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Book: Traveler
Author: Malanie Bateman
Publication Date: 31st March 2023
Book 14 Of The Year
Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger meets The Foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgewick in this war torn fantastical book.
I love the cover of this book, the silhouette against the sunset background and the clock stand out perfectly highlighting and hinting at the books contents. Straight away we are met with the most beautiful poem by Patrick Macgill which I think really sets the scene of this novel.
Like The Night Circus each of the chapters in this book is dated and located, personally I love this it adds to the story but sometimes I just need to turn back to the previous chapter to see where I am in time. Set in World War One this book is everything that you can expect from a war novel, with that comes trigger warnings which I think are important to note if you are to read this book (they can be found at the end of this review).
Our protagonist Mark has flashbacks...or are they? The description that Melanie writes is beautiful right down to the crows circling overhead towards the end of the book and the taste of the sea salt near the beginning. Like during the war Mark receives letters, what I love is how Melanie distinguishes between the writing of the book and the handwriting of the letters, it is a font that I have found quite easy to read whereas normally I would struggle especially reading it off of my phone.
We see aspects of the 'American Dream' with the idea of families travelling on ships over seas in order to make their own mark in the US. With that comes the disappointment that some travellers found when travelling into the US docks and that was Ellis Island. I went to New York three years ago with my Aunt and we went on a boat around Liberty Island, with this we of course had to sail past Ellis Island. On the day we sailed it was quite foggy and eerie, for me looking at Ellis Island was chilling, so I can only imagine what some people felt having never seen the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island before.
Something more I love about this book is that you have the mystery of the child that Mark finds in a war zone, why is she there? How did she get there? All of these questions swarm you head as you read along. People keep telling Mark that he has got a mark upon him, with further makes us question who he is as well as the child that is found.
I really liked this book, the little snippets here and there in each chapter thickens Mark as a character as well as the storyline, I love the idea of going back in time for certain chapters and then go forward again. Just be sure to check at the start whether you have gone back or forward in time.
Thank you so much Melanie for sending me a eArc of your book, I have loved reading and reviewing it for you.
Trigger Warnings: War, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Injury, Death, Shock, Drugs, Talk of Murder and Suicide.
Happy Reading!
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