Passenger by Alexandra Bracken Review - Book 1 of 2017
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken - 4/5 stars
Where do I start? Well, I started reading this last year when it came out but stumbled upon a tough point in my life that made it hard to read anything. I didn't start reading consistently again until November so I figured since Wayfarer was coming out I should binge read the duology to start of my 2017!
I picked up right where I left off on page 100 or so, after skimming the beginning. I found it a bit difficult to get into until I hit 200 ish pages and then I really started to enjoy the story and found it to become more of a page turner. I've always loved Alex's writing and The Darkest Minds is one of my favourite trilogies of all time. The writing was one of the best parts of the novel, and I feel it fell a bit flat in certain areas merely because it felt like a lot of exposition or a bunch of history lessons. That being said I really loved seeing them travel through all the eras, particularly Nicholas' era and The Blitz.
I started really enjoying it during the dinner scene and the conversation Nicholas and Etta shared afterward, it really gave me an insight into their characters and I started to get attached and actually care what happened to them. I've discovered that I have a bone to pick with Sophia on the other hand. She blindly followed Grandfather and then BOOM takes charge of her own life in the most EXTREME way possible. Like hello girl, 0 to 100 real quick?
Nicholas was my favourite character but I loved both him and Etta. The characters were a huge strong point for this book that kept me interested because I cared about what happened to them. I still don't know how I feel about Rose yet but hopefully, she will pull through in the final book. For the most part, I enjoyed the time travel elements even if it got to be a bit confusing at times. There were some paragraphs that I had to reread a couple times to understand but in the end I really enjoyed it. Speaking of THE END !!!!
The ending of this book got me super excited to read Wayfarer. I knew she obviously wouldn't be dead but the whole ending climax had me flipping the pages so fast I'm surprised they didn't rip. I cannot wait to dive into Wayfarer and find out the fate of these characters. Overall this book had a solid plot that kept me intrigued after the first 150 or so pages, and really good characters. The writing style and the characters (specifically Nick and Etta) are the biggest strong points of the book for me. I look forward to reading Wayfarer and seeing the plot get wrapped up into an ending. This book was very much a setup for what will hopefully be a great ending. Stay tuned for my review of Wayfarer!
“It’s our choices that matter in the end. Not wishes, not words, not promises. ”
Passenger Aesthetic
