(Timeriders #2)Author: Alex Scarrow
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Genre: YA, Sci-fi
Published: 5th August 2010 (Puffin - UK)
Liam O’Connor, Maddy Carter, and Sal Vikram all should have died. But instead, they have been given a second chance—to work for an agency that no one knows exists. The TimeRiders’ mission: to prevent time travel from destroying history—and the future. . . . When Maddy mistakenly opens a time window where and when she shouldn’t, Liam is marooned sixty-five million years in the past, in the hunting ground of a deadly, and until now undiscovered, species of prehistoric predator. Can Liam make contact with Maddy and Sal before he’s hunted down by dinosaurs, and without changing history so much that the world is overtaken by a terrifying new reality?*Possible minor spoilers of the first book*
My review of Timeriders #1
Now their mentor, Foster, has left, Liam, Maddy and Sal are on their own to deal with any rift that happens in the timelines. They also have to get back on their feet following the last one - fixing the equipment, regrowing a new support unit and so on. Their new adventure starts with Liam heading into the future to stop the killing of the boy who will go on to be the brains behind the theory behind time travel. Although their job would be much easier (or non-existent) if time travel was never invented, they still have to keep things happening as they should.
An accidental opening of a time window at the wrong time lands Liam, new support unit Becks and a bunch of civilians back in the time of dinosaurs. Maddy and Sal have no idea where or when he's gone and Liam has no obvious way of communicating with them. Human presence in that time period drastically changes the world back in the future and the whole team have to work to solve the problem and restore the time lines.
With an excellent follow on to the first book, Timeriders is set to become a popular series, particularly with fans of authors such as Anthony Horowitz and Rick Riordan. Day of the Predators builds nicely on the characters we were introduced to in the first book, with all three of them growing in their roles. Liam is showing himself to be the perfect choice as the field agent of the team. He deals well with the situations thrown at him, especially bearing in mind he's dealing with people from way into his future. Maddy is feeling insecure with her abilities as the team leader and wishes that Foster had stuck around longer to help out. She's also dealing with whether she should tell Liam that the time travelling is ageing him and will kill him. Sal, as the youngest of the group, is starting to mature as she adjusts to her new life. We also find out more about her situation when she was rescued from death to become a Timerider.
The book is full of action and adventure. It also has that ability to make you over think the possibilities of time travel in a "is that possible" "what would happen if ..." kind of way but I like that in science fiction type books. There's also a little twist in which Foster's true identity is revealed. I'd pretty much already guessed it but it was a nice touch and one of those things you want to be right about figuring out.
For me, Day of the Predators was an un-put-down-able book. Actually there was one moment in which I actually voluntarily stopped reading and that was so I could order the third book from the internet.
