INVICTUS, by Ryan Graudin

The story: Born on a time machine, Farway McCarthy has been "out of time" his whole life. And now it appears that the event caused a tear in the fabric of space/time, and a monstrous phenomenon called The Fade is devouring entire alternate universes--anything ever touched by Farway and his seemingly endless supply of alternative selves. One of them, a girl named Eliot, has been sent to heal the breach and fix things. Oh, and kill Farway...cuz clearly, that's the only way to solve THIS puzzle.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG (lots of made-up swears that aren't fooling anyone); Violence PG-13; Sexual content PG; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG-13; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (sci-fi violence, mind-bending made-up scientific concepts) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: Fantastic, but not great for middle school. The prose--and particularly the pseudo-science--is so dense that MS readers (except maybe for GT 8th graders) will find this one hopeless. Recommended for high school, though, and for anyone who's a fan of time-travel in it many iterations across multiple universes.