abigailjohnson
Written on Jan 9, 2016
'Riveting. Romantic characters and an immense world with no end in sight' - Victoria Aveyard
New York City, present day
In one night, Etta Spencer is wrenched from everything she knows and loves. Thrown into an unfamiliar world, she can be certain of only one thing: she has travelled not just miles, but years from home.
The Atlantic, 1776
Captain Nicholas Carter is tasked with delivering Etta to the dangerous Ironwood family. They are searching for something - a stolen object they believe only she can reclaim. But Nicholas is drawn to his mysterious passenger, and the closer he gets to her, the further he is from freedom.
The Edges of the World
Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by a desperate thief. But as Etta plays deeper into the Ironwoods' game, treacherous forces threaten to separate her not only from Nicholas, but from her path home - for ever.
- ISBN10 1786540002
- ISBN13 9781786540003
- Publish Date 7 April 2016 (first published 5 January 2016)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 16 January 2024
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Hachette Children's Group
- Imprint Quercus Children's Books
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 496
- Language English
Reviews
kimbacaffeinate
Written on Dec 28, 2015
- The writing Alexandra Bracken brings the world(s) of Passenger to life as we travel from present day to the colonies, jungle and more on our quest. She brilliant captures each period allowing the reader to travel from the comfort of their sofa. Bracken is a masterful storyteller and quickly drew me into the tale. The pacing is balanced and the rules unfolded perfectly.
- The plot Etta Spencer discovers she has inherited a legacy when she is thrust from present day to the colonies and forced to do Ironwood’s bidding. Along the way she must solve the clues her mother has left for her. It was exciting as she decided whom to trust and what to do about this sought after object.. The overall story arc is intense and has me craving Wayfarer, the next novel in the series scheduled for release in 2017.
- The ship A sweet, forbidden romance develops between Etta and her companion Nicholas Carter. Nicolas is a pirate searching for freedom and his impossible story touched me. Slow building, tender, heartbreaking and forbidden this romance will have you swooning.
- Time travel I adore time travel novels and Bracken has established a unique concept with portals, warring families and history. I enjoyed how she allowed the reader to learn about this legacy along with Etta. It created suspense, as we needed to decide who was foe or ally. The storyline raised question for the reader. What would you do if you could travel back in time? Would you stop a war or save a loved one?
- The characters Bracken delightfully introduced colorful, diverse characters as the tale unfolded giving balance to the suspenseful quest as we jumped into different periods. While the villains are not as fleshed out, we learned enough to fear them and I look forward to some of the things the author hinted about.
Copy provided by publisher This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer
liz089
Written on Dec 28, 2015
I got this awesome book from NetGalley, thank you so much Disney-Hyperion for accepting my request !!!
STANDALONE or SERIES.
This is the first book in The Passenger series, from what I can see on Goodreads (and after reading) there will be a second part too.
WHY this book.
Because I really liked The Darkest Minds, and when I saw it for request on NetGalley I had to try !! And miraculously (I’m just an unknown) I got accepted !! I was so happy with that, doing a little dance around the room and having everybody look at me funny. But I was just so happy that I got a change to read it before it is published, it is my first ARC !!
FIRST THOUGHTS.
So original ! I really liked it ! It did take me some time to get into, there is a lot of world building going on, but when I was into it I just kept reading ! It is so exciting, and I wanted to know what was going to happen, it kept me on my toes. And the ending had so much potential, makes me yearn for the next part !
PLOT.
So the story is told from two points of view, our female main Etta and the male main Nicolas. It starts with Etta in the present, about to have a violin solo, when everything goes wrong and in the chaos of it all she gets transferred into the past. She lands on a ship Nicolas is taking over, and he has to deliver her to the Ironwoods. Here we find out she is not “normal”, but she is a traveller. One of the last from her lineage, just as her mother, who turns out has been kidnapped by the leader of the Ironwoods. The Ironwoods are the strongest travel family still intact, mainly because they killed all the others. The leader wants Etta to find something stolen from him by her mother, a powerful object, and she has to travel through different times to find it. If not, her mother will be killed. Ironwood also makes a deal with Nicolas to accompany her, and together they set on a journey to safe Etta’s mother and retrieve the object.
Only it turns out the object is very dangerous and they are not the only ones after it…
The beginning of the story had a slow pace, everything about the Travellers world was explained and characters were introduced. Because of this I had some trouble getting into it, but at 30% I finally got more feeling for the story and I flew through the rest of it. I dislike that I got not right into it from the beginning, but looking at it objectively, it is a new story with a completely new universe, and to make that work properly you need some world building. Otherwise I would be complaining about it not making sense. So I prefer it this way, with a solid build.
The plot itself wat sometimes a bit predictable, of course Etta and Nicolas fall in love, that was clear from the beginning. It was also clear that at some point Etta would find out about the deal Nicolas made. BUT the way it was done was not predictable.. How I LOVED that Etta not made a big deal out of the deal ! There were some awesome plot twists in it as well and some questions still unanswered that makes you want more. Really enjoyed it.
ROMANCE.
Oké it was to expect that they would fall for each other, but they did take their time. It was kind of instalove, because they did fell right away. But they did not act on it right ahead, they did not let it overrule the story or the importance of their quest, which made it better than a lot of other books I’ve read. They came both from a different time with different rules, but that only made it more exciting when they finally did get together. She let it build into something beautiful, with no unnecessary triangles or anything, and I loved it.
