ARC Review: A Coin for the Ferryman by Megan Edwards

Posted February 18, 2022 by Stephanie in 5 Stars, Historical Fiction, Review, Science Fiction / 9 Comments

Title: A Coin for the Ferryman
Author: Megan Edwards
Publication: March 1st 2022 by Imbrifex Books
Genre: Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Time Travel Fiction
Find it on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | iBooks | Kobo
Rating: 5/5★

He came. He saw. She conquered.

In 1999, an elite interdisciplinary team headed by Nobel laureate Andrew Danicek gathered in California to carry out a ground-breaking time-travel experiment. While the rest of the world remained unaware, Julius Caesar was successfully transported from his last Ides of March to a specially-constructed covert facility. Four days of conversation with historians and Latin scholars were planned, followed by Caesar’s return to the moment from which he was extracted, thus keeping subsequent history intact. But despite the team’s meticulous efforts to plan for all possible exigencies, an unscrupulous antiquities dealer who learns of Caesar’s visit disrupts the experiment with a kidnap attempt. Cassandra Fleury, the youngest member of the team, must summon strength she didn’t know she possessed to return Caesar to the Ides of March. Kept silent by draconian non-disclosure agreements for more than two decades, the team members who participated in Danicek’s experiment have said nothing. Certain events have now permitted the story to be revealed. Perhaps the most surprising result of the experiment is that the lives of each team member were inexorably altered in ways no one could have predicted.

Sometimes you come across a book where you just know even before you read it that it’s going to be right up your alley and totally your kind of thing. A Coin for the Ferryman by Megan Edwards was that book for me. I absolutely loved it and it ended up as my very first five star read of the year!

This book takes place, for the most part, in the late 1990’s in Las Vegas and California. Scientist and Nobel laureate Andrew Danicek has figured out the secret to time travel. And the first human he wants to transport from history is no one other than Julius Caesar. In fact he wants to transport him from the Ides of March right before his death. Andrew, along with his IDES team, succeeds but it isn’t long until things start going wrong. And it seems that the only person who can make sure Caesar returns to his own time is Cassandra, a young Latin college student.

I loved all the various characters but I especially enjoyed reading about Cassandra. At first she’s excited to be part of the IDES team and to be picked to be the one to actually talk to the one and only Julius Caesar. But once Caesar arrives it isn’t at all like she imagined it to be. She has only foru days before he will be returned to his own time and Caesar won’t talk to Cassandra and barely acknowledges her presence. On top of that she’s wondering if plucking Caesar from his time was the right thing to do at all. But then someone attempts to kidnap Caesar and Cassandra has to go on the run with him.

I absolutely loved the author’s take on Caesar too. It made me wonder for myself how he’d react to be transported to our modern world and how he’d see it all through his ancient Roman eyes and what he would think. I also enjoyed the conversations he and Cassandra had and how they eventually warmed towards each other when they were on the run together from Caesar’s abducters.

A Coin for the Ferryman by Megan Edwards was a fun, thrilling and genre-bending novel. It was also thought-provoking and with the backdrop of Las Vegas it made the story even more of an exciting time travel romp.

About the author:

Megan Edwards is the author of the forthcoming novel A Coin for the Ferryman. Her other books include the travel memoir Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier, the humor book Caution: Funny Signs Ahead, the award-winning Copper Black mystery novels Getting off on Frank Sinatra and Full Service Blonde, and the award-winning novel Strings: A Love Story. Edwards holds a B.A. in classics from Scripps College and an M.A. from Claremont Graduate University. She has lived and traveled extensively in Europe and spent nearly seven years “on the road” all over North America. Now at home in Las Vegas, Nevada, she is working on her next book.

For more information, visit MeganEdwards.com and connect with Megan on FacebookTwitterInstagram and Goodreads.

 

 

9 responses to “ARC Review: A Coin for the Ferryman by Megan Edwards

  1. verushka

    Oh my, this is such a unique, exciting premise — and just very very cool! Caeser CAESER, is such a brilliant pick!

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