Title: Time Riders
Author: Alex Scarrow
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Release
Date: 4
Feb 2010
Series:
Time Rider #1
Source:
Hardcover
Number
of Pages: 405
Letter
Size: Medium
Synopsis:
Liam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter
should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in
2026.
Yet moments before death, someone mysteriously appeared and said, ‘Take
my hand . . .’ But Liam, Maddy and Sal aren’t rescued. They are recruited by an
agency that no one knows exists, with only one purpose – to fix broken history.
Because time travel is here, and there are those who would go back in time and
change the past. That’s why the TimeRiders exist: to protect us. To stop time
travel from destroying the world . . .
Review:
Walking by the
shelves in the bookstore I was instantly drawn to this title. I have always
loved reading sci fi books. This, combined with having time travel had me
hooked.
Liam is 16 and
works as a steward on the Titanic in 1912. Eighteen-year-old Maddy is on a
plane in 2010. And Sal is 13 and lives in a house in India in 2026. Each of
them is about to die until a mysterious old man appears and says that he can
save them from death, and all they have to do is take his hand. When they do,
there is a blinding flash of white light and they find themselves in a rundown
building in New York in 2001. The man introduces himself as Foster and tells
them they have two choices, they can either return to their deaths or they can
become Time Riders. Time Riders are people who stop time travel from destroying
the world. Now Liam, Maddy, Sal and their support unit Bob must stop Paul
Kramer, a world renown scientist from the future, from changing history.
The first
chapter of the book can be confusing because the book switches back and forth
between explaining about the Time Riders and Paul Kramer’s plan to go back in
time. I found myself having to go back and reread some of the first chapters
with Kramer in it because I missed some key details about him. It was a lot of
hassle trying to keep straight all the information that had been presented to
me. In my opinion I felt it would be better if the author first concentrated on
explaining The Time Riders and the history of time travel before introducing
Kramer. This is my only complaint about the book for I think the rest of the
book is excellent.
Time Riders is
primarily a Science Fiction book, but the author also expertly blends in
elements of dystopia and mystery into the book. Mr. Scarrow manages to create
three in depth main characters. Even Sal, who at the beginning I thought was
the weakest character, transforms into an interesting and relatable character
in a few chapters. Kramer is the villain of the novel but you can’t help but
understand why he sees himself as the good guy. The imagery is so vibrant in
this novel that if you have a hyper active imagination you might want to skip
over the description about the mutants. If you like Science Fiction books with a lot
of mystery in them then this book is for you.
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