The Secret of the Ancients – Simon Brading

★★★★★

Fun, funny and fabulous!

And, this is one of the incredibly rare times that I found that the second book was better than the first! (I know, right? I love when this happens!!)

Sam Vives is a time-traveler. Well, anaccidental time-traveler.

He barely made it back from an time leap (during which he was a pirate captain) and is in desperate need of training.

Luckily, his Uncle Andrew is also a Displacer (aka a time-traveler) and has taken on the mentor roll. And despite his initial luck, Sam has a lot to learn.

And soon Sam completely immersed in the basics – Calming (centering yourself in the present time), Preparing (getting ready to travel) and much more.

He picks up all the concepts quickly – much to Uncle Andrew and Rachel (his friend and fellow Displacer)’s amazement. Soon it seems like the mysterious prophesy might be fulfilled…

I really appreciated how grounded Simon Brading kept his main character.

Sam realized that his newfound “superpower”, although exciting and life-changing, was going to absolutely nothing to solve his day-to-day problems.

I get so sick of the overpowered, goody-two-shoes main characters and I’m delighted (and relieved) that this doesn’t happen.

I also liked how Sam is less wimpy throughout in the second book but, he doesn’t entirely shed his old self.

It was a small consolation that he had finally grown too big to be stuffed in a locker.

I adored the humor in this one. I really feel like Brading has gotten a great feel for his characters and that is reflected in the banter. For example, when Sam comes up with a last minute plan, one of the other characters bites out this sarcastic line:

“You’ve just this second, coincidentally, all of a sudden, right when it mattered, had some kind of epiphany.”
“Not quite. More like a bright idea…”

Overall, plot flowed really well in this one, I really enjoyed all the tidbits about time travel that Brading includes, like how when you travel back you may spend years in the past but no time changes in the present.

“I [Uncle Andrew] was born forty-two years ago, but I’m actually two hundred and seventy-six years old.”

This was a great read and I cannot wait to get my hands on the third!

With thanks to the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review
Interested in this one from Simon Brading? Pick up your copy from:  Amazon