Time Riders

Book blurb (from author's web site)

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 . . .

What I expected: a Quantam Leap sort of thing with a pack of teenagers jumping around in time trying to fix broken stuff.

What I got: One guy getting trapped in an alternate line of history while the others stayed in New York with the cannibalistic Gollums.

Once this book got going I rather enjoyed it. I love history in literature—that way I get to read it in within an interesting plot. This guy Kramer goes from the far future back to WW II and tells Hitler not to invade Russia. Hitler wins the war there, Kramer takes over and invades America. The Time Riders are supposed to go back and stop him. Fun locations, decent history and a pretty good story. Like I said, once it got to this part I liked it. Too bad the beginning was slow.

This is just me, but I do not like omniscient POV. To jump from one character to another without some sort of a break drives me crazy. I get why people write that way, but it feels so impersonal to me. I definitely didn't get to know any of the characters very well in this novel. They've got potential, but nothing terribly substantial right now. Heck, the AI support unit they named “Bob” had the most character development.

The novel is directed toward a YA audience, and I'm thinking teenagers who like action, adventure and a smattering of history will really enjoy it. There are four more out in England (I believe) and who knows, I might pick up the second one. Maybe.