Book Review: Passenger

Title - Passenger

Author - Alexandra Bracken

Series - Passenger #1

Genre - YA Fantasy Time Travel

Published - January 5th 2016

Publisher - Disney-Hyperion

(Goodreads)(Amazon)

passage, n. 

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, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now. 

Nicholas Carter 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 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, 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, 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

Review

Etta has been playing the violin her whole life working hard it’s been her entire focus forgoing friendships and even ending her relationship with her boyfriend to focus on her music. It’s the night of her debut performance when things start to spiral out of control a fight with her mom and adopted grandmother. It’s while she’s preforming that she hears a feedback that only she can hear sending her to find her mother but finding Alice dying. When a strange girl pulls her through a passage everything changes. Waking up on a ship in another century Etta learns that her family is able to use passages to travel through time and her mother has been for years.

Dragged to eighteen hundreds Etta learns that the leader of the Lockwoods has a plan for her to get the astrolabe her mother stole. In order to do this she will have 8 days and a letter to decipher from her mother. She’s joined by Nicholas who’s secretly been sent to keep an eye on her and bring the Lockwoods the astrolabe. Together the pair will travel through time all around the world from London to Cambodia where they will have to avoid tigers as well as other travelers. While Etta just wants to save her mom as well as Alice it will be a challenge that will test her as well as Nicholas. Will Etta be able to leap through time to find the astrolabe before it’s too late? What about the deal that Nicolas made with Lockwood?

I like Etta she’s is intelligent and determined to save her mother at any cost. I like Nicholas he’s not a bad guy but stuck in a situation that if he doesn’t provide the astrolabe he won’t be able to sail which is his whole world. The more time he spends with Etta the more they can’t deny the attraction that they feel but they are from different times and different worlds. I didn’t care for Sophia from the start she’s clearly not a nice person since it’s all about herself but it’s from growing up a second class citizen.

I knew the moment I saw the cover of Passenger that I had to read it plus it’s a time travel quest how could I not want to dive right in. Passenger is a unique concept of a few families with the ability to travel through time portals but over the years one family has decided to be the ultimate family absorbing some and killing others. Hence the reason that Etta lives in the current time completely oblivious that she has the ability to travel the time lines just like her mother. I honestly liked Etta she’s easy to connect with and I couldn’t help cheering her on as they followed the clues her mother has left her. I found Passenger captivating it’s filled with action mystery and romance a perfect blend to create a beautiful story. This is my first book by the author but I loved her style the story just flows from start to finish its well written. It's just an incredible story that captures the heart as well as the imagination. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one if only I didn’t have to wait so long to see what’s going to happen next.