The audiobook narration left room for improvement. There were moments when it sounded like the voice over for a documentary. Due to some very short chapters followed by a change in the POV of the book, I was glad that I had the ebook to read along. The narrator didn't modulate his voice to make distinguishing the different characters' POVs easier.



For a novel that's been twenty years in the making, it sure could have benefited from more editing. The ensemble of characters is huge. The book could have done without some of them, and definitely without the, irrelevant to the plot, backstories. Why the detailed descriptions of female clothes; why are we told that women looking really good for their age; why is it still shocking that women can be sexy AND intelligent. The casual sexism is annoying.

Caesar, by the way, is as cool as a cucumber. He was time travelled to the late 20th century and didn't blink an eye at modern technology, cars (horseless carriages), planes, the bright lights of Las Vegas, TV,...

The kidnapping plot was weird. Those goons were like the bottom of the barrel minions of a rather pasty Bond villain. The chase, the hiding in Las Vegas, the escape back to Pasadena... It just got from bad to worse.

The romance was unbelievable. It feels added on.

Actually, a lot feels jumbled together and added on. I still can't believe the words of the author, this doesn't read like a book that's taken twenty years to write.

Some reviewers compared this book to The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. Let me just say, I really liked DODO and I would not put it on the same shelf as A Coin for the Ferryman, they are like chalk and cheese.

I received this book for free from NetGalley.com, in return for an honest and candid review.

Overall, this book was enjoyable-- maybe a 3.5 star rating. It is about a secret lab group's successful effort to bring Julius Ceasar to 1999 for four days using experimental time travel technology. Things take an unexpected twist when he and the lab's undergraduate research assistant have to react to a kidnap attempt. The book follows their adventure to try to get Caesar back in time to get transported back to his own era.

The plot is far-fetched, but you know that going in. Anyone who complains about the book on that basis needs to do some self-reflection about what they were expecting, given the book's synopsis...

My major objection was that there was a lot of detailed back story and superfluous complexity that didn't contribute to the main plot. While it made the characters dimensional, there are *a lot* of characters and subplots to keep track of, and I find the working memory/cognitive load it demanded to me out of the story and that it was hard to track the multiple threads, given I didn't know what was important and might be relevant later. A lot of the back stories never mattered or affected the main plot-- they were charming as vignettes, but it was simply too much to keep track of. It resulted in a good book becoming bloated and needlessly weighted down in unnecessary complexities.

In the end, it was still an enjoyable read, but too many ideas for one novel.

A Coin For The Ferryman
by: Megan Edwards
Pub. date: March 1, 2022
Audiobook Review date: January 16, 2022

Many thanks to Megan Edwards, Imbrifex Books & NetGalley, for allowing me to listen to this audiobook. I’m leaving this review voluntarily…
A Coin For The Ferryman is one of the Best books I read in 2021.. It was a must that I request the audiobook version so I could hear Mark Ashby tell the story. I think he did an Amazing job, btw.
I gave 4.5 stars to this magnificent book/audiobook & I Highly recommend. I Can’t Wait to see what Megan Edwards comes up with next!
#ACoinForTheFerryman #NetGalley #MeganEdwards #ImbrifexBooks

Time travel and Julius Caeser? Sign me up.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3. I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one. Ultimately, it reads like a first draft. There's lots of bumbling around and it's hard to say what exactly the plot was. There are characters that could've been cut, scenes that could've been shortened (or sometimes extended), and the pacing was strange. However, with that being said, I'm absolutely thrilled with the ending. Since the very beginning of the book I was rooting for the author to really commit and not shy away from whatever story she wanted to tell. SHE DID IT. And for that alone I would recommend this book. The author had a goal in mind and she made it happen and I loved that.

A novel combining ancient Roman figures AND time travel? Yes, please! Love the creativity of the story. Sure, it lacks scientific explanation and I would have liked more character development beyond the two main characters, but it was a pleasure to read. I did not care for the narration, which did not reflect the excitement of the action scenes, so I recommend reading the print version instead.

