Bracken's take on time travel was both exhilarating and unique. Now, I'm not going to say that I have a lot of experience with time travel stories, but I certainly haven't even heard of a take on time travel like this. For those of you who didn't know, Alexandra wrote one of my favorite series, The Darkest Minds (I highly recommend it, if you were thinking of reading it.) The thing is, even with the Darkest Minds, the first fifty or so pages were kind of boring and hard to get attached to. It's only after the first fifty pages that I actually got invested in those books and to be honest, it took about the first hundred and fifty pages for me to get interested in this book. There was a lot of exposition. In all honesty, I did prefer the Darkest Minds Trilogy to this, but Passenger pleasantly surprised me.
This book follows the perspective of its two protagonists- Nicholas Carter and Etta Spencer. Etta is from the 21st Century and is blissfully unaware of the time traveling life. Nicholas is from the... eighteenth century? (I think) and has some deep regrets. The idea of a romance between two characters from different centuries is quite interesting, though, I have to admit, Etta and Nicholas' romance wasn't one I grew particularly attached too. To me, it just seemed like it was moving too quickly. I get it, they only had like a week or so together but seriously, it way too much for the amount of time they actually spent together. I could've lived with the romance if a certain thing hadn't occurred towards the end of the book, it all just seemed like too much, like I really already wasn't in love with the romance, but the event towards the end just made me feel more cut off and unattached to the series. Also, to really grow attached to characters, you have to have some kind of connection to both people involved. I didn't really have that connection with either Etta or Nicholas. I'm no violin prodigy nor am I a sailor. And their emotions weren't exactly something I grew connected to, either. I just couldn't put myself in their shoes, which made it kind of hard to understand these characters.
Okay, now I'm just stating all the things I didn't like about that novel, that'll make y'all think this isn't a good read. Trust me, this book is worth picking up, you just have to be patient with the plot and with the characters.
Something I really enjoyed about this book was the suspense and the element of mystery. I did find myself really enjoying the time travel element as well as the element of mystery surrounding Rose Linden aka Etta's mother. Rose was a minor character, not actually appearing in many of the scenes, but she's the whole reason the story is happening and I found her character fascinating. She's probably the character I was most interested in while reading this book, I really hope we get to find out more about her in the next books. Her character is cold and cunning. To her, the ends justify the means, but she's not an antagonist, I find that kind of character very interesting. She's still very much a mystery to the readers, you find out some about her a long the way, but I'm very curious to know what really happened to her from her perspective.
Someone I'm expecting to see a lot more of in the next book is Henry- someone I don't think we saw in this book, but I'm sure, since this is a duo logy, that we'll be meeting him sometime soon. Another character I'm interested in seeing more of is Augustus Ironwood. We don't know much about him other than he was a jerk after Rose left and was madly in love with her. In the next book I'm hoping Alexandra unravels some of these mysteries.
Anyway, this book is quite interesting and I highly recommend it if you're into time travel or suspenseful stories. The whole idea of this book is a time traveling treasure hunt- which is different from anything I've ever heard of and I found it quite fun, wondering where they'll go next and such. I'd give this book a 7.5/10 stars. I enjoyed it and will most definitely be picking up book 2 when it comes out.
Synopsis:
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
(also sorry for the hurried review, I have a bunch of things due in school tomorrow!!)
This book follows the perspective of its two protagonists- Nicholas Carter and Etta Spencer. Etta is from the 21st Century and is blissfully unaware of the time traveling life. Nicholas is from the... eighteenth century? (I think) and has some deep regrets. The idea of a romance between two characters from different centuries is quite interesting, though, I have to admit, Etta and Nicholas' romance wasn't one I grew particularly attached too. To me, it just seemed like it was moving too quickly. I get it, they only had like a week or so together but seriously, it way too much for the amount of time they actually spent together. I could've lived with the romance if a certain thing hadn't occurred towards the end of the book, it all just seemed like too much, like I really already wasn't in love with the romance, but the event towards the end just made me feel more cut off and unattached to the series. Also, to really grow attached to characters, you have to have some kind of connection to both people involved. I didn't really have that connection with either Etta or Nicholas. I'm no violin prodigy nor am I a sailor. And their emotions weren't exactly something I grew connected to, either. I just couldn't put myself in their shoes, which made it kind of hard to understand these characters.
Okay, now I'm just stating all the things I didn't like about that novel, that'll make y'all think this isn't a good read. Trust me, this book is worth picking up, you just have to be patient with the plot and with the characters.
Something I really enjoyed about this book was the suspense and the element of mystery. I did find myself really enjoying the time travel element as well as the element of mystery surrounding Rose Linden aka Etta's mother. Rose was a minor character, not actually appearing in many of the scenes, but she's the whole reason the story is happening and I found her character fascinating. She's probably the character I was most interested in while reading this book, I really hope we get to find out more about her in the next books. Her character is cold and cunning. To her, the ends justify the means, but she's not an antagonist, I find that kind of character very interesting. She's still very much a mystery to the readers, you find out some about her a long the way, but I'm very curious to know what really happened to her from her perspective.
Someone I'm expecting to see a lot more of in the next book is Henry- someone I don't think we saw in this book, but I'm sure, since this is a duo logy, that we'll be meeting him sometime soon. Another character I'm interested in seeing more of is Augustus Ironwood. We don't know much about him other than he was a jerk after Rose left and was madly in love with her. In the next book I'm hoping Alexandra unravels some of these mysteries.
Anyway, this book is quite interesting and I highly recommend it if you're into time travel or suspenseful stories. The whole idea of this book is a time traveling treasure hunt- which is different from anything I've ever heard of and I found it quite fun, wondering where they'll go next and such. I'd give this book a 7.5/10 stars. I enjoyed it and will most definitely be picking up book 2 when it comes out.
Synopsis:
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
(also sorry for the hurried review, I have a bunch of things due in school tomorrow!!)
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