Hello friends! We're here to discuss all things Passenger by Alexandra Bracken. I feel really disappointed to tell you that for both Jen and I this book was a huge flop. I decided to put it down around 200 pages and Jen made it farther but also decided to not finish. So this discussion will be short and sweet for us.
This is the first time we have both not liked a book since we started this blog. It can be hard when you are really excited for a new release and it does not live up to expectations. I do think that time is precious and I've been trying to get better about knowing when it's time to let something I'm not enjoying go. I know plenty of people who really loved this book, it was one of their favorite reads and that is awesome. We all have different tastes and things we enjoy and that's ok. I guess I just want to give the disclaimer that because I didn't like this book, doesn't mean you won't love it. If you think it sounds cool, then try it! I'm not a book expect and anything on here is just our opinion. I also think it's a good rule to discuss things we don't like, but to not bash them in a hateful way. So here is our discussion of a book we didn't like that we will discuss in a critical but nice way. I've never written a book and can't imagine how hard it is so I'm not down for bashing any author who goes for it. And now on to the discussion!
Reaction to this book in GIF form
Discussion Time!
Heather
Passenger
by Alexandra Bracken was our February book club pick. Both of us ended up not
finishing the book. Why did you decide to put it down and how far into the book
did you make it before deciding to stop?
Jen
Oh man, I really hate
DNFing a book but I decided to at 76%. Passenger was almost 500 pages and
I kept expecting the story to get better but it never did and I think giving it
that long of a chance really cemented by decision that there would be no
significant improvements. I was really disappointed because the premises
sounded great and the cover was beautiful, but the story was a big ole
mess. What about you? How did you know you hit your stopping point?
Heather
I feel
the same way about not finishing a book! It's really hard for me to put a book
down once I start. However with Passenger I decided to put it down around page
200 I think. For me the story felt really disjointed and clunky. It was hard to
get into and I found myself putting off reading because I was not feeling the
story at all. It felt like a pale comparison to other, better YA novels I love.
Time travel should be interesting but this book was just not able to keep my
attention. I agree that the cover was gorgeous and the story had promise, but
it did not go anywhere for me. So disappointing!
Jen
I agree, I think the
author tried to shove every YA trope into one book and man, the result was
just not pretty or cohesive.
Heather
Agreed.
It just fell flat for me. With my new job I have such limited reading time now
and for me it wasn't worth continuing on with it. I don't feel any regret for
putting it down, and I know plenty of people on Goodreads who loved it, so it
might just be that it didn't jive with us. I think my standards for great YA
has just gotten higher in the past few years.
Jen
Yea, I would completely
agree with our standards getting higher. I don't regret putting it down
either. I really tried to force myself to love it, probably because it
was so hyped up, but it was a really weak read for me too. And if a
book is going to be almost 500 pages, it really needs to have some substance to
keep me entertained. I think you were 100% on it when you said the story
pales in comparison to better YA books. I think I was most upset because I was
on a Game of Thrones roll, took a break to read this for book club and then it
was so weak in my mind I just hate that I lost some personal reading momentum.
Oh well though, not ever book can at the levels of Sarah J. Maas or Rainbow
Rowell.
Heather
Yes!
Everything you said times 2!
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