Review: Passenger - Alexandra Bracken

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, published by Quercus in 2016

Goodreads synopsis:
In one night, Etta Spencer is wrenched from everything she knows and loves. Thrown into an unfamiliar world, she can be certain of only one thing: she has travelled not just miles, but years from home.
  
Captain Nicholas Carter is tasked with delivering Etta to the dangerous Ironwood family. They are searching for something - a stolen object they believe only she can reclaim. But Nicholas is drawn to his mysterious passenger, and the closer he gets to her, the further he is from freedom.
  
Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by a desperate thief. But as Etta plays deeper into the Ironwoods' game, treacherous forces threaten to separate her not only from Nicholas, but from her path home - for ever.

Review:
A huge book at nearly 500 pages, this is one that I'd wanted to get my hands on for ages.  I was super excited to get a copy and dived into it immediately.  I can't believe that it actually ended up taking me ages to finish reading it though.  I picked it up and put it down over and over again, reading a single chapter here or there until finally finishing it.  I'm amazed that I managed to persevere with it because I kept thinking that it would suddenly grab me and hook me in and yet it never did.

I found the story very unusual and quite different to the subject matter I was expecting.  It was essentially about time travel and so was set in lots of different countries and different time periods such as New York 1776, Damascus 1599 and Paris 1880.  I personally found that this made the plot hard to follow and unnecessarily drawn out.  I think the main issue I had with the book was that I just didn't buy into the relationship between the two main characters, Nicholas and Etta.  Their journeys are linked as they search for an elusive missing object and as they begin to learn more about each other, they grow closer together.

I don't think that I will be continuing with the series as it was a relief to finally get to the end of the book.  It's such a shame because I had high hopes for it and it came with a stunning recommendation on the front cover from one of my favourite authors, Sarah J. Maas.  I have since read mixed reviews of 'Passenger' and the majority of them have been very positive, so if you like stories about time-travel then maybe give it a go.  Sadly, it wasn't for me.