Invictus

by Ryan Graudin

Release: September 2017
Format: Novel
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Young Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

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.

— 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.”

DEBUT

Invictus (Little, Brown, September 2017).

VARIANTS

2 English variants

TRANSLATIONS

4 translations

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

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

Time Ships

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

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From Rome, 31 December AD 95 ⋙ to Central World Republic capital city, 18 April 2354. Note: Far’s mother and her crew.
From Central, 22 August 2371 ⋙ to the Titanic, 6 p.m., 14 April 1912. Note: Far and his crew on the Invictus.
From Las Vegas, 15 April 1912 ⋙ to Las Vegas, 18 April 2020. Note: Far and crew on Invictus, now joined by Eliot.
From Las Vegas, 20 April 2020 (if we counted right) ⋙ to Central, 22 August 2371. Note: Entire Invictus crew.
From Central, 22 August 2371 (or slightly later) ⋙ to the library at Alexandria, 16 December 48 BC. Note: Entire Invictus crew.
From an unknown time ⋙ to Rome, 31 December AD 95. Note: The Invictus crew joins Far’s mother and various pursuers.
From Rome, 31 December AD 95 ⋙ to Central, 18 April 2354, new timeline. Note: Far’s mother and her crew.
From Rome, 31 December AD 95 ⋙ to Rome, AD 96. Note: Eliot drops off Gaius, but the other of the original crew are gone?
From Rome, AD 96 ⋙ to Central, sometime before 18 April 2371. Note: Eliot got there somehow.

INDEXER NOTES (SPOILERS!)

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.