The Girl From Everywhere

Rating

4 stars+

Date Read

14/4/16 - 20/4/16

Age Group

14+

General Thoughts

The kind of girl that can time travel, on a daily basis, with a magic ship, is the kind of of girl I'd like to be friends with.

The Girl From Everywhere got to a four and a half star rating working up from three, without my even realising it.

Turns out I like myths about ancient magical creatures and faraway places almost as much as I love confusing my brain with notions of time I cannot begin to shallow; fate and destiny are passé, instead giving way to "history already written" or time not existing at all and to coexisting timelines and parallel universes, where sheer belief can make a place and time come to life.

Main Characters

Nixie

Fierce, independent, witty, loves all kinds of written texts -be it newspapers, books or papyruses and, or maybe especially, maps. She enjoys learning (or perhaps just adores knowing) new things, from world history tob beautiful legends. Nixie has had an unprecedented upbringing... After all, it's not just everyone who gets to grow up on a sleek black ship that can Navigate, meaning time travel, to places that might or migh not exist, with the sole  condition that someone, sometime believed in and mapped them. Her reality allows for countless imaginative tricks, from collecting precious treasures like bottomless bags and sky herring, to visiting a Hawaii before the kingdom fell.

Her being neglected from her father, coupled with the paradox of her existence (her parents existed in different times and so now she exists in no fixed timeline) has worked to create a contradictory wild character who fears commitment and is terrified of unknown waters (only metaphorically though).

Kashmir

The best part of the book. Kashmir hails from Vaadi All Maas, and speaks of Arabian Nights and Persian mythology. Confident and arrogant in a way only professional thieves from mythical kingdoms can be (although at times his insecurities shine though...), he is fluent in Farsi, Arabic, English and French, a bit of a mix between Aladdin and Sinbad, very exotic, infinetely charming and irresistibly lovable. Kash is impossibly loyal, loves a good adventure and would sacrifice anything for that unique pirate girl that has stolen his heart for a change. If there had been more of a romance between them it might have gotten 5 stars. If only Blake hadn't shown up at the most inoppurtonate time.

Blake Hart

The blond Victorian-era gentleman, with the artistic bent and the heart worn on his sleeve. Another fan of Nix, and yet managing not to create the sense of a dreaded love triangle. Or managing. I'm conflicted.

Blake is young and in love with his home, 1886 Hawaiian kingdom, he speaks with big words and fine ideas, and flirts in that way that only Victorian guys can.

Slate

Nixie's father and the captain of the unruly Temptation is the perfect example of what can happen when someone refuses the "letting go and moving on" part of dealing with losses and instead continues living in the past, obsessed with the impossible, dead set on finding that perfect map that will take him to 1868 Honolulu, so that he can be reunited with Lin, Nixies's mother.

Slate struggles with addiction and grief and can be described as both weak and childish. The fact alone that his only daughter makes a habit of calling him by name instead of "dad" speaks volumes of his role as a parental figure in her life.

Bee and Rotgut

Bee, the frightening, yet gentle, African woman that did most of the parenting for Nixie as she grew up and Rotgut, the skinny sailor obsessed with food that takes everything light. The perfect companions for a ship that can travel, in a magic mist, from 21st century New York to the yet-to-be-unearthed tomb of chinese emperor Qin in a matter of minutes with a thousand-year-old map.

Writing narrating

Heidi is unadoubtably well versed, with lots of references to literature and history and myths and legends, and she knows what she's talking about when she speaks of a magical Hawaii, having grown up there herself, just not in the nineteenth century like Nixie.

All in All

The girl from everywhere is probably not compatible with all tastes but readers who enjoy a bit of time traveling to the exotic and the mythical and don't mind a slow story should definitely try it out.

PS If you're curious about the Chinese terracotta warriors of the grande finale, you can find out more about them here.

PS2 Songs:

• We don't talk anymore charlie path
• Glowing in the dark dreamcatcher
• Locked away r city
• Istanbul dj volkan uca

XOXO

Aggie Pearson