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lindsaystenico8821's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
seyahrue's review against another edition
4.0
I was a little reluctant to start reading Passenger, since a lot of he views I'd seen weren't overly positive but I got a copy anyway because the plot sounded intriguing and I'd never really read a time travel book before.
I'm so glad that I decided to read it because this book is so good! The start may have been a little slow at times, but the story was so interesting that I got swept up into it pretty quickly and had a hard time putting it down. All of the time travel in the book was done so cleverly that it made everything so much more believable - each of the characters worked so well for the era they were from, and seeing them interact with each other was always really great to see.
The ending was such a cliffhanger and I'm so glad that Wayfarer has already been published and I can just start that one straight away!
I'm so glad that I decided to read it because this book is so good! The start may have been a little slow at times, but the story was so interesting that I got swept up into it pretty quickly and had a hard time putting it down. All of the time travel in the book was done so cleverly that it made everything so much more believable - each of the characters worked so well for the era they were from, and seeing them interact with each other was always really great to see.
The ending was such a cliffhanger and I'm so glad that Wayfarer has already been published and I can just start that one straight away!
blurrypetals's review against another edition
4.0
Alright, I finally finished this up! It was a little disappointing but I'm okay with it. I'm tgoo fuckignsa druink to finish theis revewi reight now ti'vle come backd later
EDIT May 16, 2016
I started this review (the first two sentences) and left this in-progress review up on Friday evening, proceeded to get drunker than I have ever been in my life thus far, then, at the point just before I realized I had drunk wayyy too much (see: sentence three) and I remember thinking, "Well, I reviewed Blood of My Blood and The Dream Thieves when I was drunk. I can do this." Then I fell asleep onto my plate of pizza for about 60 seconds, typed that NEARLY incoherent sentence and watched Wedding Crashers instead. Anyway, I endeavored to review every book I read this year so WUH-OH HERE WE GO.
I wanted to try to write my review as close to me finishing the book as possible, but obviously that's gone bust. Good thing this book is about time and running out of it and such so it's appropriate.
I couldn't help but feel this whole book like there was a piece of this book that was...I don't know, missing? It felt like some vital information was missing. Maybe it was because it's the first half of the story, maybe I spaced out during some important exposition...either way, my experience was a little less than satisfying.
Here's something that bothered me. Really bothered me. I'll just quote myself on this from a status update I posted on Friday afternoon: "OKAY something keeps bothering me here. Why, when they have these passages through time, do they keep getting concerned with having enough TIME? Maybe I just don't understand how the passages work, but I feel like, if you have access to time travel, that Etta and Nicholas should just be able to show up to Ironwood's attic the moment they wouldn't cross past themselves??? RIGHT????" It just...didn't make sense to me. Maybe I just don't understand how the passages work? I don't know, all I know is I don't get it and it makes me mad that neither Etta nor Nicholas was like, "Well, yeah we can take a break because we're FUCKING TIME TRAVELERS." If somebody is reading this review and has an answer for me I would praise you forever more and probably even bump the book's rating up to 5 stars because I couldn't fucking DEALLL with how asinine it felt whenever they mentioned the tiiiimeee limiitttt.
Anyway. I'll talk about some things I liked now.
- Saskia Maarleveld narrates this book. She's great. This was the first book I've listened to her read that was in the third person so it was a little strange getting used to it but she was sooooo gooooood
- Speaking of first person to third person, this was also the first Alexandra Bracken book I've read in the third person and I was SUPER-FUCKING-DUPER impressed with her. I felt like I found a book that was written a hundred years ago, which is what I think she was going for, and even if she wasn't, she did a fantastic job making this feel like an old, epic novel.
- Nicholas and Etta have some of the most wonderful, most believable, and most natural chemistry ever. I delighted in every scene that highlighted their feelings; that was where the writing shone the most. It really felt like we had two characters who, honestly could have lived their entire lives without one another (because they're both strong, talented, and independent) but it also genuinely felt like they bettered one another and wanted to succeed not only for themselves, but for each other.
- The settings were incredibly believable. The way characters from each and every different time and place felt natural and realistic. Alex really did her research and it definitely made me, the casual reader, believe the time periods and the people populating them.
I'm looking forward to Wayfarer because I'd like to see how everything turns out, but definitely not chomping at the bit to find out what happens next.
EDIT May 16, 2016
I started this review (the first two sentences) and left this in-progress review up on Friday evening, proceeded to get drunker than I have ever been in my life thus far, then, at the point just before I realized I had drunk wayyy too much (see: sentence three) and I remember thinking, "Well, I reviewed Blood of My Blood and The Dream Thieves when I was drunk. I can do this." Then I fell asleep onto my plate of pizza for about 60 seconds, typed that NEARLY incoherent sentence and watched Wedding Crashers instead. Anyway, I endeavored to review every book I read this year so WUH-OH HERE WE GO.
I wanted to try to write my review as close to me finishing the book as possible, but obviously that's gone bust. Good thing this book is about time and running out of it and such so it's appropriate.
I couldn't help but feel this whole book like there was a piece of this book that was...I don't know, missing? It felt like some vital information was missing. Maybe it was because it's the first half of the story, maybe I spaced out during some important exposition...either way, my experience was a little less than satisfying.