I am a library paraprofessional and received an advance copy from #NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

To be honest, I nearly didn't listen to the whole book. The first 3 chapters came across as juvenile and uneloquent. I'm not sure if it was the actual words "crappy room...crappy trailer...crappy bookshelf", or if it was the narrator's failed attempts at a British accent and what he thought ancient Roman translated into English would sound like.

I persevered and was rewarded with an interesting, if implausible, story and the vast improvement of the narrator.

The story is told from many different perspectives of a team who brings Julius Caesar to the year 1999. We learn pertinent backstories, and follow them from team formation, to planning the transport, and finally a chaotic 4 day visit where nothing goes as planned.

Surprisingly, a Vegas "almost callgirl", a fast food millionaire, a rare coins dealer, a medical doctor, and an adult's childhood pet all make it into this book.

It is a rough start, but worth the listen if you enjoy history.

Netgalley, Imbrifex Books and author Megan Edwards offered “A Coin for the Ferryman” in audible form. I have listened to 17.3 percent and have put it into my “did not finish” pile.

We have teasers for “time travel has been developed!” and hints that Julius Caesar is involved, which I found a captivating mix. Yet here I am waiting for something to happen. I was able to get past the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold character and the setup for a rich widow funding the scientific research. The creepy quick hookup between the lovely young scientist dazzed by (the much older and her BOSS) Nobel prize-winner was a total #metoo cliché. What turned me off completely was the grisly proposed animal abuse for next-step testing purposes.

Nope. Done. Out of here. Thanks for the effort. Not even Mr. Caesar himself could make me listen to more.

3.5

First thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

For those that are looking to DNF this book- keep reading as it is worthwhile.

Time Machine = find an amazing historical character to bring to the future = wow Ceasar is the craziest and best idea = find someone that can speak Latin = basis of this book.

Regarding the narrator - Rod Sterling. That is who I thought of. The gentleman focusses on documentaries and I am sure I would enjoy those readings. In this case - it was distracting.

I really enjoyed the story. I believe a reviewer / editor / friend / said "expand on the characters" and that is why the beginning is filled with just a tad too much detail. I was getting lost. I really had a difficult time moving from detailed historical fiction to action packed thriller. I am not even sure that makes sense and maybe I just need to think about it for a few days. (I am sure I will be updating this review).

So WITHOUT spoilers, I move to the last third of the book. There is so much going on it kept me extremely engaged. The author did a great job of tying the questions in the beginning with answers in the end (sorry but you just have to read it) and without that "corny factor".

So to finish - this has the potential for a great book - and geez I hate to say I think it just needs a bit more work to tie it together. Keep in mind I listened to this and it may have been a different experience if I read it.

Pretty low-brow writing with caricature-like characters of little depth, but the story was certainly original and it did keep me wanting to know how it would all turn out. The ending was a fun twist, too.

I decided not to continue with this book after around 20% of it and after two tries of listening to it.

I’m a lover of all things classics and Caesar is one of my all-time favorite historical figures, so naturally synopsis for this book sounded very interesting and promising. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.

Narration of the audio version was a problem in itself, it was sometimes boring and non-engaging, sudden, and constant jumps in POVs and timelines, which I’m generally not a fan of, are even harder to follow and confusing.

A lot of time is spent on characters backstories that are laid out as an exposition or matter of fact information that are in no way related to the story. Once you finally get a sense of who that character is, story cuts to a different one and starts all over again. (From other reviews I found out some of the characters never reappear therefore I don’t see a point of whole chapters dedicated to them). After 20 chapters I still don’t know who characters are, how they are related, what they have to do with the plot from the synopsis, and not to mention Caesar is still nowhere to be found.

All in all, I appreciate the idea, I think it had great potential, but the style of the book isn’t my thing, maybe it gets better after a while, maybe if it was a physical book, I’d try to fast read through but the audio is no for me.

I would like to thank NetGalley for a free audio book copy.

A very unique take on a time-traveling narrative. Lots of hidden "Easter eggs" both in "present day" and in the past.
We all know what happened on the Ides of March - now meet the team of the IDES lab who plan to take the opportunity of that day to bring Caesar - briefly - into our own time! The plan is laid out, the team assembled, and the day arrives. - all will go according to plan, right....?
As I began reading this book, I was definitely taken with the range of characters, their backgrounds, and how they would play into the climax we all knew was coming - Julius Caesar brought to our time, thus the second half of this book threw me for a loop. Out of all the characters, the core of the story is Cassandra and Julius. In many way, this book has something for everyone - drama, sci-fi, historical fiction, action, mystery, and romance. You'll even learn some Latin along the way. A good book that you could easily recommend to anyone.

