Wayfarer (a Passenger Novel, Book 2) (Passenger, #2)

by Alexandra Bracken

[kimbacaffeinate]

Can there be a happy ending? Will sacrifices need to be made to protect timelines? Will evil prevail? Is love lost to Etta and Nicholas forever? You'll have to read to find out!

Our story picks up shortly after the cliffhanger ending of The Passenger. Etta and Nicholas have been separated. The book shifts back and forth between the two timelines and is broken up easily by chapter. Etta finds herself kidnapped by the Thorns and meets someone unexpected. Nicholas is traveling with Sophia and is trying to find Etta. They seek help and soon find themselves racking up favors, some of them costly.

Etta, the Thorns, and Julian are desperate to find the astrolabe before Cyrus Ironwood does. Etta begins to learn things about her mother, the astrolabe and more in her quest. Henry Hemlock is a fascinating character and I ended up adoring him.

Nicholas and Sophia meet some colorful characters in their quest. Among them, they meet Li Min. Linn Min is a colorful character who saves their hide more than once. She also knows a lot more than she is letting on making her motives a curious one. Along the way we hear stories, gain knowledge and begin to get a clearer picture of all the players.

I was absolutely riveted by the tale that unfolds. For some, the pacing may be a bit slow in this five hundred plus page tome. However, the payoff was incredible worldbuilding and character development. What was interesting were the strong roles secondary characters played. Julian, Sophia, and Henry play key roles. They had a presence, we learned their histories and they became integral to the plot.

Do you love traveling through time and space from the comfort of your sofa? Bracken takes us to so many places both historical and alternate versions of significant periods in history. I was completely sucked in. She managed to take me places emotionally as well offering a well-rounded tale. I purposefully paced myself, allowing myself only to read fifty to hundred pages a day. This allowed me to absorb, reflect and contemplate what was happening.

The romance was different, in that Etta and Nicholas get very little page time together. Ironically this made their love all the more powerful. While separated their thoughts often turned to the other. Nicholas was determined to be reunited regardless of the cost. I spent much of the book worrying about them being reunited, another reason I forced the slow digest. It got to be seriously nerve-wracking. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer