Title: The Girl From Everywhere (#1)Read as part of the Diverse Reads Book Challenge.
Author: Heidi Heilig
Genre: Historical, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Warnings: -
Rating: 2 stars
Goodreads Review | Book Depository
An ebook copy of this book was provided to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was really excited to get started with this book. The Girl From Everywhere has a premise that was completely original to me, and for that I was very curious to see how it would play out.
Heilig's first book tells the story of Nix, a girl who travels the world aboard the Temptation - a pirate ship like no other. With the use of maps, the passengers on the ship can travel to any time in history. The captain, Nix's father, is desperate to travel back to a time when her mother was still alive, and when he strikes a deal for the map that can take him there, Nix's whole life is put under threat.
From early in the novel it was evident that Heilig had done her research, and I picked this up from the accuracy of Kashmir's Persian (which I would like to say I am somewhat fluent in). The Girl From Everywhere is packed with ethnically diverse characters, vibrant history, detailed imagery and fantastic mythology, all wrapped in the perfect package of historical Sci-Fi. When I list it like that, it's hard for me to see where this could have gone wrong.
But alas, it did not work for me. The entirety of the middle and a large portion of the beginning were just too slow. There were huge portions where it felt like nothing was being added to the story other than chapters and chapters of description of 1800s Hawaii. I didn't even mind that there was not much time travel within the story itself, but the plot got so watered down that I became bored. It did not help that Nix did not have a strong enough voice to carry this story. She wasn't unlikeable, but there was not much to like. If the middle of the book had tapped into the character's minds a little more for me to hear their emotions, it might have worked for me.
The end helped redeem most of the story in my eyes, but I am disappointed that I did not enjoy The Girl From Everywhere as much as I expected. I still cannot put into words how much I admire the work the author must have put into constructing this very detailed story, and I hope people others pick this book up and enjoy it for the reasons I could not.
From your first paragraphs this book sounded so amazing, but then after reading the rest of your post it sounds like it doesn't live up to expectations. That makes me sad that it wasn't everything that was expected. I'm off to read a few more posts about the book to see if I want to give it a shot - it might just be one I borrow from the library down the road.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to give this book a good chance which might have been why I started off so positive in my review. I think my dislike of it was mostly down to the book feeling like a long piece of descriptive writing than an action packed story.
DeleteBut definitely read other reviews! I know pleanty of people who loved it :D