I made it to 25%, but can't continue. The narration is robotic and disconnected, which I would tolerate if the characterization weren't so off-putting. If I had a print copy I would mark and count all the times that female characters are not only described by their looks, but literally defined by them. Things along the lines of, "She was such a knockout, she would stand out in any field" and people being assumed to be too attractive to know a foreign language. It feels icky and dated. At first I thought it was just one particularly repulsive character who approached women this way, but then the next chapter it was a different man and a different woman, and then a next chapter a different woman and another different woman! It's not just my sense of feminism kicking in - it distracts from the story and makes for bad writing. I know more about the way the characters feel about their colleagues and their appearances than I do about why they want to bring Julius Caesar back, which is super weird. And they seem more interested in their colleagues' relationships with one another (I'm looking at you, Eric) than the project! I am wondering if perhaps the author went overboard on this kind of thing to try to draw attention to it *not* being appropriate, based on the comments the characters make to themselves - "I know I'm guilty of bias but...." etc. But if that's the case, I am not sure it landed.

I want to know what happens, but it's not worth wading through this writing. I appreciate Netgalley providing me a chance to test the waters, but this is not for me.

I enjoyed this book a lot until Cassandra fell in love with Julius Caesar and became pregnant with his child. The book spent a lot of time setting up the time travel team but then once Julius Caesar arrived in the present day the rest of the team didn't really play a part in the story. There were also a couple characters and situations earlier in the book where a lot of time was spent on them and then they weren't brought up again. For example, the two archaeologists who were lovers and had found the gold Las Vegas coin in the beginning and also the eccentric archaeologist who wrote a memoir and was into space aliens. I was really into these characters and the back story but then nothing happened with them. Most of the novel felt like it was spent with Cassandra and Caesar driving to Las Vegas and then in the penthouse in Las Vegas and then the book wrapped up in a few chapters.

Maybe this just needed a sequel or needed to be longer. As a reader and someone who really enjoyed historical fiction and sci-fi about time travel I'm disappointed that a lot of time was spent on this curious characters and their back story and then that approach to the novel was just dropped. I wanted to know more about them and thought those stories were way more interesting than Cassandra and Julius Caesar's affair.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this, the beginning is a slow burn introducing us to all the characters. Once the second half starts the story gets much faster and becomes hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I struggled to like this book. The premise is interesting: time travel with ancient Roman events. However, the reader was off putting for me. The lack of inflextion and tone in the reading was distracting to the story line. The storyline was incredibly slow building and bounced around making it tough to follow the multiple timelines. I was not a fan.

I loved this audiobook! What an amazingly interesting story. Every person who has studied history contemplates which historic personality he or she would like to meet assuming a time machine were available. In this novel, a time machine has been invented for the purpose of precisely dating artifacts.
The author does not bore the reader with the physics of time travel or create silly pseudoscience. I really appreciated that. However, details about the restrictions involved in time travel are presented and all make sense. I found myself not needing to suspend disbelief.
This book caught my attention from the first pages when we meet Julius Caesar in his own time. The book did not let me go until the very end. Julius Caesar was transported to the present day in the first experiment on a living human being. Caesar's character was absolutely believable! He behaved the way one would expect Caesar to behave. The plot was fascinating. Caesar interacting with modern people and the modern world was beautifully done. All of this was enormously satisfying.
All of the present-day characters were well developed. There relationships to each other and Caesar were well developed. Dialogue was well-written and believable.
I had never read this author before, but I would seek out her books and read her work again.
This one is a winner! Recommended for those who enjoy Ancient Rome fiction, time travel, and historic fiction in general. If you like a good story with a complex, engrossing plot; this one is for you!
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I am just getting back into the swing of reviewing again and was looking for something fairly light and interesting after reviewing two poetry collections. I majored in history as an undergraduate and enjoy science fiction, so this seemed like a good pick. The premise of the story sounded solid so I gave it a chance. My willing suspension of disbelief is rather well developed. I know the transporter in Star Trek is beyond any scientific plausibility, but it does speed the story along. I know wizards and dragons don't exist, but they do make an interesting fantasy story. The same goes for time travel. Other than looking at the night sky and seeing a star as it was millions of years ago, you aren't going to jump in a machine and travel into the past...but it does make a good story. H.G. Wells and others have used a time machine in their stories quite successfully.

