I did re-read Passenger before starting the sequel since it had been such a long time since first reading it. I remember that I felt confused when initially reading it, and unfortunately that didn't get any better second time around! This also continued into my reading of Wayfarer, which just led to me not really being interested or invested in any of the characters or what was going on in the plot, to be honest. I think a big part of this came from Nicholas and Etta moving around to so many different locations that I physically lost track of where they were or why it was relevant to the story. I also felt sad that it seemed that Etta always needed a male character by her side - I genuinely couldn't understand the relevance of Julian except in physically keeping her company. I skimmed the last 100 pages at least, but it was probably a lot more.

The book was pretty good, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the first in the series. There were a lot of bits where it just lulled and dragged and I'd find myself putting it down and not feeling the desire to pick it back up again for weeks at a time.

It was a satisfying ending to the duology in the end and I still liked the story and characters, it just wasn't as gripping as the first book.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Following the ending of Passenger, I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy, so I was grateful when I was approved for an ARC on NetGalley. Picking up not long after Passenger ended, Wayfarer begins with Etta as a prisoner for the Thorns, separated from Nicholas. Julian Ironwood is there, and they work together to steal the astrolabe from Cyrus. Nicholas, now working with Sophia, seek out Rose, only to end up owing people more favours than they should do. The only saving grace is the mysterious Li Min, who helps them even though she is keeping something secret too. For most of the book, Etta and Nicholas are separated, and though the main aim is to ensure Cyrus has no access to the astrolabe, they have the ulterior motive of reuniting.

I love Etta and Nicholas as much in this book, as I did in the previous one. They haven't lost their get up and go, and fight through their own fears and emotions to do just what they need to to get the astrolabe, and be together again. I also loved from Bracken developed the secondary characters - such as Sophia and Julian - into more of a pivotal role in the plot.

The story was long, and there were many time jumps, but for some of them, especially Carthage, I loved learning about the history. Yeah, maybe the book could've been a bit shorter, but the world building was fantastic, as if Bracken had spent ages doing research. However, because parts of the book felt a bit unnecessary, I could only give the book 4 stars. I did enjoy it, and would recommend the book, but in some respects, I do see where other bloggers are coming from when they say the book didn't live up to their hopes.

A sequel to Passenger where Etta and Nicholas are in a literal race against time to stop her grandfather from commandeering time itself for his own selfish gain. I wasn’t a huge fan of Passenger but Wayfarer but better in my opinion. It was more exciting and fast pace with a very satisfying ending. It’s strange to read a series where I enjoyed the second one more than the first. I’m glad I stuck with this, it was great.

I read the first book in this series because I was intrigued by the premise and had seen a lot of talk about it, but on further reflection seem to have seen more hype than substance, because both opener and sequel are so boring. The prose is unnecessarily slow, the pace non-existent, the stakes flaky and the characters forgettable. I wanted to like the time-travel and set-up, but it just didn't work.

I didn't think that Bracken could top how amazing Passenger was but Wayfarer managed it! I was hooked from the start

I didn't like the first book in this series much, but this is one of my auto-buy authors, and I snagged a copy from Netgalley with my Hatchette Children's auto approval. And even bought a finished hardback (despite the fact that this is not a series I really like, the hardback is really pretty). Sometimes I've found second books better than first books.

Unfortunately, I only made it 250 pages or so before calling it quits. Following on from Passenger, Nicholas and Etta are now separated and struggling to find each other and deal with the changes brought about by the events of the end of Passenger. More secrets are revealed, more plot twists. However, I just can't seem to get into this series at all.

It's beautifully written, plus points for diversity in the characters, and there is clear attention to detail and a phenomenal amount of historical research must have gone into plotting the novel, but I just don't like it. It's long winded and boring and not capturing my interest at all.

Not for me.

So Passenger was one of the first books I reviewed on my blog last year and I really liked it so when Wayfarer popped up on netgalley I was so quick to request it.

I felt like Wayfarer was definitely better than Passenger, but maybe thats because there's a lot more of the time travelling world in it. Where the first book was getting to grips with the world and showing the reader what could happen the second book was a lot more fast paced and showed so much more of the time travelling aspect and the chases through time aspect that was originally advertised.

The main thing that I really liked about this book was that we got to know Etta and Nicholas away from each other. They were very reliant on each other in the first novel and yes there was insta-love, but in this book they spend the majority of it apart. We get to see how they tick in the time travel setting without each other there.

