Review // TimeRiders - Alex Scarrow

Published - 4th February 2010

Publisher - Puffin

Format - Kindle

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...

I heard about this from my flatmate after she'd been away with her family and her younger brother was reading it. She told me the premise and I bought it within about 5 minutes. How good is that synopsis? TimeRiders was a fairly quick read, aimed at younger readers it was easy and straightforward too.

I have to be honest, this book was unfairly rated (3 stars) by me because my brain expected it to be something that it wasn't (remember Demon Trappers?) I took the information that the book and characters gave me and built my own story so much that I wasn't as impressed as I should have been. So be warned! Let the book do it's job before you jump in ;)

I did enjoy it though. The book is filled with wonderful, smart, and brave characters, an adventurous storyline, historical facts and plays around with your emotions a little. It's pretty easy to guess how the series will work but I don't think that will stop me. TimeRiders will probably be one of those ongoing series for me, that I pick up every once in a while to enjoy something a little different. I'd say be wary of the book though, it can certainly be enjoyed by adults (i'm 24!) but it's a book aimed at younger readers and it definitely reads that way too.