That being said for the amount of detail given to the characters more could have been done explaining the science (fiction). Caesar didn't seem too fazed to be ripped out of his time and pulled into the tail end of the twentieth century. Seeing cars as horseless chariots without giving them another thought was a bit bothering. Also driving in Las Vegas didn't cause a mild panic attack on a person who never even experienced a light bulb. If the characters had a desire to know more about Caesar, why not go themselves into the past and document it?

The story was read by Mark Ashby who is known for his documentary style reading. He does have a good voice for documentaries. He sounds like a national news reader from the 1970s (level with minimal emotion) but with a slight Jimmy Stewart twang. His style however does not mesh well this type of story. At first, his voice seemed to work, reporting the background, but reading characters voices in that same manner just didn't seem to work.

A Coin for the Ferryman has the potential to be an interesting read, however, it needs more work and help in keeping the story line on track.

In 1999, an elite team of scientists and classicists worked on a top-secret project. They were able to pull Julius Caesar from moments before his murder into the present with the plan to interview him and see what knowledge than can gain during the next 4 days, before they have to return him to the exact time and location from which he was plucked to avoid changing the future. Despite their strict security and preparations, someone has learned of Caesar’s visit to the future and attempts to kidnap him. It is up to Cassandra Fleury, the youngest member of the team, to keep Caesar safe and ensure he can be returned to the Ides of March at the designated time.

This was an intriguing read. The whole time, I couldn’t help but wonder how it would all work out. I would have loved to know about the science behind their project, but the book does not delve into it. While the science is not covered, the story does take the time to get into the background of the main players in the book, and I enjoyed getting to know something of their past and mindset they were coming into the project with. The concept that the team members were pulling someone forward from the past rather than time travelling themselves was unique. Overall, I enjoyed this story; it was engaging. Mark Ashby did a nice job with the narration.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for a pre-release copy of this book.

This review supersedes my previous review of this book. I originally tried reading this book as an ebook, and I just couldn't get through it. The start was slow, confusing, etc. However, based on the description, I knew it should be right up my alley. I got a copy of the audiobook, and it made all the difference. Overall, I really enjoyed the book once it got to the premise. If you like Michael Crichton's book Timeline, you'll like this book. Only it's the reverse, what if someone from the past comes to the future. As complex as the story was, changing character viewpoints, plot lines and such, it really added to the richness of the story. I didn't see the ending coming! I highly recommend this book!

An elite team of scientists and a young woman who can speak Latin are gathered to in a secret laboratory where they have been working on a time travel experiment. Nobel laureate Andrew Danicek, who heads the team, wants to make sure the experiment is a success. He doesn't want to just bring anyone into the present from the past. He would like to bring a historical figure. One that they can bring to the present for four days, learn what they can from this individual and send back. They decide upon a historical figure and *poof* Julius Caesar is standing in front of them. What will they make of him, more importantly what will he make of them?

They need to be careful; they don't want to change history - it needs to remain the same! But will it?

Cassandra speaks Latin so naturally she is the interpreter, but things don't quite go so smoothly at first...

No one knows Caesar is there but then things change, and the plan goes out the window....

I enjoyed this book, and this take on time travel. The Ides of March is an important date on the Roman Calendar, and it also marks the assignation of Julius Caesar. How does it change things when you know someone's history? How does it change you? Will it change your history? This was a nice audiobook to listen to as I am often driving her and there for work. I enjoyed the narrator and the story.

It may not appeal to some as it does take on a thriller feel around the middle. But I did find one thing in the book to be very clever. Pay attention to the beginning and ending is all I have to say - No spoiler but if you pay attention, you may be thinking "oh how clever!" as I did.

Thank you to Imbrifex Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.