Wayfarer (Passenger #2)

                Hello happy readers!  It was a very long weekend for me at work and before I retire for to my bed for the day (night shift vampire) I wanted to share my thoughts on a new release and series ender I finished, Wayfarer (Passenger #2) by Alexandra Bracken.  This is the second and final book in the Passenger duology and picks up where we left off in Passenger (review).  Spoilers ahead for book one, if you don't know the easiest way to describe it is a scavenger hunt across the globe and time. 

Rating:  5 Stars

                So in Passenger we left off in a bit of a mess.  Etta had been gravely injured and thrown through time and away from the man she loves, Nicholas.  Etta finds herself with Julian Ironwood, the last person she expected to ever find alive.  She is unsure whom to trust in this world where warring families have been having it out through time for power and she is still so new to everything it's hard to know who she can trust besides Nicholas.  Nicholas had tracked down the treacherous Sophia and finding her in bad shape demanded she live to fight on and help him find the missing astrolabe and with it Etta.  He doesn't believe he will ever trust her but the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all.  They both must make their way through time in search of each other and so much more.

                In Passenger we spend so much time building this amazing world with the rules of the traveling game and getting to know the different characters on the ride of a lifetime.  We get to watch Etta and Nicholas grow close and fall in love and just adore them!  Then they are ripped apart and all you want is for them to magically get back to one another ASAP and then worry about the rest of the major issues in the world.  So when they don't get back together after the first few chapters I knew I would more than likely be suffering for some time as they journeyed towards one another.  It was both beautiful and painful.  It was so beautiful to see how they were separately, to see how they thought of the other no matter the distance, how the other stuck with them through it all in some small part.  Remembering things taught to you by the other and using that knowledge to hold onto…well it just made me so so happy but also so sad because OMG did I want them to get back together all the time!

                 Aside from trying to find one another we are trying to reclaim the astrolabe.  Keeping it out of Ironwoods hands seems to be the only thing most everyone agrees on.  What to do with it after is up for debate.  We see much more of the Thorns and what they stand for and aim to do.  The different timelines and the whole chaos of trying to fix timelines and such is so incredible and complex yet it still manages to make sense.  I was floored.  To be able to write this world and keep everything straight is an impressive feat so huge kudos to Bracken for managing this.   

                We have some new characters, and some old ones we just got to know more about.  Favorite new addition was Li Min.  She is pretty awesome, I love her crafty side.  I liked getting to see a deeper and more real side of Sophia as well.  She was just this teachers pet for most of the previous book trying to impress grandfather and a thorn in my side.  Now she has depth and purpose.  Julian, previously thought dead, was nice as well.  He was what I expected of him.  He wasn't evil or even horrible more that he was caught up in himself to much to see things in front of him.  Though seeing him learn and grow was rewarding.  I also loved the moments with Etta and her father.  Those, while I didn't trust them at first, were so precious.  The duet moment.  Sigh.

                 I liked the combo of Nicholas and Sophia as it went on and she grew on me.  She is fierce and determined and balances things out.  She's the more vicious and blood thirsty of the two which was funny.  Then when Li Min was added the trio became amazing to read.  I loved the interactions and banter between them.  On the flip side I liked how Etta interacted with everyone, experiencing so many new wonders in traveling.  The time with her dad was great reading but seeing her mom again.  That first scene felt so legit.  All the raging emotions fighting for dominance for her and for the reader as we try to figure out how we feel.  I loved it. 

                This book had a lot of ground to cover.  It managed to close out the series so beautifully.  I was biting my nails until the very end.  I had so many emotions I was texting my friend who had finished it a few days before my thoughts as I read.  Wayfarer was a huge success in my book.  I had so many of my questions answered and so so much more.  This book took the beautiful world we came to love in Passenger and made it more vivid and flushed out before ending the main storyline in a way that really left me happy.  It left me feeling hopeful.  I loved it and highly recommend this series! 

                Until next time…