March 2017 Book Reviews for Traveller Inceptio

Review Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewed By Chris Fischer for Readers’ Favorite

Wow! Just, wow! That’s exactly what I thought when I finished reading the excellent new book by author Rob Shackleford, Traveller-Inceptio which is the first book in the planned Traveller series. Follow the story of how the Transporter is accidentally invented and sends a subject, Michael, 1000 years into the past. When this becomes public, it seems as if the world will be changed forever. A specially selected team of special forces is then assembled, with the aim of returning to England in the 1100s, Saxon times, to learn all they can. Will the group succeed in their mission, or will they create changes that could alter the course of history forever? You’ll need to read this excellent new book to find out!

I so enjoyed Traveller-Inceptio. Author Rob Shackleford has done a fantastic job in creating characters that his readers will connect with, relate to, and truly come to care about. If that isn’t a hallmark of a great author, I’m not sure what is. His ability to set scenes is also second to none, and readers will, at times, feel as if they can simply slip through the pages to England in the 1100s, along with the characters. Any reader who enjoys science fiction, action, adventure, historically based novels, or just a good read of fiction in general should absolutely give this book a chance. I am pleased to be able to highly recommend Traveller-Inceptio and I look forward to reading more in this very promising series by author Rob Shackleford as soon as they are available!

Review Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewed By Romuald Dzemo for Readers’ Favorite

Inceptio by Rob Shackleford is a great entry in the Traveller series, a compelling story that brilliantly combines science fiction and adventure to create great entertainment for readers. When university researchers find out that the Transporter is actually a time machine, a powerful device that can send travellers a thousand years back in time, they become fascinated with the idea of using this same device to send a group of travellers, special agents armed with incredible fighting skills and modern technology, to investigate a period in English history. The travellers soon discover that they might have more to handle than they bargained for. It will take more than their current skills and technology to survive 11th-century England. Watch the travellers in intense action on an expedition of a lifetime? Can they survive this?

I have read a lot of sci-fi that features time travel, but Rob Shackleford’s work deals with the subject from a unique angle. The focus is on the contrast between what life looks like in the twenty-first century and what it was a thousand years ago, and it seems like the author has done great research to identify powerful historical elements woven into the story. This is a breezy read, an engaging and entertaining story that pulls readers out of their world and takes them on a one-of-a-kind adventure. There is a lot to appreciate in this book, and I enjoyed the kind of conflict the author develops and the tight writing. The question “Can past history be judged by the achievements of our age?” will find a very creative and intelligent answer in this story. Inceptio is fast-paced and well-plotted to keep the reader engaged throughout.

Review Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewed By Maureen Dangarembizi for Readers’ Favorite

Traveller – Inceptio by Rob Shackleford is a historical science fiction novel that blew my mind. The story starts with Ph.D. students in Australia developing a scanner. Their experiment goes wrong and they end up creating the world’s first time machine. After further experiments, they discover that the time machine can only go back one thousand years. A research team made up of special forces from various countries is set up to study the Saxons. Micheal Grant arrives in Giolgrave, a humble Saxon village, a few weeks before Viking hordes descend on English shores to plunder and rape the land. For Micheal, the parameters of his mission become blurred as his emotions engage with the people he’s supposed to be studying.

Rob Shackleford weaves a magical tale in Traveller – Inceptio. The future world is filled with great detail and funny incidents that left me laughing. At the beginning, the story starts off a bit slowly but quickly picks up the pace until the conclusion. The author portrayed the Saxon world in such vivid detail that I could ‘see’ and relate to the people in the past. Traveller – Inceptio shows the ugliness of war in a graphic but thought provoking way. I really enjoyed the fact that Rob Shackleford’s hero helped the people in Giolgrave, but they also taught him some lessons that he couldn’t have learned in his own time. This is the kind of book that would do well as a motion picture in the fashion of Braveheart, but without the sad ending. I really enjoyed this awesome book.

Review Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewed By Ray Simmons for Readers’ Favorite

I am a sucker for a great time travel story. One of the best I have ever read is Timeline by the late great Michael Crichton. If there is one book that Traveller – Inceptio by Rob Shackleford reminded me of, it’s Michael Crichton’s Timeline. For one thing, they both start with an accidental discovery of time travel, which is very believable. Rob Shackleford spends more than enough time setting up the possibilities and reasons for future adventure. Care is taken to explain and account for the paradoxes that can occur when actual travel to the past is contemplated in a novel. There is even a small portion of the story where Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder is quoted. Rob Shackleford has done his research and the result is a rousing adventure with a great premise. Alternating the chapters that take place now with chapters that occur in England of a thousand years ago is a great way to keep the pace and flow moving ahead.

For me, the most entertaining portion of Traveller – Inceptio is the life of a modern man in an ancient time. He must reason and knows a lot more about how the world works. But he also must fight, and being a modern man in that area has no advantages unless you are well trained and used to violence. I loved the ancient girl/modern man relationship in Timeline, but I think in this area Rob Shackleford actually outdoes Michael Crichton. The romance between Michael, the time traveling researcher, and Aedilberg, a widow from the past who prefers the nickname Tatae, is a great one and my favorite part of the book. There are a lot of great scenes and interesting situations in Traveller – Inceptio, but for me, the love story topped all the others.

Review Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewed By Sefina Hawke for Readers’ Favorite

Traveller – Inceptio by Rob Shackleford is a science fiction time travel novel that would appeal most to a mixed audience of science fiction lovers who are adults and young adults. Saxon England during the medieval period of the 11th century is entirely different from the modern world as a group of researchers and special service soldiers are about to discover for themselves. No amount of training, technology, or combat ability prepared these travelers for what they would face when the Time Machine transported them one thousand years into the past. These travelers must band together to not only survive, but also discover the truth of the Time Machine. Does the Time Machine actually transport those using it into the past or just a possible past?

Traveller – Inceptio by Rob Shackleford is a fast-paced novel that quickly pulled me into its plot. I really enjoyed Rob Shackleford’s writing style and his use of figurative language to create a crystal clear picture of events and characters in my head. I enjoyed the concept of a Time Machine that could only transport those using it one thousand years into the past and the question that arose because of this. I personally enjoyed the way that the characters developed as both a team and individuals when they were sent to the past and realized that all their training and knowledge was not nearly enough for where they were. Overall, I greatly enjoyed reading Traveller – Inceptio by Rob Shackleford and I felt like I was transported to medieval Saxon England right alongside the travelers!