Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Title: Passenger (Passenger #1)
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release date: January 5th 2016
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC

Rating: 4.25/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

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.

Passenger is the first book I´ve read written by author Alexandra Bracken and I liked it very much, because it is a fiction book about time travelers, a theme that I love. The first chapters are slow due that are introducing the two main characters and their lives.

The book is told from the points of views of Etta Spencer and Nicholas Carter. Etta is a violin prodigy that without knowing how travels back in time to the year 1776, aboard a ship and there her life intersects with that of Nicholas, a pirate (a legal pirate - at least that's what he says) and from there they embark on a great adventure through various time periods and around the world in search of an object that is hidden because it could jeopardize the future of many people and Etta must find it and deliver it to the villain of the story,- before a certain date, otherwise Etta would endanger the life of a loved one.

Etta is a seventeen-year-old girl that lives in present day New York, she´s focused on her upcoming debut as a concert soloist, at the beginning we met a shy girl, that suffers from stage fright, but with the help of her instructor and breathing exercises, hopes to make her big debut, .... something that does not come to pass because of her unexpected journey into the past. But once in the past, Etta finds strength and  self assurance to face the obstacles and tests that are in the way, and she isn´t a damsel in need of rescue.

Nicholas is a nineteen-year-old man, he had a difficult childhood, having been born a slave, but now he´s a free man, that works as a legal pirate and whose dream is to be the captain of his own ship. But when his path crosses with Etta´s, his life takes a new turn, because he´s her companion in her journey through time, as a protector and also for his own reasons.

There is romance in the story, but not instant love because despite their initial attraction, they aren´t vowing eternal love to each other from the beggining. Also both keep secrets and are not completely honest with each other, but time together strengthen their friendship and start to trust in each other.

What I liked most of the story is the time travel, so once Etta and Nicholas start their journey, the story hook me and I could not put it down and it has a huge cliffhanger. I can´t wait to read its sequel - Wayfarer. which will be published until next year.
I highly recommended this book for fans of time travel and historical fiction.

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