The Ship Beyond Time

Starred review from January 1, 2017

Gr 8 Up-This artfully constructed sequel to The Girl from Everywhere does not disappoint, with even more romance and adventure than in the first installment. Based on a devastating prediction, ship captain Nix takes her crew on a time-traveling journey to a mythological kingdom. They are pursuing a method of manipulating time, and with all the responsibility that her role as captain entails, she must make decisions that will change the course of history, risking her own existence-and the existence of those she cares for. As Nix comes to understand the depth of her love for her crewmate Kash, her perception of her parents' bond and her father's behavior reaches a new clarity that leads to forgiveness. Her struggle to faithfully lead her crew while searching for her heart's desire (a way to prevent Kash's death) echoes larger questions of identity within relationships and control (or lack thereof) over one's future. Above all, this time-travel quest emphasizes the importance of living and loving in the moment as the path to true happiness. VERDICT This thrilling, layered maritime fantasy will be best enjoyed by those who have read the first volume. Recommend both titles to fans of Alexandra Bracken's "Passenger" books and Rick Riordan's mythology-inspired fiction.-Kerry Sutherland, Akron-Summit County Public Library, OH

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2016
Her white, widowed father, Slate, having failed to remake the past, has abdicated; mixed-race Nix Song now captains the Temptation, Navigating through time to mapped destinations, real and otherwise, in this sequel to The Girl from Everywhere (2016).Joined by Blake, a young, white cartographer who supports the Hawaiian monarchy, they depart 1884 Hawaii for modern New York. Realizing Nix and Kashmir (the Persian boy they rescued years earlier) are in love, Slate tells Nix that her grandmother, Joss, a Chinese Navigator and seer, has seen Kash will be lost at sea--but that past and future can sometimes be changed. In New York, a strange woman gives Nix a map of Ys, a mythical island city off the coast of Brittany. With the map, dated 1637, is a letter inviting her to visit Ys that asserts the past can indeed be changed. Buoyed by hope, the seekers sail to Ys, their quest to protect Kash, restore Nix's mother (who died in childbirth), and save the Hawaiian monarchy. This genre-busting series--neither fantasy-romance nor historical fiction in disguise--offers an original take on a classic conundrum: if we can change the past, delete death and loss from life and love, what will it cost--and who pays? Nix's narrative voice reveals a complicated protagonist who moves between trenchant pragmatism and poetic flights with fluidity. Although some plotlines are resolved, others are left, tantalizingly and frustratingly, hanging. Concluding the duology, this ingeniously plotted time twister deepens the narrative, sharpens characterization, and raises the stakes, leaving readers high and dry, wanting more. (Fantasy. 14-18)

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January 1, 2017
Grades 7-10 Time traveler Nix Song, 16, is back, and fans of The Girl from Everywhere (2016) will be delighted. Having realized that her dashing crewmate Kashmir is more than a friend, Nix then learns that Kashmir is fated to die at sea. Aghast at the thought of losing him, Nix sails her father's ship to a mythical utopia at the invitation of Crowhurst, another time-traveling Navigator who claims he can manipulate time and change the past. Heilig's multicultural cast of characters includes lesbian couple Bee and Ayen (one of whom is a ghost); and multiple settings are prevalent, too. As period maps of the desired destination are essential for Navigation, maps figure prominently in the story and are included in the text (not yet seen). Of special note is Nix's troubled yet loving relationship with her father, an opium addict whose desperate need to see Nix's mother before he dies threatens Nix's life. Though it won't stand alone, it's well worth adding to collections that have the first title.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
In this sequel to The Girl from Everywhere, Nix discovers a prophecy that she will lose the one she loves to the sea. Determined to beat fate, she pursues--via her time-traveling ship--an opportunity to learn how to alter history. Nix's inner journey to embrace life even if it means loss adds more depth to the adventure and fantasy elements of the narrative.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)