Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Passenger
by Alexandra Bracken

Read: May 3-20, 2017
Published: December 6, 2016
Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction

         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's 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.
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Why did you read this book?
          I was very intrigued by the cover of this book. There was a ship and a bottle on the front, so I assumed it had something to do with the sea and hopefully pirates. I have a fascination with pirates, so naturally I want to read about them. Also, after reading the back, I had a good feeling that Nicholas was a pirate, so...yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

What did you like about this book?
          I definitely love the feeling of adventure in this book. The combination of time travel and geographical travel, racing against time and a tyrannical family, a little bit of piracy, and some forbidden romance is just killer. This book makes me want to go on an adventure (which isn't that difficult, if we're being honest). So the tone is great, but let's talk about the protagonists, shall we. Etta is a freaking role model. She is the strong, independent female character that I like to see in books. She is strong and fierce, but not unfeminine. She is courageous, but not fearless. I feel like when most of the 'strong, independent' female protagonists in young adult literature are thrust into a life or death situation, they fight it. It is constantly brought up that they don't want to be in the situation they're in. Which is fine, I wouldn't want to be in that situation either, but I really admire how Etta accepts that she can't change what's happened to her and embraces it, blazing forward to do what she can despite the circumstances. Now that I've gushed about Etta, I need to gush about Nicholas. I adore him and I absolutely love how Alexandra Bracken wrote his character. He is clearly strong and capable and someone you would want on your side, but she also shows how vulnerable he is. She shows how panic can grip him in a moment and he can be paralyzed with fear. She shows how his past haunts him every day and how he can't escape it. As someone who has had a panic attack, it is so refreshing to see something similar in a book and not have the book be a 'mental illness' book. It's just a part of the story because that's just how life is and I so appreciated that. Hands down, my favorite part about this characters is that Nicholas is vulnerable while still being a very masculine character and Etta is feminine, but she's definitely not weak. I also have to bring up the fact that there was a small opportunity for a love triangle right at the start of the book and Bracken didn't take it. *Applause*

What didn't you like about this book?
          Okay, as much as I do really like this book, it took me a long time to read it. The first third of the book really didn't catch my interest. Neither Etta nor Nicholas had really shown their true colors yet and they were kind of bland. I also am not a fan of Sophia, who features mostly in the beginning of the book. It just didn't hook me in (pirate joke?) like I wanted it to. If I were anyone else, I might have stopped reading, but I can't just not finish a book, especially one with as much promise as this one. I also didn't really understand the time traveling. There were passages for the travelers, I get that, but I didn't understand how they worked (which is really just me being nitpicky). Were they powered by magic? Is this a world where magic exists, and if it does can it only be used for time travelling? Or was this a creation of science? That's where I struggled with figuring out the genre of this book. Is it fantasy or science fiction? Generally, time travel is science fiction, but the way it's used here feels more like fantasy—however, there are no other elements of fantasy (other uses of magic, magical creatures, etc.) The other thing that bothered me was Nicholas's choice to keep Etta in the dark. It is obvious that he cares about her and clear that he recognizes her value and capability to handle herself, but he doesn't consider the possibility that they could work together to achieve both of their goals. I understand that this creates conflict in the story, which is its purpose, but it's a cheap conflict that would be rendered unnecessary simply by communicating with each other, which is just the worst kind of cheap conflict.

Bottom-Line:
          I really did adore this book. I'm definitely going to buy it because I can't resist reliving an adventure like this one (I mean...rereading an adventure...) I would definitely recommend it to any of my friends. I just hope the second one is as good!




"Free the fire fluttering inside her rib cage. Work her muscles, the bow, the violin, until she played herself to ash and embers and left the rest of the world behind to smolder." -Passenger by Alexandra Bracken