MARCH 2016 - AudioFile
A taut time-travel romance is given added emotion through Saskia Maarleveld's thoughtful narration. When Etta discovers she’s part of a long line of Passengers—or time travelers—her world is turned upside down. She must travel around the world and through time with fellow Passenger Nicholas to save her mother and recover a stolen object that could change history. While at times the pacing is a bit slow, Maarleveld remedies this with perfection in the characters of Etta and Nicholas, keeping listeners engaged and intrigued. When the action picks up and stakes are highest, Maarleveld excels at heightening the tension. Listeners will be waiting on the edge of their seats for Book 2. S.B.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
School Library Journal
12/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—This series opener doesn't let up its high-octane pace until the final page. In a matter of moments, Etta, a talented teenage violinist in New York City, goes from making her concert soloist debut to finding herself prisoner aboard a ship in the distant past. It turns out she is descended from one of a dwindling number of time-traveling families who manipulate history in an ongoing fight for power and influence. The captain of the ship, Nicholas Carter, was hired to retrieve Etta and bring her to the head of the most powerful family. Together they must travel across the globe and through different time periods in search of the long missing astrolabe. There are plenty of twists and turns and excitement as they travel—though at almost 500 pages, the story has periods where it drags, and complex plot machinations and world-building threaten to overwhelm the narrative. Luckily, the romance crackling between Nicholas and Etta will keep fans intrigued. VERDICT This strong new series will appeal to readers looking for a time-traveling adventure with plenty of drama and romance.—Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA
MARCH 2016 - AudioFile
A taut time-travel romance is given added emotion through Saskia Maarleveld's thoughtful narration. When Etta discovers she’s part of a long line of Passengers—or time travelers—her world is turned upside down. She must travel around the world and through time with fellow Passenger Nicholas to save her mother and recover a stolen object that could change history. While at times the pacing is a bit slow, Maarleveld remedies this with perfection in the characters of Etta and Nicholas, keeping listeners engaged and intrigued. When the action picks up and stakes are highest, Maarleveld excels at heightening the tension. Listeners will be waiting on the edge of their seats for Book 2. S.B.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2015-11-03
A dedicated violinist finds her life taking a different turn when she learns that she is a time traveler in this series opener. Etta is 17 and ready to make her musical debut near her home in New York City when she finds herself suddenly catapulted onto a sailing ship in 1776. With her is Sophia, a rival time traveler who explains that the ability runs in families. Etta soon learns that her mother has hidden, somewhere in time, a valuable and dangerous object that, in the wrong hands, could cause catastrophic damage to time. Sadly, Etta herself falls into the wrong hands but agrees to try to find the object, following clues her mother left through time. Fortunately, Nicholas, a biracial former slave, also has the ability, and he joins Etta—but is he working with her or against her? Never mind his motive, however, because the two eventually fall in love. Bracken keeps pages turning with her descriptions of the different destinations the couple explores, including 1940 London and 1685 Angkor. Nicholas, a sailor who dreams of owning his own ship, speaks modern English perhaps too well, but his reactions to technology such as electricity and buses ring fairly true. The author places more focus on suspense than on romance, which she develops slowly. Already lengthy, the book ends with a cliffhanger and clearly more to come. Long but intriguing, and sometimes exciting—the payoff is in the future. (Fantasy. 12-18)