I liked how Bracken still continued with the world building in this novel. Things were introduced slowly, but not too slowly in that you were bored, and it built on previously explained things. There were times where I was a bit confused but that might have been my concentration levels rather than the actual novel. The little parts in each time period were well developed for the short amount of novel space they had and I got a good idea of the setting of each place without being overwhelmed.

I think I would've liked this even more had the end been different. It was kind of satisfying because it just ended with all the ends tied together, but it kind of left me feeling a bit like "oh of course it just all came together really nicely". I'm not going to spoil anything but if anyone else had read it and felt like this please let me know so I can discuss it.

Summary

As the second book in a duology, Wayfarer continues to explore the world of time travel initially established in Passenger. It expands on what we discovered in the first book, escalating the conflict and putting the characters through all sorts of difficulties, and then wraps up the duology perfectly.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and thought the series as a whole was brilliant as a whole, especially given how difficult time travel is to get right. As this is a sequel, there will be spoilers for the first book, however I shall try to keep them to a minimum.

Plot

The majority of this book follows two threads. On one side, Nicholas searches for Etta, who has been forced through the timelines. On the other, Etta finds herself mixed up with the mysterious Thorns on their quest for the astrolabe. Ironwood is hot on the heels of both, but another enemy emerges from the shadows and things get a lot more dangerous.

If I’m honest, I really wasn’t sure how Alexandra Bracken was going to build on the previous book, but the introduction of a new party really gave Wayfarer an added depth and threat. It also allowed for further exploration of the world’s lore, something which I particularly loved. The addition of a few extra side-plots on top of the original story-line from the first book kept the story enjoyable and the plot was fascinating in itself.

I did find the story did feel a bit slow-paced in times and the book was, perhaps, a little too long. I found myself enjoying Etta’s story a lot more than Nicholas’ and a lot of that was due to the fact that Nicholas’ did come across as repetitive in places and was often where the slow parts occurred. That being said, the book is regularly punctuated by conflict and confrontation, character development and the odd twist to really keep your interest throughout.

Characters

For me, it was the secondary characters that really made this book. Thinking back on it, it felt a lot like Nicholas and Etta were there to keep the story moving, but it was the other characters that really got the most development and focus. This made the book come alive for me. Having strong side characters allowed the world to feel rooted and allowed me to get fully invested in the story.

That’s not to say that Nicholas and Etta felt flat or unrealistic in any way; Etta, in particular, found her feet in this book. My only problem was that I found Nicholas boring. I really enjoyed his character in Passenger but very little of that substance seemed to have made its way into Wayfarer. On a plus side though, Wayfarer does include two LGBT characters whose relationship received the most focus and development throughout the novel.

World/Setting

As I’ve said, Wayfarer goes deeper into expanding the world we see in Passenger. Not only do we get more time travel, but we also meet more of the families and central players in their feud and discover more about how the whole time travel works. This was probably one of my more favourite parts of this book as it really made the more fantastical elements feel tangible and an integral feature to the story. Exploring the effects of timeline changes was particularly interesting, especially if you enjoy history as I do, and once it crossed into questions of ethics and morality, it really got me thinking.

Final thoughts

I thought Wayfarer was a brilliant conclusion to the Passenger duology. It did a good job of rounding up the story to a conclusion that felt right while also building on the story in the previous book and making it an entertaining read. My main gripe with the novel was that it probably could have done with being a tad shorter, not to mention that Nicholas did not really work as a character for me in this book. Really, though, I would recommend this duology to anyone who likes a good bit of time travel and feuding families.

I love Alexandra Bracken and was awaitimg tjis title with great anticipation. I really enjoyed Passenger and this was a worthy sequel that corrected the few minor faults of book one in the duology. The time travelling ship is fabulously creative and this time Etta and Nicholas are forced to work apart for most of the book which I think allows them to come into their own as characters in their own right. Thouroughly enjoyed this and while The Darkest Minds is still my favourite I will definitely reread this duology.

Fans of Passenger will certainly be happy with Wayfarer. It picks up straight away after the cliffhanger ending and we follow Etta, Nicholas and their companions on their action-packed journeys.

As someone who had a lukewarm response to Passenger, Wayfarer did a good job of hooking me in. It took me a while to get into it but I was very pleased to return to these characters and enjoyed seeing them develop. It's also a wonderful example of a YA novel where love and romance is present, but as a minor side-plot/motivator for the characters, not the main focus.