SETTING.
It is set in a lot of different era’s, in a lot of different places. Wow it must have taken a lot of research to get it this way. Respect. She made the history intertwine beautifully with the quest and I really enjoyed that. You had your legal pirates with their rules on the sea, the war with the Britain’s in New York, World War Two in London, in the Jungle, in Damascus with their religion, just awesome !!
And of course, the whole Travellers World as well. They have their own rules about traveling, what can be done and what cannot. Like you can’t intervene with death, you cannot meet yourself (wander what would happen), and of course, how you cannot travel randomly threw time, but you have to travel threw certain passages to get from one place to another. They are located all over the world in different times, and some passages are closed or collapsed. And you cannot just travel to any kind of date of the year, but it just keeps going. It is good to have some ground rules, nicely done !
CHARACTERS.
Etta. Main female character. Very brave and independent (in a good way). She does not need others to do everything for her, but she also excepts help when necessary. I love how she is logical and sees the bigger picture (the quest and saving her mom). Very likeable person, with her own mind and not afraid to stand up to others.
Nicolas. Main male character, he is very protective of those he holds dear and knows what he wants. As the son of a slave and it’s master he had let a rough life, something he desperately wants to rise above. He is also very cute.
Sophia. A relative of the Ironwoods, but because she is female she cannot be heir. Which is something that bothers her a great deal. She’s the one that takes Etta from her time in hope of pleasing the leader of the Ironwoods.. but it does not seem to accomplish much.
Rosie. Etta’s mother, the one who made the quest for the object so only Etta could find it. She has been hunted and fled from the life of travellers before they caught up to them.
Alice. She is like a grandmother for Etta, her violin teacher and friend. She tried to stop Etta from travelling, but got hurt in the process.
Mr. Ironwood. A bitter old man with too much power. And even though he already has a lot he still wants more.
FAVORITE.
I will go for our main female character Etta. I don’t think there was any moment in the story were she disappointed me. She was strong and brave and very passionate. I loved how she reacted when Nicolas told her about the deal, how sober she reacted and did not go all drama queen. How she went for what she wanted and tried to be her best. Very likeable character.
LEAST FAVORITE.
Sophia. She was just really mean. I get that it was hard to be looked upon as someone less, just because she is a female. But that does not mean you have to take it out on others and make bad decisions. Sometimes you just have to have a hard look at yourself for the things that happened, and not blame everybody else.
THE BAD.
Like I already mentioned with the plot, it took me about 1/3 of the book to get into it, I had to push myself to continue reading it in the hope it would get better. Of course, it did and it was absolutely worth it, but that was the downside of this book.
FAVORITE QUOTES.
“Careful, madam, blasphemy is still a sin-“
Even if Nicolas had been the gambling sort, he never would have wagered a single coin on her next words being, “Then I guess I’ll see you in Hell.”
.
“I cannot help but think, it matters not who you love, but the quality of such a love. And so what I wish to say to you is… a flower is no less beautiful because it does not bloom in the expected form. Because it lasts only an hour, and not days.”
.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So yeah, in the end I really enjoyed this new book from Alexandra Bracken. I loved the whole new (and really original) world she build and her characters. I would love to read more about it, because it ended really exciting and was definitely worth it. But because it was a bit slow at the beginning I would like to give it 4 stars, with room for improvement in the next instalment !!
Angie
Written on Dec 16, 2015
The whole "search for a mysterious and powerful item or else" has been done to death, and it's not particularly compelling in Passenger. I didn't fully understand what this thing even was, other than it has the power to change history, and of course that's bad. And it's even worse if it falls into the bad guy's hand. But, I really didn't care, since we're never given a full explanation about this thing or given a reason to care about why the bad grandfather wants it in the first place.
There's also an out of nowhere romance in Passenger. One of the pirates on the ship that Etta winds up on is also a traveler. I actually really liked Nicholas. Maybe I felt some kind of kinship with him because we're both half Black and half white. I don't know. But I liked him. What I didn't like was the random kissing. They really do just start randomly making out after jumping through time. Then after a couple of days are declaring everlasting love. Um, right?
I did really like how time traveling worked in Passenger. Basically it's genetic and there are these portals that only people with the gene can pass through to go to different times and places. These portals/passages are only linked to a specific place and year, so the day depends on the day that you go through. So if you need to be somewhere on a certain day but are late, you'll have to wait another year to get there! That's pretty cool. You can also change the past, although doing so can be bad, and time will try to correct itself if it can.
Even with an awesomely explained time traveling system, Passenger still failed for me because nothing happens! Etta and Nicholas jump through time to find this relic before the dead line, but there's no sense of urgency. They have clues on how to find it, but Etta doesn't need to solve them. She just knows. It's like she printed out directions on MapQuest and is just following what it says. How is that exciting?! It's not.
Passenger just did nothing for me. It's needlessly long for the amount of stuff that actually happens. The plot is cliche and there's nothing new here. It just goes on and on and on and on...
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
Sam@WLABB
Written on Nov 6, 2015
Bottomline: fantastic time-traveling adventure!
Ashley
Written on Jun 12, 2015