A time travel book with a vivid setting but at times confusing | The Girl from Everywhere

The Girl from Everywhere (The Girl from Everywhere #1) by Heidi Heilig

Published: February 16th 2016 by Greenwillow Books

Genre: young adult, historical, time travel

Goodreads summary: Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear.

REVIEW

I was anticipating so many debuts this year, and of course, The Girl from Everywhere was one of them, because it included so many elements I usually love in books, such as ships, maps and exotic places.

I think that in the time travel subgenre, this book was quite unique (at least compared to the others I read), because the characters were relying on maps to time travel, and not their unique abilities, which is the case most of the time. Also, they were time traveling on a ship, so it gets bonus points for that reason. However, I would have liked to see more of the time travel? In the beginning we saw it a little and then they stayed at the same place for a <b>looooong</b> time (like, the whole book). But, I liked how everything was intertwined, how everyone's actions had consequences on everyone else's lives. For example, Nix practically helped her mother to exist, like wuuuut?

The plot was interesting, but I think it dragged a little in the middle and that's why it took me three days to read it, when I'm on summer break. I don’t think I was completely immerged into it. I liked the story, but the pacing felt a bit off at times... And I would have liked more action scenes here and then. Furthermore, sometimes it got a little too confusing for my tastes, I had <b>no idea</b> what was going on. I still liked the plot though, because it was about a heist so it was quite fun, and there was a party at some point! The ending was totally open, I don't really know what will happen next, but I'll definitely be reading it.

I loved the setting of this book, I had never read a book set in Hawaii before and I was so excited about it. I feel like the author totally grasped the atmosphere of this place, the descriptions were pretty vivid and I could feel like I was there. Moreover, this book was full of myths, some of them being about Hawaii, some others about other places, and I really liked learning about them.

This book had a cast of diverse characters, Nix being half-Chinese and Kashmir being Persian. By the way, I'm just going to scream for one second: when Kashmir spoke French, it was accurate! I could have said these sentences myself! It's like... The third time it happened in a book written by an American author, so <b>I am pleased</b>. The author totally did her job when using foreign languages. While I liked the characters, especially the main ones, I found that some members of the crew were pretty unmemorable, as I wasn't able to distinguish them for one another for the whole book.

I wasn't entirely sold on the romance in this one, I didn't have <b>the feels</b> and there's a possible love triangle coming? Um, I don't want that... Nevertheless, this book explored relationships, which I really liked, especially Nix and her father's. In the beginning, I hadn't actually understood she was Slate's daughter, because she didn't call him her father, so I was a little confused, but it was because their relationship was so complicated. He basically kind of wanted to erase her entire life, just to be with her mother again. I could understand his motives, but it was still selfish and he took such a long time to understand it. Still, in the end, this book was more about their relationship, which I really liked.

Overall, it was a good debut, but I never completely emerged myself into the story, because I expected more from it. The setting and some elements of the plot definitely made up for it though. I liked the main characters, forgot about the secondary ones every two pages and wasn’t sold out on the romance, but I really enjoyed this book anyway. I’m excited for the next one, especially because we’ll have more time traveling, but I have no idea what will be the plot, this one could definitely be a standalone.

Have you read The Girl from Everywhere yet? What did you think of it? Do you love time travel books?