Here's something that bothered me. Really bothered me. I'll just quote myself on this from a status update I posted on Friday afternoon: "OKAY something keeps bothering me here. Why, when they have these passages through time, do they keep getting concerned with having enough TIME? Maybe I just don't understand how the passages work, but I feel like, if you have access to time travel, that Etta and Nicholas should just be able to show up to Ironwood's attic the moment they wouldn't cross past themselves??? RIGHT????" It just...didn't make sense to me. Maybe I just don't understand how the passages work? I don't know, all I know is I don't get it and it makes me mad that neither Etta nor Nicholas was like, "Well, yeah we can take a break because we're FUCKING TIME TRAVELERS." If somebody is reading this review and has an answer for me I would praise you forever more and probably even bump the book's rating up to 5 stars because I couldn't fucking DEALLL with how asinine it felt whenever they mentioned the tiiiimeee limiitttt.
Anyway. I'll talk about some things I liked now.
- Saskia Maarleveld narrates this book. She's great. This was the first book I've listened to her read that was in the third person so it was a little strange getting used to it but she was sooooo gooooood
- Speaking of first person to third person, this was also the first Alexandra Bracken book I've read in the third person and I was SUPER-FUCKING-DUPER impressed with her. I felt like I found a book that was written a hundred years ago, which is what I think she was going for, and even if she wasn't, she did a fantastic job making this feel like an old, epic novel.
- Nicholas and Etta have some of the most wonderful, most believable, and most natural chemistry ever. I delighted in every scene that highlighted their feelings; that was where the writing shone the most. It really felt like we had two characters who, honestly could have lived their entire lives without one another (because they're both strong, talented, and independent) but it also genuinely felt like they bettered one another and wanted to succeed not only for themselves, but for each other.
- The settings were incredibly believable. The way characters from each and every different time and place felt natural and realistic. Alex really did her research and it definitely made me, the casual reader, believe the time periods and the people populating them.
I'm looking forward to Wayfarer because I'd like to see how everything turns out, but definitely not chomping at the bit to find out what happens next.
wendythegeekgoddess's review against another edition
3.0
Passenger tells the story of Etta Spencer, a teenage violin prodigy living in the modern world. One night her world is turned completely upside down when she's pushed through a passage in time and lands on a pirate ship and meets a gorgeous and mysterious pirate named Nicholas. Together they embark on a extraordinary journey to retrieve an object so powerful, it can change history and Etta is the only one who knows just how to find it. I loved the main characters in the book. At the beginning of the novel Etta came off as such a bland and boring character but as the story progresses I quickly saw how wrong I was. I also enjoyed Nicholas's personality and how realistic it was. Being a African American in the 1700s he had to face such awful racism. The interracial relationship these two had was awesome and something that you hardly see in novels so I really enjoyed that aspect itself. The story as a whole however hardly kept my interest and felt flat at times, I was expecting so much from this tale...
kofolapumpkin's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't like it. This novel drags on.. Nothing really happens the first 200 pages and most of the book consists of Etta or Nicholas pondering life and their insta-love.
When I heard that this book is about pirates and time travel I was so intrigued. Turns out there's a couple of chapters that are set on a ship and the rest of the "pirate-ness" of the book is just Nicholas literally calling Etta a pirate for no reason over and over again.
This book is simply boring.
When I heard that this book is about pirates and time travel I was so intrigued. Turns out there's a couple of chapters that are set on a ship and the rest of the "pirate-ness" of the book is just Nicholas literally calling Etta a pirate for no reason over and over again.
This book is simply boring.
astrireads's review against another edition
3.0
This is more of a 3.5 star rating for me *hey Goodreads, maybe update the rating mechanism?*
I wanted to give this a four-star rating but I felt like the book was too long and I couldn't really connect with the characters. The first few chapters of the book didn't draw me in and I could easily put the book down, but as I kept going, I wanted to know what happens next and could not stop reading!
The description of the clothing and structures of the past in this book was truly fascinating. I'm sure the author must have taken a long time to research about it! This is actually the first book I read which has an African American as the main character and love interest (I know, I should be reading more diverse books). I felt like the romance between Etta and Nicholas wasn't one for the ages, but I do think that Nicholas is an incredibly sweet person.
The ending wasn't one that I expected, my jaw literally dropped to the floor. Spoiler to come.
SPOILER ALERT!
I didn't expect her to die! Am I actually reading an alternate timeline? Omg mind-blowing!
I didn't rate this book five stars, but I would still like to read the next book! Hopefully, Etta's story would conclude well!
I wanted to give this a four-star rating but I felt like the book was too long and I couldn't really connect with the characters. The first few chapters of the book didn't draw me in and I could easily put the book down, but as I kept going, I wanted to know what happens next and could not stop reading!
The description of the clothing and structures of the past in this book was truly fascinating. I'm sure the author must have taken a long time to research about it! This is actually the first book I read which has an African American as the main character and love interest (I know, I should be reading more diverse books). I felt like the romance between Etta and Nicholas wasn't one for the ages, but I do think that Nicholas is an incredibly sweet person.
The ending wasn't one that I expected, my jaw literally dropped to the floor. Spoiler to come.
SPOILER ALERT!
I didn't expect her to die! Am I actually reading an alternate timeline? Omg mind-blowing!
I didn't rate this book five stars, but I would still like to read the next book! Hopefully, Etta's story would conclude well!
kmparsons's review against another edition
5.0
I am writing this review two years after I read the book and I still remember what happened, that’s how you know it’s a good book.
smateer73's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really good, and presented a different take on time travel. It’s confusing, but not horribly so if you don’t think about it too much. The characters are good and the plot was well developed.