These books (GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE and THE SHIP BEYOND TIME) are incredible. If you don’t want to read this whole review stop here and just go buy the books. You will not be disappointed. I read each book in two days (and I’m insanely busy and have zero free time…yet somehow this was possible. I simply couldn’t stop reading).
I’m not going to describe the plot here, the summary above does a great job of doing that. Instead I’ll talk about why I loved these books.
I was hooked immediately by Nix’s voice. This voice grabs you from the first page. Voice is one of those things that’s hard to describe, but for me, this voice is like listening to an old friend. One you wish you got to hang out with more and you just want to spend time with. This is how I’ve felt about series like THE GRISHA TRILOGY, RED QUEEN, A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES and THE LUANAR CHRONICLES. The world is completely immersive and you won’t want it to end.
Nix is a great character. She’s smart, tough, vulnerable and kind all at once. You feel her plight and her longing. Her relationships with the other characters, especially with her father, is nuanced and complex. With her father, it’s not the stereotypical teenage angst we often see in young adult novels. It’s unique. Nix also has a relationship with a boy, Kashmir that grabs you by the heartstrings and doesn’t let go. We slowly fall in love with Kashmir as the story unfolds, which makes it feel real and sticks with you after the last page.
This is all fine and good, you might say, but what about the plot? Does the plot keep the story moving? The answer is a resounding yes. This story is brilliantly told (I won’t spoil the plot by describing it here though!). Time travel stories are so interesting to me because they are all different. They all have a different method of travel, a different set of rules and complications. The method Heidi devised for her novels is so unique yet so easy to get on board with. Maps that become reality based on the beliefs of the navigator and the mapmaker? I love it. The characters transport themselves to the most unusual places as well as the most common, and watching them fit in in either is so much fun. 2016 NY, ancient China, mythological and real places, they are all delivered with such (not boring) detail that you wonder if Heidi was actually in all of them—and more importantly you feel like you’ve gone there yourself. Also, she weaves in just the right amount of mind-bending time hopping, where characters meet each other in non-linear timelines so you have to stop and get your head around it. Still, she manages to describe it in such a way that it’s never confusing. Just complicated, which is the perfect balance.
I’m going to post this review under both because it applies to both GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE and THE SHIP BEYOND TIME. I’d recommend reading them in order, though I suppose you could start with the second…but I can’t imagine why on earth you’d want to skip the first.
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just like her father
So as for a sequel, this book was just okay for me. After reading the first book I had VERY high expectations and it took almost until the end of the book to reach those expectations. I found Nix to be very whiney in this one. I didn't think she was as strong as she was in the first book. She was too focused on her fate, just like her father, and that annoyed me. BUT the last 50 or so pages sold me. It ended how I wanted it to and Nix became the Nixie I wanted her to be. The ending was great. I can't wait to see what kind of adventures will happen next (if there is a next). And as always, I LOVED the maps that were added in.
Top reviews from other countries
Laura Machado
Pior que o primeiro
Reviewed in Brazil on March 31, 2022
Laura Machado
Reviewed in Brazil on March 31, 2022
Por um lado, esse segundo livro foi melhor que o primeiro. Tem o ponto de vista do Kashmir, que é bem mais interessante do que a Nix, além de que ela mesma está um pouco mais independente. Gostei de como a autora amarrou a história dela com sua avó, sua mãe e seu pai. A questão da viagem no tempo até mesmo para lugares imaginários, contanto que o artista acredite neles, exige demais que você suspenda sua crença, mas isso não me incomodou.
O que me incomodou demais, que me fez querer largar o livro no meio, foi que a autora criou toda uma história focada em um único lugar fantástico que simplesmente não me cativou. Achei chato, na verdade. Primeiro, porque era importante saber antes um mito ou uma lenda aí que não é tão famosa quanto ela parece achar que é e que nem é tão interessante. Mesmo depois de eu ir pesquisar sobre ela, não achei a menor graça e estava definitivamente entediada durante toda a história paralela que tomou foco nesse livro. Mas principalmente porque era uma coisa tão alheia a tudo que tinha sido construído no livro anterior, que ficou parecendo um enredo que entrou na frente deles mais do que um enredo que era o próprio caminho. Fez sentido?
É triste, porque essa duologia poderia muito bem ter sido incrível, cheia de aventuras, piratas e viagens no tempo, mas acabou sendo só estranha e sem graça. Não consigo nem dizer que há grandes chances de você gostar se tiver gostado do primeiro, porque são livros tão diferentes, com tons distintos e propósitos opostos quase. Foi destoante a ponto de parecer que eu estava lendo uma história completamente diferente.
Acho que teria ajudado bem se a autora tivesse focado em viagem no tempo para lugares que existem somente, abandonado a parte fantástica, ainda que interessante. Ou se ela pelo menos não tivesse gastado o segundo livro inteiro só focado em um lugar fantástico sobre o qual quase ninguém já ouviu falar antes. Do jeito que ficou, é uma duologia bem fácil de esquecer e eu dificilmente vou querer ler outro dela.
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Mel
As good as the first book - perhaps even better!
Reviewed in France on September 25, 2017Kindle Customer
Not a patch on her first
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2017