timeline actually managed to branch (not an easy feat) and the traveler then jumped to the future, she found her another self—the her that was born on that timeline—waiting for her. Most branching timeline stories ignore this issue entirely.
—Michael Main
“There’s nothing to return to.” Eliot’s knuckles bulged at the seams, but she didn’t yell. “When the Fade destroys a moment, it’s lost. Forever.”
Tags
(20)
- Time Periods
- Ancient History (3000 BC to AD 476: Bronze/Iron Ages): Rome, AD 95, and Alexandria 48 BC
- Circa AD 1900 to 1929: the Titanic in 1912
- Circa AD 2000 to 2099: Las Vegas in 2020
- Near Future, AD 2300 and Beyond: Central City, 24th century
- Timeline Models
- Branching Timelines
- Outside of Time: the space where the ships travel between times (and where Far 1.0 was born)
- Resilient Timeline: “The universe always has a way of righting itself, Mr. McCarthy. Course correction. God’s will. Karma. Fate. Call it what you will. Things tend to balance themselves out.”
- Time Barrier
- Time Travel Methods
- Themes
- Antiques or Ancient Artifacts for Fun and Profit
- Chases through Time
- Never Change the Past!: “Maybe time’s immutability was something much debated by the Corps, who were too afraid to test their theories in case they ended up changing the future they lived in—butterfly wingbeats and whatnot.”
- Self-Visitation: Far’s mother and her crew upon jumping to the future of the new timeline
- Simulation: In addition to real time travel, there are “Sims,” which are used for training and exams of potential time travelers.
- Time Cops: The Multiverse Bureau
- Time Corps: Central Time Travel Corps
- Real-World Tags
- Gladiators: the Roman Collusseum
- HMS Titanic
- Library of Alexandria
- Roman Empire
Variants
(2)
- Invictus by Ryan Graudin (Little, Brown, September 2017).
- audio reading.
Invictus by Ryan Graudin (Hatchette Audio, September 2017).
Translations
(4)
- Czech.
Časoběžník by Ryan Graudin (Nakladatelství, January 2019). - Hungarian.
Invictus: Az idő gyermeke by Ryan Graudin (Maxim Könyvkiadó, June 2018). - Italian.
Invictus by Ryan Graudin (Mondadori, September 2018). - Russian.
Инвиктус by Ryan Graudin (Эксмо, July 2018).
Indexer Notes
(1)
- Time Travel—Any trip that Far makes makes to or from his home base always passes through 11 June 2155 as an intermediate point, allowing his timeship to drop below or get above the base’s roof during a date that was known to be safe. No, we don’t know why that date isn’t chockablock with copies of his ship any more than you do.