Passenger
Passenger #1
by Alexandra Bracken
Hardcover, 486 pages
Published January 5th 2016
by Disney-Hyperion
Amazon* Goodreads

Violin prodigy Etta Spencer had big plans for her future, but a tragedy has put her once-bright career at risk. Closely tied to her musical skill, however, is a mysterious power she doesn’t even know she has. When her two talents collide during a stressful performance, Etta is drawn back hundreds of years through time.

Etta wakes, confused and terrified, in 1776, in the midst a fierce sea battle. Nicholas Carter, the handsome young prize master of a privateering ship, has been hired to retrieve Etta and deliver her unharmed to the Ironwoods, a powerful family in the Colonies–the very same one that orchestrated her jump back, and one Nicholas himself has ties to. But discovering she can time travel is nothing compared to the shock of discovering the true reason the Ironwoods have ensnared her in their web.

Another traveler has stolen an object of untold value from them, and, if Etta can find it, they will return her to her own time. Out of options, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the mysterious traveler. But as they draw closer to each other and the end of their search, the true nature of the object, and the dangerous game the Ironwoods are playing, comes to light–threatening to separate her not only from Nicholas, but her path home… forever.

Wayfarer
Passenger #2
by Alexandra Bracken
Hardcover, 532 pages
Published January 3rd 2017
by Disney-Hyperion
Goodreads* Amazon

I’ve been orphaned by my time.
The timeline has changed.
My future is gone.

Etta Spencer didn’t know she was a traveler until the day she emerged both miles and years from her home. Now, robbed of the powerful object that was her only hope of saving her mother, Etta finds herself stranded once more, cut off from Nicholas-the eighteenth century privateer she loves-and her natural time.

When Etta inadvertently stumbles into the heart of the Thorns, the renegade travelers who stole the astrolabe from her, she vows to finish what she started and destroy the astrolabe once and for all. Instead, she’s blindsided by a bombshell revelation from their leader, Henry Hemlock: he is her father. Suddenly questioning everything she’s been fighting for, Etta must choose a path, one that could transform her future.

Still devastated by Etta’s disappearance, Nicholas has enlisted the unlikely help of Sophia Ironwood and a cheeky mercenary-for-hire to track both her and the missing astrolabe down. But as the tremors of change to the timeline grow stronger and the stakes for recovering the astrolabe mount, they discover an ancient power far more frightening than the rival travelers currently locked in a battle for control. . . a power that threatens to eradicate the timeline altogether.

From colonial Nassau to New York City, San Francisco to Roman Carthage, imperial Russia to the Vatican catacombs, New York Times #1 best-selling author Alexandra Bracken charts a gorgeously detailed, thrilling course through time in this stunning conclusion to the Passenger series

Review

What originally drew me to this series were the covers and the promise of travel on the high seas. Both Passenger and Wayfarer have stunning covers which draw readers in. I was browsing at our bookstore for something to take on a trip and this seemed the perfect match.  I am always intrigued by books that span more than one historical time period and give me a peek into how others lived. Etta James is thrust into a passageway of time and is a time traveler much to her surprise. She has no idea of her heritage or the sinister plot of her enemies that pulls her through one time and place after another.

Carter is a bi racial slave’s son who is used as a guide and host to his half-brother’s own travels. He wins his freedom and is adopted by a shipmaster. The sea is his love, a future ship his master. The Passenger series is rich with detail, but at times slow. Both books are long and reading them back to back within a few days may have made the pacing seem much slower to me. The tone is darker than I enjoy. By the end of Wayfarer, I was weary of the action, the violence and heartbreak. I was ready for redemption and a glimmer of positive news. I think perhaps a trilogy may have been a wise choice to break up the two books into three, and to flesh out the final chapter a bit. It leaves readers wondering what happened to Etta’s parents and how the resolution came about as it did.

I bought both books and will be taking them to my local bookstore for trade. There are some content issues that keep me from wanting to keep them on my shelves for younger readers. I skimmed some paragraphs and at times almost abandoned the books all together.  I’m sad to say I didn’t enjoy them as much as I had hoped. I would take the covers and frame them though! If you are a fan of darker time travel with lots of diversity, this series will appeal to you.

Content- Lord’s name in vain, moderate violence, teen sex, LGBT relationship.

Alexandra Bracken was born and raised in Arizona. The daughter of a Star Wars collector, she grew up going to an endless string of Star Wars conventions and toy fairs, which helped spark her imagination and a deep love of reading. After graduating high school, she attended The College of William & Mary in Virginia, where she double majored in English and History. She sold her first book, Brightly Woven, as a senior in college, and later moved to New York City to work in children’s book publishing, first as an editorial assistant, then in marketing. After six years, she took the plunge and decided to write full time. She now lives in Arizona with her tiny pup, Tennyson, in a house that’s constantly overflowing with books.
Alex is a #1 New York Times bestselling and USA TODAY bestselling author. Her work is available across the world in over 15 languages.