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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
I wanted to love this but... Nick and Etta spent way too much time apart, and yet, I felt like Etta accomplished nothing. I enjoyed Nicholas and co. It was long, somewhat boring for long stretches and the ending was so abrupt. Just. Done.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I LOVED THIS DUOLOGY SO MUCH, SHSHHAGFJH
Okay, I'll calm down. Reading this last book, I was like 'yesss, tha n k you'. I just LOVED the vibe. When I started Passenger, I thought, time-travel in a book? It actually was awesome. The concept of time-travel and how it was shown was interesting. It was not as simple as sitting in a time machine and tapping a button. ETTA AND NICHOLAS. They gave me a CaptainSwan vibe for some reason, I don't know. But I love them and I ship them to the end of t i m e. Mic drop.
Okay, I'll calm down. Reading this last book, I was like 'yesss, tha n k you'. I just LOVED the vibe. When I started Passenger, I thought, time-travel in a book? It actually was awesome. The concept of time-travel and how it was shown was interesting. It was not as simple as sitting in a time machine and tapping a button. ETTA AND NICHOLAS. They gave me a CaptainSwan vibe for some reason, I don't know. But I love them and I ship them to the end of t i m e. Mic drop.
A lot happened in this book, but I'm glad at the way it turned out.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
That ending though. Alexandra Bracken can really write a knock-out conclusion which, for me, was satisfactory pay-off for sticking through the sometimes complex narrative of our time-travelers. I thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas’ journey, he was seriously put through the ringer in Wayfarer and managed to come out of it more self-assured and a leader in his community. Yes, Nicholas! And Etta’s reunion with her family...my heart. Also, our side characters (Sophia, Li Min, and Julian) were such a joy to read! “But we are, all of us, also wayfarers on a greater journey, this one without end, each of us searching for the answers to the unspoken questions of our hearts.” (Bracken, 300). Another great duology to add to my collection
I feel pretty meh on this. Admittedly, I was distracted by other things going on in my life while I was reading it, but I've got to be honest: This really confused me. I didn't have the strongest grasp on the time travel rules from the first book, and so much of this book depended on them that I felt constantly lost. I didn't ever truly grasp why what was happening was happening. I kind of just accepted that it did and tried to go from there.
The main pull of the book was the relationships. I like a lot of these characters -- but mostly when they're interacting with others. On their own, they aren't nearly as compelling. Also, I think it's to the book's detriment that the main couple barely get to see each other in this. It means we have to muddle through a large, large amount of pining. Could have done without that.
Overall, it was fine, I guess. Nothing spectacular, but I didn't hate it.
The main pull of the book was the relationships. I like a lot of these characters -- but mostly when they're interacting with others. On their own, they aren't nearly as compelling. Also, I think it's to the book's detriment that the main couple barely get to see each other in this. It means we have to muddle through a large, large amount of pining. Could have done without that.
Overall, it was fine, I guess. Nothing spectacular, but I didn't hate it.
"What was history anyway but the lies of the winning few? Why was it worth protecting, when it forgot the starving child under siege, the slave woman on her deathbed, the man lost at sea? It was an imperfect record written by a biased hand, diluted to garner the most agreement from competing parties."
4 STARS. It is with somewhat of a heavy heart that I find myself rating on of my favourite writer's books anywhere lower than perfect. While in the past it has taken me a while to get into Alex Bracken's books, once they captured me, they never let me go. And Wayfarer is no exception.
BUT, while being BRILLIANTLY written, this books has had some things that have kept me away from it for quite a while. The slow, slow action, for one, the fact that the book is almost completely over by the time Nicholas and Etta meet again, the fact that so many "new" things pop up in this book, that I feel like a couple more would be needed to properly explain them.
First and foremost, the action. Looking back, even going back and forth between Etta and Nicholas's parallel stories, I don't feel like much happened, at least in the first 70% of this book. Everything is so elaborately described, so well presented, so meticulously planned out that the actual dynamic of the events, of the Russian Revolution, the war in Carthage, seems to have fallen on a back place and they seems to unfold in slow motion. The events in this book should be bold, strong, fast, they should leave you breathlessly turning pages, whereas I found I was only turning pages to read more descriptions.
I also feel like this book has less of the beautiful insights that I love Alex so much for. Comparing the amount of highlights I had in [b:Passenger|20983362|Passenger (Passenger, #1)|Alexandra Bracken|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446749751s/20983362.jpg|40360384], this falls a bit short. Still, the highlights I did make, I know I will continue to love.
There is the journey you make through the world - the one that aches and sings. We come together with others to make our way and survive its trials. But we are, all of us, also wayfarers on a greater journey, this one without end, each of us searching for the answers to the unspoken questions of our hearts.
The plot of this book, on the other hand, twisted and turned and expanded so many times that at some point I found myself to be a bit lost, trying to figure out what had happened or how the situation had come to be that way. There was the addition of so many characters, too, all more or less critical to the plot, more or less intertwined and related to each other, that it was hard to keep track at times of who was whose friend and whose foe.
