Many thanks to Netgalley, Imbrifex Books and the author for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A coin for the ferryman follows the story of a time travelling experiment by Andrew Danicek and his multidisciplinary team, where they are trying to bring back people from history who are destined to die, so that the world can know firsthand what happened in the past. The persona they decide to bring back is none other than Julius Caesar. The story that follows is a mixed plot with mafia, science, history, classics, and love.

I am a sucker for historical fiction, especially, anything Greek or roman, but unfortunately this book was a big let down for me. The story plot was gripping and the journey was a bumpy ride but the over explanation of each characters pasts, the subtle (not-s0-subtle) sexism, misogyny, profiling, was absolutely frustrating.

When I started reading the book and was reading all these extended explanations of how hot the women are, I would go back to ensure that this book was not written by a man. Why? because the way the women here are portrayed, was in many ways worse that the so called 'male-gaze' (all women referred to here are scholars in their own right, however the only time their knowledge or talents are appreciated is in the form of backhanded compliments noting them as eye-candy). The age difference between couples was entirely a different topic of discussion, in short the profiling and cringey weird ass romance had me running the other way. I don't think I have rolled my eyes so much in disgust while reading a book. I understand the book being set in 1990's, there was a certain need for flair towards the women to denote the era, but considering the author themselves note that this book took 20 years to be completed and the story actively ends during the pandemic, a little more respect would have made the book bearable (come on, hundreds of years of fighting for respect and we are still written as 'she may be a researcher well-versed in Latin and history, but she sure does make good eye-candy so even if Caesar does not appreciate the knowledge, he will appreciate her body!! excuse me what?? and this coming from a Nobel laureate!! ughhhh)

Also the whole insistence in the beginning about Caesar being gay and then Caeser coming along and insisting he is straight with 4 wives was just....sorry...this book as you can see tested my patience.....

TW: misogyny, sexism, homophobia, death, blood, violence, 'instalove'😖😖🤢

If Julius Caesar were given a choice of when and where in the far flung future to visit, I'm pretty sure it would have gone as Ms. Edwards outlines! While this was a fun read, there was explaining at the front of the tale that seemed like extra-credit. Weaving in myths and cultural landmarks was too brief for me. . . I would have loved more of that.

But the real rodeo started with the actual time-jumping four days, and his JC's time with Cassandra - that was fun to imagine along with the book. With all the warnings about consequential changes that could ruin the future, it seemed odd that the ultimate consequence being left in the future wasn't even really addressed - Julian - but still fun to think about!

If you're into Ancient Rome, Latin and Caesar's Palace. . .you'll dig this!

A sincere thanks to Megan Edwards, Imbrifex Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review. #ACoinfortheFerryman #NetGalley

In literature, as in anything, too much is too much. And 'too much' is the main flaw in this book, which would have all the makings of a delightful thriller with elements of hard science and an exceptional co-star: Julius Caesar. It is clear that the author has done his homework in the historical reconstruction of the character, carefully reading what Caesar wrote about himself and others wrote about him (for the record, Caesar was not gay, but like many men of his time bisexual, but perhaps a certain prudishness prevented the author from touching the key of how his contemporaries described him, i.e. 'the husband of all wives and the wife of all husbands'). Having said that, since I am an editor, I have to say that a good editing job would have discouraged the author from inserting at least two too many characters, which forced him to introduce some completely unnecessary subplots and a long scene that almost made me close the book, and would have made him put the end where it should have been put. A pity, because this is a well-written and, in general, quite entertaining novel.

I really expected to enjoy this one. But after several attempts, 19% was all I could do. It was just dry and didn't pull me into the story.

2 stars

Thank you Netgalley for this arc! I'm a bit disappointed with this book because it felt slow paced yet there was too much going on. I loved that it was based around Roman History which is very intriguing, but adding sci-fi fantasy as well makes it hard to understand.

Lots to love in this very fresh approach to time travel storytelling. Appealed to both the sci fi nerd and the professional historian in me- lots of great world building in the past and the future here. Evocatively renders a very plausible portrait of how an ancient figure might behave in the modern (postmodern?) world.

Eine Gruppe von Wissenschaftlern arbeitet an einer "Zeitmaschine", um Julius Cäsar für vier Tage ins Hier und Jetzt zu transportieren. Intreressanter Plot, durchaus stellenweise spannend, aber alle Charaktere bleiben eindimensional, Cäsar erscheint weitgehend desinteressiert an seinem veränderten Umfeld, das doch für ihn überwältigend, erschreckend und völlig unverständlich sein müsste. Die Liebesbeziehung ist lieblos dargestellt, hätte man auch gut weglassen können.
Schade, ich hatte mir mehr erhofft.

Earlier this year I read this novel and well it was a surprise.

I'm not specially attached to Greek or Roman mythos/history, so definetely the time travelling portion of the synopsis is what caught me. The plot involves Julius Caesar, time travelling, culture clash and a possible affair somewhere in the timeline that may lead to a continuation of this story.

In a once in a lifetime opportunity our main character starts working with a group of hella smart people super interested in proving that they've found THE way to time travel, as with anything in life, there are some conditions that need to be met so the course of life as we know it won't change after the completion of this challenge. Obviously many go wrong (or as wrong as they could) and some loose strings remain, what will happen with those? (not sure, but I don't think this'll lead to a sequel, to be honest).

This was entertaining to read and it may be a reason for me to start diving back into Greek/Roman mythos. We'll see.

This was a DNF for me - it just is not hitting my reading mood right now. I might come back to it at another time in the future.

I devoured this book. Give me time travel, give me the realistic treatment of historical figures, give me all of it. The humanization of Julius Caesar was excellent; honestly the only thing I didn't find believable (assuming the conceit of the book is possible) was that someone could learn conversational Latin such that one could speak with Caesar. But it did encourage me to pick my Latin back up on Duolingo (HAH), so who knows what the future may hold?!