Our protagonists are never fully in the loop about what's going on and as such, neither are we. It's a complicated plot with alternate timelines, the logistics and rules governing the travelers' abilities and lots of lies and deception causing quite a bit of confusion. It's most enjoyable if you're able to invest some time in this book and pay attention so you don't lose track! As the plot builds we get more and more answers and start to see the grand scheme of things. The ending is satisfying and I appreciated the way multiple storylines merged together.

The sequel to Passenger picks up almost immediately where we left it: Etta wakes up in the hands of the Thorns, along with supposed-to-be-dead Julian Ironwood. Meanwhile Nicholas and Sophia are on the hunt for Rose and more information on how to get back to Etta and find the astrolabe, and hopefully put an end to all this. Even though I did enjoy this, especially getting some answers, it felt really long, and had a pretty slow start as Etta and Nicholas were separated throughout time.

As with Passenger, there was a lot of jumping through time; the variety of different periods and places, both famous and normal, was fascinating. However, messing with the time line was totally confusing me! Etta and Henry go to Russia in 1919 and have dinner with the Tsar, who totally should have been dead for a year! Between this and Rose being a cagey, secretive know-it-all, I stopped guessing what was going to happen. Not that it wasn't thrilling all the same, because it was. But between the adventures there was a lot of family politics and that was both confusing and a little dull.

What Bracken did incredibly well here was the diversity; we already knew about Nicholas's troubles being taken seriously as a African American, but now we also had a subtle gay romance when Sophia has an her eye on another traveller. Speaking of, there was lots more to be understood Sophia, as we see a different side to her, more vulnerable, as she flirts with Li Min and lets some secrets go about her childhood.

While I enjoyed the story, I think it was the characters that really made me love this duology. Etta and Nicholas are in many ways complete opposites but they balance each other, find strength in each other, and it's quite difficult not to root for them. And then there's the secondary characters, Sophie, Li Min, Henry, Julian, Rose and of course the Grand Master himself, who made this book come to life with such complexity. I highly recommend this duology for fans of time travel, diversity, romance and swash-buckling adventures!

Actual rating: 3.5

This book started out really slow and it took me a while to get into it. I would highly recommend rereading Passenger before starting this one as I really could have used the refresher. I found the time traveling a lot more confusing in this book compared to the first one.

Etta and Nicholas were separated for the majority of the book which I was really disappointed about. Although I did like that this book wasn't all about the romance but I would have liked to have seen a bit more of it. I really liked the range of different characters in this book and once again the side characters were really good.

This book wrapped up the story quite well and I was left quite satisfied with the way that the story concluded, I felt that it took a little too long for the action to start. The book could have perhaps benefitted from being a bit shorter as I think it may have helped the pacing.

I finished this book, finally! You wouldn't believe how excited I am to have finished it. What a wonderful end to this story!

My feelings towards this book were slightly hampered by the fact I couldn't remember all the details of Passenger and the name of all the characters so I was lost until a nice blogger pointed me towards the recap the author posted but by that point, I was 20% of the way in. Also, I was annoyed at all the near misses which happened it got a bit annoying towards the end so a star has been sacrificed.

Apart from minor grumbles and my own bias though this book was utterly fantastic. Characters I hated last time became characters I understood and even liked. It was amazing how the change in circumstances meant that I gained a new perspective on people. It was just a really intelligent read with amazing choices being made which I couldn't have done.

I really enjoyed this and it's difficult to out my finger on why. I may have been confused about what direction the story was going in but once I figured it out I was grilled and so intrigued. Basically, if you read the first you deserve to finish the story. It will be well worth it

A strong conclusion to the duology. Fans of Passenger will be delighted. 3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to Hachette Children’s Group, Quercus Children’s Books and NetGalley for giving me an e-copy of this book.

Back in June last year, I “only” gave Passenger 3 stars because I felt the romance overshadowed and eventually smothered the brilliant adventure element of the plot. I’m pleased to say I enjoyed Wayfarer more than Passenger largely because the two main characters are kept apart for a significant portion of the book. During their separation Nicholas and Etta are forced to work with secondary characters with whom they don’t get along swimmingly and the resulting tension makes for better reading than Passenger‘s long accounts of how much Nicholas and Etta love each other. In fact, the secondary characters getting more development and page space is one of the best things about Wayfarer. They’re a diverse, alternatively charming and spiky bunch who bring some much-needed laughs, mystery and drama to the narrative.

Having given us a whirlwind tour of a fantastic range of locations and time periods in book 1, Bracken continues to take us far and wide in Wayfarer. From the streets of medieval Prague to early twentieth-century San Francisco, the author brings all her settings to life with wonderful details. Indeed her descriptive powers are so terrific that when other destinations were mentioned in throwaway comments I started to wish for a spin-off series of short stories so I could get the complete picture.

