Reviews

The Girl from Everywhere, by Heidi Heilig

livreads2's review against another edition

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5.0

Amazing!

nessanova's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

3.25

missyansell's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

Sometimes a person has to let go of something to take hold of something else.

Nix and her father are time travelers who sail through time by attaining different maps. Nix's father wants to find the map in order to travel back and save his love, even if it may make Nix disappear.

I guess I just got bored during this book. Not bad writing, just wasn't as interested in the story.

settingshadow's review against another edition

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4.0

So there are some really strong points to this book: I thought the coming of age was really well done, with a very nuanced protagonist. I thought Nix was a very realistic teenager, who despite her challenges being very particular to the fantasy setting, dealt with them in a way and had an emotional development arc that really spoke to adolescence. I really liked the evolution of the relationship between Nix and Slate - and a paternal relationship as the central relationship to a story is new and interesting. The Hawaiian setting is gorgeous, lush and ethically gray.

I really liked the concept of the Temptation -- a ship that could travel to anywhere where there was a map. I thought the idea that the past is mutable, and the "true past" that they go to is whatever the map drawer believed to be true. What does it mean for the past to be "real" versus "fantasy" and who gets to decide? I wish the rules were drawn a little more clearly (what's to stop them from drawing their own maps whenever they wanted to return somewhere?)

But the book was imperfect. They circled around the central plot again and again without bringing any new information to it
Spoilerand without every resolving it. Which I think I took harder from a debut novelist -- how can I trust her to resolve it in the sequel?
I would have totally read a historical fantasy set in 19th century independent Hawaii, but that was not the book I was billed: I was billed time traveling tall ships. So I was disappointed that they spend way less than 10 percent of the book in any other locale at all, and I was also disappointed that the map illustrations didn't match the maps in the narrative. I also thought that the romance arcs were lackluster. People are so into Kash, but I found him very bland and generic love interest. Blake was a little better in that he actually had character development and a strong perspective, but, yeah.

I'll probably read the second book in the series, but I gave this one a lot of credit for being a debut; I'm expecting the sequel to be substantially better.

spiderkid's review against another edition

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3.0

My Thoughts:

okay

Pros:

cool idea
worldbuilding
author is really nice
Cons:

I couldn’t connect with the characters
hard to get into – I forced my self to finish


I think Heidi mentioned on twitter that she made a lot of changes, so I want to read the finished version.

Originally on https://bookishlythinking.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/arc-review-the-girl-from-everywhere/

dreams_while_reading's review against another edition

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4.0

 A time traveling ship? Yes please!
This story really hit a lot of the marks for me. Strong character development/growth, exciting adventures, mythical creatures and to tie it all up, a heist. I love how well the story wrapped up and am excited to pick up the next book to see the travels Nixie will go onto next. 

stephieb78's review against another edition

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5.0

I loved, loved, loved this book!! It had such a fun twist on historical fiction!

darrahsteffenwrites's review against another edition

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4.0

I enjoyed this story. It had a unique premise and told a story of magic and fantasy as if it were the most common thing in the world. I will be looking for the second book.

kbfrantom's review against another edition

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3.0

I got this book mixed up with Passenger by Alexandra Bracken. They both feature a ship on the cover with time traveling as a subject. In this book, Nix and her father are able to travel anywhere on a map. Her father is a selfish drug addict and is obsessed with finding a certain map to travel back to Hawaii and save Nix's mother who dies in childbirth. There is so much time traveling at the end that I was getting confused.

ineedchocolate's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0