First: Thank you NetGalley and Megan Edwards for this free ARC, Feedback for this review is given of my own volition. Thank you!

Talk about a blast from the past....

Edwards takes us this extreme ride beginning with Nobel Laureate Andrew Danieck and his team of scientist, who basically have this wild idea.

Lest we not forget Cassandra Fleury, the Casino waitress, who just happened to have a sugar daddy, who paid her way to go to school, who is also super fluent in Latin.

She is part of the team that has this wild idea to bring Ceaser from 2000 years ago, to 1999

Anyone head tripped yet?

This idea is to bring someone from the past into the future. Who other than Julius Caesar?

SO! the plan is to time travel back to right before Caesar was killed in the "Ides of March"

Hold him captive for 4 days in a covert location, where they can question him about any and everything.

But as we know, the best laid plans never come to fruition.

Next thing we know, on top of the Ides Team basically kidnapping Caesar, someone else is actually trying to kidnap him.

So, it is basically up to Cassandra to hide Caesar.

This book had all the theatrics of a Dan Brown Movie.

You had Drama, Suspense, Mafia, Car chases, and Romance.

This book had something for all genres of readers, from Fiction, Sci-Fi, Action, Mystery, Romance

Edwards did a significant amount of time and research into Roman History and Anthropology. Her attention to detail in definitely portrayed throughout this book.

I will leave you with this:
IF you could go back in history, would you?
IF you could bring anyone back, who would it be?


WTH FOR THAT ENDING?



Mouth Open!!!!

A Coin for the Ferryman comes from the practice in ancient times the dead had coins placed over their eyes so they had payment for Charon and the trip to the underworld. In this book you have the story of a group of scientists and classicists that have a plan to steal Julius Caesar right before Charon can take him just to ask him some questions. Not everything goes as planned.

While the idea of this book is interesting there is an execution issue that leaves me wanting. I do not know that I could recommend this book to anyone even though I do not think it was bad. It is just maybe not of a quality that would leave me feeling comfortable with recommending it.

I thought this book was fine but not amazing. I'm a classics graduate student, so I found myself on high alert with all the classical references. I thought it was pretty funny that Cassandra's aunt seemed modeled on the archaeologist Iris Love (deceased April 2020). I found some inaccuracies, probably due to nitpicking (no one majors in Latin in the United States, you major in classics, you can focus in latin, also the excavation stuff came off wrong). Generally I'm not a fan of POV switching and that's what killed this for me. It felt like it was taking forever for the plot to go anywhere. I would recommend this for non-classicist fans of scifi though.

Let me start off by saying that I was very intrigued with the premise. Academia vibes + time travel + a very interesting figure from Roman history? Score! And the story did not disappoint - I devoured this book!

The story is rich in characters and backstories, and I really enjoyed Caesar's character. It is so intriguing to read about how a man like him would respond to life 2000 years after his own time, and I think this book did a very good job on that.

Though I feel the story lacked depth in some regards (despite being a 540 page book) and there being some very obvious plots, I would very much recommend this to anyone who enjoys stories on time travelling, historical fiction and dark academia (even though it isn't set in a university).

My rating: 3.5

This was an interesting time travel book with deep ramifications. The story did fall into a bit of a lull at points, but for the vast majority of the time, I was totally transfixed. I loved the way it all came around at the end. I loved Cassandra's character and by the end, I really felt like I knew her.

Do you remember the reviews of Titanic that point out that Jack and Rose were added to give the ship a story line? This book is a lot like that. Cassandra's backstory and her connection to the IDES project are unlikely in the extreme and frankly are unneeded. She could have been an ordinary grad student who happens to be fluent in Latin and Greek there are plenty of them around. Latin is not a dead language. It is said that there are more Latin speakers now than there were in classical times. Between 1989 and 2019 Finland broadcast the daily news in Latin. Beyond Cassandra, all of the other characters have these weird little side stories hooked to them that serve to lengthen the text but not much else. And really, if you were going to give a woman a present would you choose a medalion commemorating a boxing event? Nah.

4 stars. A highly enjoyable read that hooked me right at the start (I actually cursed starting it before bed as it was an honest struggle to put it down!). Fans of original historical fiction/fantasy will enjoy this.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion.

The book's intro had me in a chokehold but sadly it didn't live up to the expectations. The book seemed way too chaotic and overwhelming and at times all over the place and the plot seemed to be too slow for my liking.

I had very high expectations for this book. From the title and the premise that I read, it really sounded like it was going to grab your attention and never let go. Sadly, for me, this was not the case. Even when the essence of the plot has a lot of potential, I felt like it fell short for me. I did not enjoy myself while reading this. Once again, I thank Netgalley and Imbrifec Books for the opportunity.

A nostalgia-inducing read! If you grew up in the 90s and early 2000s you will either read this book with fondness for the memories of the fashion or cringe when you are triggered into remembering what you used to wear. I sincerely enjoyed the focus on the ethical vs power dilemma of time travel and how the different members of the team approach it as well as . The book blurb is somewhat misleading as Cassandra, the protagonist, is only referred to as "one team member" and her journey is really the focus of the book, not the "shocking details of Caesar's visit". Two of the main reasons to why I am only giving this book three stars are because while Cassandra is the ideal dream of many young women who go into classics have (gorgeous, fluent in Latin, has everyone goggling at her, and just so happens to meet not one, but two billionaires who make her dream come true?) she is really not relatable and it pulled me out of the story; and I really enjoyed the historical aspects given to Julius Caesar but in all honesty, the book falls more into the historical fiction category for its in depth detail for the late 20th century rather than the 1st century BCE, which was what I was expecting.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the chance to read and review an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!