Alex Scarrow - The Infinity Cage

It comes across really anal but all of the books I have yet to read in the order I intend to read them in on my bookshelves and I have 14 bookmarks that I put in the first 14 books; this is how I decide which book to read next.  However, sometimes I buy a book I feel compelled to read straight away and I call it a 'photograph' book because I always end up using a photograph of my dad, sister, and myself from when I was a kid as a bookmark inside the book because the first time I went out of order, it was the only thing I had to hand.  This time, I'm reviewing a 'photograph' book.

The Infinity Cage is the ninth and final book in the TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow; the series focuses on three young people - Liam O'Connor, Maddy Carter, and Sal Vikram.  The background behind this series is that the three main characters were meant to die in different periods of time; Liam, a young Irishman, should have gone down on the Titanic in 1912; Maddy, a young woman from Brooklyn, who should have died on a plane which was going down during a terrorist attack in 2010, and Sal, the youngest of them all, a young girl from Mumbai, who should have died when a skyscraper collapsed due to fire in 2026.  They are recruited by an older gentleman called Foster who gives them a second chance and live, to work for a secret agency that supposedly helps prevent time travel destroying history.  They go on many adventures throughout the books, traveling through time to ensure that they fulfil their objective of keeping history on track until they start to question what they are doing and who they are and are then in turn targeted by the people they are supposed to work for.  Because of this, they go into hiding and then travel to the Victorian age to set up shop there under their own agenda, helping if the world if they need to but making sure no one picks up on where they are.  Over the time they have spent working as time travellers, they have begun to realise that there is a price for going through time as they all begin to age rapidly, Liam more so than the others because of his more frequent trips travelling through time.  Sal has now died due to entering what the time travellers call chaos space, leaving Liam and Maddy alone with their support units, Bob and Becks, as well as Rashim, another time traveller they picked up during one of their adventures so they are taking their mission to the man that created their team as well as going to discover what the meaning behind their existence really is.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Science fiction lovers

Favourite Characters: Liam

Favourite Part: 'Good,' Liam said, nodding.  'How long will that take?'
>.!..
'What's that supposed to mean, computer-Bob?'
[...]
>How long is a piece of string?
[...]
Liam rolled his eyes.  'Oh aye, I get it...My stupid question deserves an equally question back?  The pair of you fellas are just such a hoot.'  He sighed.  'So, I guess it's going to take however long it takes.  Right?' - Page 311-12

Good Points: Dual narratives; simultaneous time travel experiences; open ending; character development

Bad Points: Massive time skips

Still reeling from Sal's disappearance into the chaos space and their return to Victorian England following an eighteen month trip travelling around the world so to distract themselves from their previous mission in The Mayan Prophecy as some form of respite, Maddy, Liam, and Rashim have to decide how they are going to continue as a team, whether they are going to investigate the transmitter they found under the temple, when they receive a message from Waldstein.  Unsure on how to respond and wary of Waldstein's intentions, so they decide to divide and conquer - Maddy leading one team, going into the future to see what Waldstein wants from them, and Liam leading another, going to investigate the mysterious transmitters.  Going their separate ways for what could be their final mission, the growing sense of finality is coming to the TimeRiders series.

While I enjoyed the dual narratives in The Infinity Cage, a common technique Scarrow uses in the TimeRiders series, I missed Liam and Maddy being together because they were in separate times, on separate missions.  I miss their interactions with one another, playful banter and support for one another, and it isn't quite the same when Liam and Maddy interact with Bob and Becks respectively because the support units are not quite human enough, there's still the touch of a robot to them.

Using a dual narrative is a great quality of The Infinity Cage and the TimeRiders series as it allows simultaneous events to occur, alternating chapters every so often, and be shown rather than one story then another in separate books or together in one because it keeps the characters ever present in the minds of the reader.  Normally in the TimeRiders series, Maddy and co. tend to be based at their base of operations while Liam and Bob are out in the field so it's nice to see two different time travelling experiences at the same time as they are both going into the unknown, not knowing what is going to happen or what they'll do to change the final outcome of the series as it is fascinating to see.

This may be a spoiler but once it came to the end of the book and the series, it is wonderful to see that Scarrow leaves the ending open for the reader as it gives readers the opportunity to continue the series for him through fan-fiction, allowing the ending open to interpretation.  It practically gives readers permission to let their imaginations run wild and make up stories about Maddy, Liam, and co., something other authors don't tend to do as they try to wrap up as much as possible unless they have another book out in the series.  Some authors don't want to encourage fan-fiction because they believe it's a violation of copyright and for some books and series, I understand keeping the control in the hands of the author; in comparison, Scarrow even has a website dedicated for the purpose of posting fan-fiction which is a fantastic idea to encourage young people to write as well as read because there has to be some budding authors out there.

Once you get to a certain point in a series, the characters sometimes can stop developing and become stagnant but fortunately, Scarrow has thought out the entire plot behind TimeRiders and how his main characters will develop from the beginning, another reason why the series is one of my favourites and I may save the books for any future children because the characters will always remain interesting for me and hopefully they'll be interesting to other.  Maddy and Liam have now taken charge of their own lives, gaining independence from Waldstein and their original mission and fight for what they believe in rather than what they are told to fight for which can resonate with young adults who are also discovering who they are.  On top of gaining independence, at the beginning of TimeRiders, none of the TimeRiders really trusted anyone out of their little trio, not even one another really right at the beginning, but now they have opened up and learnt that they may need help along the way so they need to trust others rather than going it alone, another great aspect of their character development.

Like last time, Liam is my favourite character out of the TimeRiders series; always has been and always will be for a number of reasons.  This time, out of all of the characters, Liam was more receptive to change in comparison to the others when confronted with a choice at the end of The Infinity Cage while Maddy seemed more stand-offish when confronted with her own issues.  Liam is a symbol of hope in the TimeRiders series in my opinion as he inspires his fellow TimeRiders and their support unites to achieve great things as they experience new times and places.

While it may have seemed necessary to move the story along, the massive time skips that occur during the future timeline with Maddy and co. frustrated me because Scarrow had the opportunity to at least show some moments while Maddy and co. wait for Rashim to come back for them and he just skipped over it.  It was a wasted opportunity and it's a shame we didn't get to see a bit more interaction between Maddy and Becks with the newcomers to their journey.

'Good,' Liam said, nodding.  'How long will that take?'
>.!..
'What's that supposed to mean, computer-Bob?'
[...]
>How long is a piece of string?
[...]
Liam rolled his eyes.  'Oh aye, I get it...My stupid question deserves an equally question back?  The pair of you fellas are just such a hoot.'  He sighed.  'So, I guess it's going to take however long it takes.  Right?' - Page 311-12

It is wonderful that as well as developing the characters of Liam and Maddy, Scarrow developed the support units over the course of the series, making them more human as they develop personalities with humour as well as thoughts and feelings on a situation and this part is a great example of this development as they are able to make a joke, even if it's not very funny.  I love the relationship shown between Liam and both Bobs because he has come to treat them as friends and almost human despite the fact that they are more like robots at times and they treat him the same back as they become more human-like and implies to me that he is more accepting of the support units while Maddy still treats them as robots despite her bond though this is just my opinion. 

While I would have liked to have seen Liam and Maddy working together more this time because they make a great pair, The Infinity Cage was a great finale for the TimeRiders series as it has all the qualities that I love about the series - character development and dual narratives - but it also left the ending open for readers to have control of the series and let their imaginations run wild.  Personally, more young adult series should end like this as it allows budding authors to have a go at adding on to a world.

Other Books by Alex Scarrow