THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE
Where does a girl who can live anywhere, in anytime, call home?
Nix grew up a traveler. The high seas on her father's ship has always been her home, but she has never been bound to just one world. As long as there existed a map of a land, whether from myth or history, her father was able to take them there through the swirling fog of time to find their next adventure. Nix is an expert on maps, but there is one map she has dreaded finding her entire life and it is the one her father is most intent on getting.
1868, Honolulu.
The one place Nix could have called home, could also spell her doom.
I was worried for a moment when I first picked up this book that it was going to be exactly like another book that came out recently, which coincidentally featured both boats and time travel (Passenger by Alexandra Bracken). Not that there is a problem with having more than one book about both these things, especially when put together. But it's not the best of times when you feel like you're reading the same rehashed story, but with slightly different characters.
Fortunately, I did not find this a problem. They both approached the topic of time travel in unique ways and focused on different aspects of the possibilities that arise when coasting on the waves of time.
The focus in The Girl From Everywhere was not so much on the technicalities behind time travel. Instead cultural exploration was a much more integral part of the storyline, which I found incredibly fascinating. A big focus of the story involved the historical transition that spelled the end of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the beginning of America's governmental take-over of the island nation. It was incredibly evident in the story how familiar the author was with the setting. Her lush depictions of island life made for a very transportive read. Definitely felt a few island breezes blowing through my hair, but that could have been because of my open window.
The relationship between Nix and her father was another really interesting aspect of the story. Her father's obsession with Nix's mother really took an emotional toll on Nix's own view on relationships. The trust between parent and child is really tested and explored throughout this novel in a unique way that only the possibility of time travel could allow.
My only complaint in the whole book was the inclusion of random mythological side stories and journeys that seemed more of a stretch in the dark rather than extremely necessary to the progression of the plot. It added more confusion to the story and seemed a bit out of place. At the end it becomes clear why such events had to happen, but to me there could have been a better way to do it that didn't make the reader feel like they had suddenly jumped ship out of the story and were reading something completely different than they had been a moment ago.
My overall feeling at the end: GIVE ME MORE BOOKS ABOUT TIME TRAVELING BOATS PLEASE. That is all.
