“Invictus” by Ryan Graudin is based in a world where there is time-travel technology available to analyze history and record events that have happened in the past for the public to study history. 

Farway, the main character, was born outside of time because his mother was on a mission to record an event in the past when she gave birth to him on the way to their time period. 

Farway wants to be a Recorder like his mother but he fails his test to be a Recorder, though he claims the program was hacked and he didn’t fail, someone set him up. His ego is dealt a major blow because he thought he was going to pass. 

The  main reason he wants to be a Recorder is to find his mother who is lost in time. Here again, his ego is getting a little too big because nobody has been able to find his mother but he thinks he is the one who will find her  and bring her back. I guess this is a little bit noble, but again, the ego.

He receives a note from someone saying he can pilot a ship if only he will get involved in the black market, which steals valuables from different time periods. 

So, he assembles a team, and during one of the missions, a girl hijacks his mission and steals one of the valuables they are supposed to get and tells them she will give them the valuable if they take her back to their employer. 

Even though Faraway is a little egotistical, I liked him as a character because he’s genuine and protective of the people he cares about. 

The book’s chapters are divided into five different characters’ points of view. I think it’s a little bit too much to have five different viewpoints in one book, but I thoroughly enjoyed each of the characters. Although I wish Graudin would’ve just stuck with maybe one less viewpoint, two viewpoints would’ve been great. 

At first the book was a little slow and the beginning was not very interesting. This book was good although I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best I’ve read.While the characters were dynamic some of them mostly stuck to the character traits they were given although all the characters did have some sort of growth.