Passenger Review

Title: Passenger (Passenger #1)

Author: Alexandra Bracken

Publisher: Disney Hyperion (January 5, 2016)

This book took me months to read. MONTHS. Because of exams, the slow pace of the book, and the writing style, it took me FOREVER to finish, but I finally DID IT!!!! WOOHOO! Now for the rating. I gave it a 2, because I liked the idea of time-traveling, I haven't read many YA novels having to do with time traveling and I jumped at the idea of finally reading a book with time traveling.

With Passenger I was able to tackle Bhutan (1910), New York City (2015), London (1940), Angkor (1685), Paris (1880), and Damascus (1599).

I will give points to Alexandra Bracken for having the ability to world build perfectly the many time periods mentioned in this novel, if I were able to write a time-travel book, I would fail miserably because I HATE history with a passion. Bracken was able to connect the time periods with the astrolabe perfectly, but for me as a fan of the supernatural, it fell short.

I'm not saying I hated or loved the book, I just believe that this book wasn't for me. Don't get me wrong I loved the premise of time traveling, a blonde chic falling in love with a African-American (sort of), music being the key to everything (with the G chord while playing the violin very original), and I LOVE THE COVER! GORGEOUS!

Summary: (in three parts)

i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes.
ii. A journey by water; a voyage.
iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time.

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda (this is where Sophie comes in and she's a real asshole) Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home (to be specific 1776) And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now. Turns out the time traveling is an undercover world where there are the actual travelers, and then the Guardians (which are people who would risk their lives for the travelers and Alice turns out to be one of them). Also, there are 4 families who control this time traveling world (the Lindens, Ironwoods, Thorn, and I can't remember the other one, but they died shortly after from Cyrus).

Then we have another point of view, Nicholas Carter who is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger (Etta) on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value (the Linden family's heirloom, astrolabe) one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them—whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, (the list is mentioned above) piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home... forever.

Sounds interesting right? You go through a journey through the Seven seas on a ship with Nicholas and his crew, go through 7 different passages across time going through villages from the after effects of the World Wars, poverty, Gilded Age, the Cold War, the Progressive era, etc etc. you see different cultures represented in different parts of the world, and I just loved that.

With all of these positive remarks why the negative review? The writing fell flat. I tried so hard to keep myself motivated into completing the novel, but unfortunately with exams and other fun easy reads to read, this one was just thrown in the back of my to-reads pile. I was finally given the chance to finish this book today, and this is what I get: a history lesson, a marvelous journey through the world, an antsy romance, surprising betrayals, but with a very difficult and boring writing style. I had to skin trough most of the conversations to get through the good adventure parts of the novel, and that was mostly 75% of the book.

So after all of my ranting and confusing judgement of the novel, will I be reading the sequel? Only time will tell, because turns out the cover is just as GORGEOUS as this one, and I am deadly curious to find out what happened to Etta, Cyrus, Sophia, Rose, and Nicholas. Oh boy, this is going to be a wild ride