If you haven’t read Passenger yet, you’re in luck because now you can read both parts of this story back-to-back. I have to admit my enjoyment of Wayfarer was dented slightly by having read Passenger seven months ago and having a bad memory. In addition to not being able to remember everything that happened in book 1 and the ins-and-outs of the complex inter-familial relationships, my confusion was compounded by events getting even more wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey in book 2, leaving me totally bamboozled at points as to the mechanics of travelling, what “being orphaned” is, how changes to timelines are brought about, why the heck everyone wants the astrolabe… Short version: read the two books back to back!

Overall ~ Wayfarer is a rare thing: a sequel which improves on book one. Fans of Passenger will be delighted and those who haven’t started the duology yet can now read the two books close together and enjoy the story all the more because they can remember crucial details.

Continuing on from Passenger, i was super excited to continue the series. It was easy to fall back into. I was pleased when I found out this was a duology since that means I don't have to wait a year for the next installment. Reading this, I fell in love all over again. This duology was definitely up there in one of my favourite series.

Parts of this book made me super angry and emotional, but that's exactly the way I know this was a good book. It was entirely worth the emotional turmoil it put me through.

Wayfarer took me a little while to get through because sometimes the emotions were just too much to deal with and I had to take breaks to sort it all out in my head.

I can't say too much more as I really don't want to spoil it in anyway.

I give this 4 out of 5 stars.

When I read Passenger about a year ago I was left with love hate feelings for the book. At times the pace pulled me along, breathless and excited to see what happened next. Yet also there were dense periods of unnecessary introspection and exposition which weighed down those shining moments; ultimately tarnishing them. I found the lead characters dull in comparison to the supporting ones; always aching for more of the latter and instead being weighed down by an abundance of the former.

Unfortunately I found Wayfarer much the same - with the caveat that pacing is certainly improved here and there is lot more from the characters I loved. Alexandra Bracken did a lot of laying down of framework in the first instalment, which left Wayfarer with many, many strands to tie up. Ultimately that wasn't a bad thing, because it kept things interesting. Yet somehow, despite everything that was going on, Wayfarer still felt far, far too long.

Firstly a potentially unpopular opinion - I liked Etta and Nicholas being separated. I found their journeys with Julian and the Thorns and Sophia and Li Minh (respectively) far more interesting than their shared adventures in the first book. Perhaps this is because the side characters are easily as compelling, if not more so, as our heroes. I know the central romance is supposed to be a massive part of the book, but it never really worked for me. Therefore the less of it, in my eyes, the better (in fact, let's swap it for Sophia and Li Minh!).

One plot point I couldn't get enough of was Etta and her Father. Without spoiling who that is, or their role in the book, I found every single scene they were in together to be raw and heartbreaking whilst at the same time wholly joy filled. Bracken wrote something incredibly real when she wrote that relationship and it was probably the thing that will sit with me longest in this duology.

In contrast to the good, there was the not so good. Ironwood didn't feel like he was given the time to really dominate the lives of the characters; always a hissed name and a changing landscape as opposed to an actual presence. Whilst his actions were terrifying, I wanted more than just consequences of his actions - I wanted a character I could loathe. The other big bad, to be frank, I found faintly ridiculous, as menacing as it was supposed to be. If there had been more build up I would definitely have bought into them but, as it stands, I just didn't see the point of their inclusion.

Wayfarer is definitely an improvement on its predecessor but for me there was always a slight sense of wistful disappointment for what might have been. Bracken is undoubtedly a talented writer. She is also to be applauded for including both a non-white male lead and non-het supporting characters into a genre sorely lacking both. However I found her plots in this case are too multitudinous; making a strong concept unnecessarily drawn out and messy. A sharper edit and this duology would be amazing. As it stands I'm still in that same love-hate place I was twelve months ago.

This book was a lot better than the one before it. Without the long sea voyage to slow it down, the pages of Wayfarer held so much more action than Passenger, enough to keep me interested and engaged all the time. I think it's a trap that's easy to fall into. Long journeys often lead to slow writing and it just turns me off from a book.

It took some time to get back with the characters and intricacies of the plot, but once I did it was much better, This time I really got into the story. I really felt for Etta being pushed into a fight that her ancestors have been fighting for thousands of years. And Etta and Nicholas, being faced with the choice of losing each other forever.

I'm sad that I got into these books only with the sequel. I hope that there might be more follow on books in the future.