My last complaint about this book is the small amount of time that Etta actually spent interacting with characters that I felt should have gotten more of her time. For example, she finds a father, whom she spends a few days with, who is then taken away from her, absent until one faithful moment at the end of the book. After the scene where she loses Henry, I always found myself wondering what had happened to him and what would have been different had she stayed with him, how he would have influenced her.
And Nicholas. Oh, that may be my biggest complaint, because I am the biggest sucker for romance that you will ever meet. The fact that they find each other again past the 80% mark in this book has me so frustrated that I could scream. They are pulled away from each other by circumstances, by other characters, by the plot, that when they finally find each other again, they get so little time together, before they are thrown into battle and ripped away from each other again. And their time together is spent mostly talking about the fatality of their relationship.
"If I could pluck this moment out of time and keep us here forever, I would. But we cannot stop time; we can only right it again."
"I only know this: our paths were separated by centuries, but we converged. No matter the outcome, my destiny had always been joined to yours."
"If we aren't to have it in this life, then in the next. If not now, then we'll have forever."
All that being said, I can't conclude this review without pointing out some of the good things about this book: like the way the characters have deep personalities, about how they seem human, how they are relatable, how much I love Julian's character, how the setting seems magical and how whenever I picked this book up I was transported to another time and place, just like a traveler.
It's another wonderful work by Alex Bracken, but I do think that this last book of the duology was rushed and slow at the same time, a work in which many new things are added, with minimal explanations, and resolve as quick as they popped up.
I had mixed feelings about Wayfarer. Alexandra Bracken is a spectacular writer and she know how to work imagery in such a way that I feel the world and setting being slowly constructed in my mind. Unfortunately, it took way too long to pick up and fill my mind with thoughts of wanting to know what happens next.
Etta and Nicholas got separated in timelines at the end of Passenger, and we were able to see them continue to grow without each other.
Unfortunately, their separation made Nicholas way too ugh for my case. Whenever I would reach a chapter that was told in his perspective I found my groaning and rolling my eyes. It is great and annoying. Great because it means Bracken knows how to properly express Nicholas’ feelings of desperation and foolishness through written word. It was annoying, because I wanted to slap Nicholas for some of his actions.
On the other hand, I felt that Etta grew as she followed her own sense of rightness instead of embarking on a adventure based on just saving a mother who didn’t want to be found. Etta’s vision upon and she became selfish, and made actions on her own terms. (*clap clap clap*)
Wayfarer was more fleshed out than Passenger, but the lack of fleshing in Passenger makes sense after Wayfarer. In Wayfarer the reader can finally connect all the mysterious mystery things from book one. LIKE THE SHADOWS and ROSE WHAT IS YOUR MASTER PLAN EXPLAIN WHY YOU DOING THIS.
My other small complaint is that the shadows were mentioned and slightly explain in the passing, but I wish it could have been more dominant in the story. The Shadows were the key force behind all the occurrence in the time traveler’s lives and I felt like it was barely scraped. It kinda felt like: Look the Shadows, they are this and came from that! There they are again, and now they are gone BYE.
Alexandra Bracken also included more diverse characters into the Passenger/Wayfarer crew. Including a Chinese character, soft natured boys, and gay women.
“Because one moment in life does not define a person…Without mistakes and misjudgments we would stagnate. It is no shameful thing to be beaten when outnumbered, not when you are brave enough to try.”
Etta and Nicholas got separated in timelines at the end of Passenger, and we were able to see them continue to grow without each other.
Unfortunately, their separation made Nicholas way too ugh for my case. Whenever I would reach a chapter that was told in his perspective I found my groaning and rolling my eyes. It is great and annoying. Great because it means Bracken knows how to properly express Nicholas’ feelings of desperation and foolishness through written word. It was annoying, because I wanted to slap Nicholas for some of his actions.
On the other hand, I felt that Etta grew as she followed her own sense of rightness instead of embarking on a adventure based on just saving a mother who didn’t want to be found. Etta’s vision upon and she became selfish, and made actions on her own terms. (*clap clap clap*)
Wayfarer was more fleshed out than Passenger, but the lack of fleshing in Passenger makes sense after Wayfarer. In Wayfarer the reader can finally connect all the mysterious mystery things from book one. LIKE THE SHADOWS and ROSE WHAT IS YOUR MASTER PLAN EXPLAIN WHY YOU DOING THIS.
My other small complaint is that the shadows were mentioned and slightly explain in the passing, but I wish it could have been more dominant in the story. The Shadows were the key force behind all the occurrence in the time traveler’s lives and I felt like it was barely scraped. It kinda felt like: Look the Shadows, they are this and came from that! There they are again, and now they are gone BYE.
Alexandra Bracken also included more diverse characters into the Passenger/Wayfarer crew. Including a Chinese character, soft natured boys, and gay women.
“Because one moment in life does not define a person…Without mistakes and misjudgments we would stagnate. It is no shameful thing to be beaten when outnumbered, not when you are brave enough to try.”
I thought this was a great sequel to the first book. It was a bit slow at times, but it wrapped up the story nicely. I wasn't left with any questions about the characters fates.