Time Riders: Gates of Rome

Gates of Rome by Alex Scarrow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Liam O’Connor should have dies at sea in 1912.
Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.
Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.
But all three have been given a second chance—to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history.”

–From the book jacket. Because it’s easier than trying to explain the premise every time.

This time, the Time Riders get swept up in a plan to transport 300 Americans from the year 2070 in something called Project Exodus, back 2000 years to Roman times to overthrow the Roman empire and replace it with a more American style of government. Democracy through greater firepower. Unfortunately, it goes dramatically wrong, and half the team winds up at a spot 17 years too early, during the reign of Caligula. The coup fails, Caligula survives and now, with a new sense of purpose, grows stronger. This changes the future and causes a time wave that effects the world of 2001 in which the Time Riders team live. But when they attempt to investigate, they find themselves under attack from robot support units from the future. Their only escape is to throw themselves into the past and hope they can find their way back.

The world of Time Riders is bleak. The world is dying, overpopulated, underwater. But somehow hope is never completely dead. Time must run its course, and it is up to three teenagers (along with their robot support unit, Bob) to make sure the timeline is kept intact. To this end, Maddy, Liam and Sal are all game to face whatever challenges come their way. They deal with extraordinary hardship, all the while never quite understanding just who it is they are working for. There are mysteries that unravel throughout the course of the series and this edition moves that along nicely.

Gates of Rome is an excellent entry in this series. It is a recovery from what I thought was a bit of a letdown in the Book 4, The Endless War. Though it is a book aimed at Young Adults (and I am pretty far past that), I count myself a fan and look forward to the next one!




View all my reviews