Book Review: TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow

Goodreads Summary:

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 2029. 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...

My Review:

I was so excited to read TimeRiders and it definitely didn't disappoint!

I have only read a few books involving time travel and I was worried

that the characters would be flat and one dimensional, just to carry along the action but that wasn't the case at all. I found myself really caring and worrying about what would happen to the characters, especially Liam and Sal.

One thing I especially enjoyed about TimeRiders was the history element. We got a glimpse at the assasination of John F. Kennedy which I found really interesting and I hope that in the next books the agency visit more important historic moments. I liked seeing how one small change in the past could make a huge difference to the present.

I found myself totally hooked on the story from page one! I did get a little bored in the middle when the focus shifted more towards Kramer but it was absolutely necessary to the story and the chapters that were written from his point of view were mostly short, so it was never long before we were back to the good stuff! I'm not really sure why I didn't enjoy the chapters about Kramer as much, but one thing I did like about it was how Kramer was an interesting villian who wasn't just downright evil- he was trying to make things better but went about it in a twisted way.

Liam was my favourite character. He was saved from drowning aboard the Titanic and thrust into modern day New York, which was completely alien to him and yet he lapped it all up. He was way in over his head at times but he handled it well and his friendship with Bob was very touching. I also really loved Sal! She is only 13 and finds herself living at the same time her parents were children, experiencing things she had only ever heard about as history. I thought it was so sweet how much she cared about Liam and Alex Scarrow did a really good job writing Sal, as I found her reactions spot on to how a young girl would actually behave in the situations that she was put in.

Another thing I love is how the cover matches the book perfectly. The Liam, Maddy and Sal on the cover, look exactly how I imagined them in my head! Everything on the cover is exactly as it is in the book and I find that rarely happens, so it definitely wins brownie points with me!

I am so glad I finally picked this book up after seeing it everytime I went into Waterstones! I hear there are going to be 9(!) books in the series and I couldn't be happier about that! I will definitely be reading every one! TimeRiders is an exciting book about time travel, consequences and friendship. It had me on the edge of my seat, flipping through pages at times and then a few pages on, I would be on the verge of tears. I would definitely recommend grabbing a copy as soon as you can!

Rating: A+

Cover: A