Nouf *LostinFantasy*'s Reviews > Wayfarer

Actual Rating: exactly 4/5.

"How sad for them, she thought, that they had grown up without any thorns with which to protect themselves."

It's kind of hard to write a review for a sequel when I never did for the first one. (For a great review of book one, you can read my friend Shahad's review of Passenger. So well put, and mirrored my thoughts on it exactly!)

But I am so happy to say that Wayfarer turned out to be a wonderful conclusion to Passenger. And that ending...



There is so much I love about this duology. Alexandra Bracken wrote such a detailed and wonderfully emotional story. It's as much about time travel as it is about family-ties and heartbreak, love and revenge.

((BTW, if you've read Passenger but have trouble remembering the events-- and yeah how the time travel works exactly -- there's a really cool and very helpful recap!
https://static1.squarespace.com/stati...))

I love time travel stories! And I love the explanation for the characters' time traveling ability here. We get a satisfying idea of how it works in the first book. But in this sequel, the origins behind the astrolabe and the four families is revealed. And the war between the travelers intensifies as they all hunt after the astrolabe. There's the Thorns on one side, Rose on another, Etta, and Nicholas, Cyrus Ironwood, the Shadows and an old sinister threat they never saw coming. Every single one has their own agenda and reason for it.

I loved the world-traveling to different points in history that Etta and Nicholas took in the first book. There's even more traveling here! But better yet, in this book, the travelers' actions actually severely impact and shift world events as a result of everyone fighting for their own version of the timeline. And so, Etta and Nicholas are each faced with hard questions and choices, and not one easy option. So, the plot is definitely exciting!

Before I talk about the wonderful characters and relationships in this book, I'm going to mention the writing - or rather its pace. The writing is beautiful -- but, in other ways, because of the slow pace, it's also the book's biggest flaw. This book is definitely an improvement on Passenger in terms on pacing, but it still moves a bit slowly at some points with the long descriptions, and also too-long inner monologues every time a character decides on something new. Sometimes you want things to move just a bit faster. Especially, Nicholas and Sophia's journey. I found Etta's parts moving along quicker.

But it's worth it to be patient because we get great character development and there's enough action, especially during that explosive climactic part.
Still, could have been 50 pages shorter or more, maybe.

(If you haven't read Passenger yet, below are a couple of big spoilers for the first book. But don't worry, no big spoilers for Wayfarer).


This time, Etta and Nicholas are separated for most of the book, (after the final events in Passenger took Etta away from him).
And while I love their romance and partnership and waited for their reunion, that didn't bother me. It gave opportunity for each to move the same story forward with their own journey - Etta meets her father, Henry Hemlock, leader of the Thorns. And Nicholas gets caught up in a deadly deal while trying to find Etta.

But the best part about this were the new partnerships and character dynamics this provided! And amazing character development for everyone! I wasn't a fan of Sophia in the first book, but in this one, she is a lot more fleshed out and sympathetic, and so badass! She and Nicholas made awesome from-hate-to-friendship partners.
It provided some funny moments:

He was yanked back by his collar before he could swim closer.
"Would you stop making eyes at that bloody ship? It’s a siege,” Sophia grated at him. “If they catch us, they won’t just kill us; they’ll make a whole show of it. Use our decapitated bodies to boost morale.”
Right. Yes. Siege.

They go from despising each other and death-threats to being partners who could relate, and friends who become very protective of each other.

As much as Etta was his heart’s helpmate, Sophia was the sword at his side on the expedition he undertook now.

A new character Li Min - a fellow traveler and female pirate - joins and helps them too. She has a heavy and dark past, but she's a great ally to Sophia and Nicholas. And there's even a bit of romance between her and Sophia. And though it's subtle, it works very well, showing a bit more of Sophia's softer side.

Nicholas wondered briefly if it was his destiny to be surrounded by women possessing varying degrees of murderous intent.

And Etta gets to know her father, Henry Hemlock, who she's never met, and his side of the traveler family, which make up "The Thorns". And it leads her to learn more about her mother, Rose, and her secrets.
(Rose is, btw, an amazingly complex anti-herione that deserves more page time --and even her own book).

But also she meets Nicholas's spoiled and carefree half-brother, Julian Ironwood who (as was hinted at the end of Passenger) is not dead, and turns out to be a very fun addition to the story! And Etta gets stuck with him on her side of things, and they make a hilarious mismatched pair!

"You’re rather handy, Linden-Hemlock-Spencer,” he said. “That was some brilliant teamwork, if I do say so myself.”
"I’m not sure you know what that word means,” Etta managed, her teeth clenched.
“You’re the brawn, I’m the brains, kiddo,” he told her. “You don’t need my help with this.”

And some more later - I loved this line:

She blinked. “That was… surprisingly useful.”
"As I like to say, always aim to disappoint in life,” Julian said. “That way you’ll never fail to be a delightful surprise when you don’t.”

And, like with Sophia, there's some great character development for Julian!

But safe to say - absolutely no love triangles in this! Etta and Nicholas's romantic arc is just as strong even with them apart for so long.
But the family dynamics and friendships are just as impactful in this book which was my favorite part.

I do wish that the characters that were separated for most of the book and only met near the end had more scenes together - like Henry and Rose (can I get their love story please - I need that special Target edition with their novella!), Nicholas and Julian (I would have liked more resolution there), and a little more of Sophia and Nicholas after everything. But I just want more of these characters because they were all so likable and complex and just wonderful!

Overall, I'm happy with this book and conclusion to the story. And I would love for novellas to start appearing showing us what happens next to the characters and more of their journeys! And even if not - the ending of this book was perfect enough!

And if you're hesitant to read this because Passenger felt a bit slow-paced then just remember the fun parts of that book (when it started to pick up with the time-traveling), because this book has a lot more of that, and just overall more surprises.