From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

Passenger (Passenger, #1)

Alexandra Bracken

Start date: February 1, 2016

Finish date: February 29, 2016

Discussion: Series

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the series BOTM
[close] Won the poll for the series BOTM

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What Members Thought

Jan 06, 2016 Courtney rated it liked it

Shelves: teens, netgalley, 2016-a-z-titles

3.5 stars. Time travel is not really my thing, not that I don't enjoy books with time travel. I have just learned that the majority of time travel books don't do much for me. That being said, I really enjoyed the adventure in this book. The characters, at least Nicholas and Etta, were quite enjoyable. I also enjoyed walking through different time periods. The various settings were quite fun. I really liked watching Etta grow into herself. For most of her life, her mother lied to her. Well, told ...more

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Apr 11, 2016 Annalise rated it it was amazing

Disclaimer: Review copy received from netgalley.com in return for an honest review.

This book took me a week to read - and a little longer to get round to reading. It took me a while to get into Passenger - but once I was in, I was in hard. I read during my lunchbreaks, I read at work in the middle of running experiments, I read in the evenings curled up with a duvet by the window. I genuinely loved this book and the world it created.

I felt like this book was set into two parts - the setting, whe Disclaimer: Review copy received from netgalley.com in return for an honest review.

This book took me a week to read - and a little longer to get round to reading. It took me a while to get into Passenger - but once I was in, I was in hard. I read during my lunchbreaks, I read at work in the middle of running experiments, I read in the evenings curled up with a duvet by the window. I genuinely loved this book and the world it created.

I felt like this book was set into two parts - the setting, when Etta meets Nicholas and discovers about her abilities, etc. and the quest, where Etta and Nicholas jump from time to time, city to city, looking for the astrolabe, a magical object that Etta’s mother, Rose, has hidden somewhere in time and space. The setting up was a little slow, but enjoyable, but woah, the quest. I loved the places we visited (some of them ones I have visited myself), and the whole book is so interesting.

The concept - time travel, with passages between certain times and places - is so cool - like Doctor Who but with more rules, higher stakes. This book is definitely world-driven, rather than character-driven, but I still liked the characters.

Nicholas is African-American, and (unfortunately) interracial relationships are still rare in fiction and YA. Etta battles with feminist ideas and the status of African Americans and women in the different time periods and places that they visit. I think this is the future of YA - more diversity, more discussion of prejudices and discrimination. In Passenger, diversity and feminism never feel forced, they are a welcome and interesting addition to the conversation.

Treating this book as the start of a trilogy, I’m going to give it five stars because I really enjoyed it. If I went into Passenger expecting a stand-alone novel, the ending is a cliffhanger, with some unresolved issues, and I may have been disappointed. Now, I’m just excited for Wayfarer (out Jan 2017) - which has an equally beautiful cover as Passenger does.

This book gave me deep The Mortal Instruments vibes - the start of a beautiful series, with memorable characters and an interesting lore and world. ...more

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Mar 13, 2017 Shelbycat rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: amazon-vine, netgalley

I have to say that i was a little disappointed with this book. I wanted much more about the time travelling, how it works, etc and more about the places they travelled to. What i got was a romance that just happened to exist in different time periods. I'll keep going with this series so i know what happens in the end, but i might leave it a little while until i get to book two. ...more

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