People everywhere rave over “Girl from Everywhere”

Time traveling pirate ships, a historical Hawaii setting, and a supposed love triangle; if that is not a recipe for a page-turner, I do not know what is. The title of this book? Heidi Heilig’s “The Girl from Everywhere” tells the tale of Nixie, a sixteen-year-old with a not-so-typical adolescence.

For her entire life, Nix has accompanied her father along with his crew on a ship as they venture across the globe and through time. Give these seafarers any map in existence, and they can sail any place, any century, and any dimension, factual or figment of imagination.

Unfortunately for Nix, her life of adventure becomes anything but smooth sailing when her father finally gets his hands on the map he has been searching for: a map which can lead the crew straight to Honolulu in the year 1868, also known as the year before Nix’s mother passed away in the process of giving birth.

Her father’s quest to return to his lost love could erase Nix’s very existence, but Nix is powerless in this murky territory of emotional downpours. Every aspect of Nix’s world(s) are on the line as she struggles to stay afloat in the waves of questions surrounding her fate.

Heilig’s writing is captivating and complex, while still taking readers along on a voyage of history, mythology, diverse characters, and both complicated family and romantic relationships. In other words, the novel is saturated in a series of small, suspenseful storylines and side-plots.

Despite the meandering plot and dozens of tributaries, the overall pace of the book felt relaxed to me. However, there are a few places in the novel that I feel are drawn-out and slow-paced which just waterloggs the plot flow.

As a Mandarin speaker, I appreciated the way Heilig weaved Chinese into the flow of the story. Likewise, I enjoyed the sprinkling of Hawaii’s history and politics into the reservoir of ideas channeled into this one book. I also liked Heilig’s writing style and how the romance of the story was more comparable to friendship as it did not drown out the more important pieces.

Even for discerning readers, it may take time for all of the underlying components to pool together. As a reader myself, I still feel as if there were a few swampy parts of the story that I have not yet figured out. “The Girl from Everywhere” may be a book I add to my list of rereads.

Due to the sheer depth of the book, I would recommend it to higher-level readers and older teenagers or young adults. On the other hand, I think Heilig’s story would be fitting for anyone who loves travel, sailing, adventure, history, fantasy, or any combination of these.

As for me, I am currently diving into Heilig’s 2017 sequel, “The Ship Beyond Time.” I can say without a dew-drop of a doubt that “The Girl from Everywhere” is an impressive, swashbuckling tale that poses major questions about fate, family, love, and loyalty.