The Ship Beyond Time (Girl from Everywhere)

I honestly don’t know where to begin or how to start this review, just know that The Ship Beyond Time is another five star read. Yes, Heidi “She did that” Heilig has done it again with this stunning swoony sequel. I mean my edges are snatched. The Ship Beyond Time is just as captivating and adventurous as the first. This time around Nix is at the helm of the Temptation trying desperately to change her fate as she learns that her best friend and the she’s grown to love might be lost to her forever.

Seriously, the first 5 chapters alone will have you hooked, line and sinker. With mind-blowing world building get ready to set sail on an adventure of a lifetime. Meet new characters and fall back in love with the crew of the Temptation, while getting all the feels from the epic swooniness that we all crave.

For all the Kashmir lovers out there, the author has dedicated a few chapters to this lovely and poetic swoony dream. I just absolutely loved reading from Kash’s point of view. It’s downright criminal how devastatingly handsome Kash. Definitely a top 5 book boyfriend material. So here’s hoping to more Kashmir in the coming future. Here’s to putting that out in the universe. Please make it happen lol

Beyond that, read how Heidi weaves together fantasy, history and folklore so seamlessly—become entranced by this breathtaking story. A story full of heart. A story filled with a diverse cast of characters. Each one more complex than the next. I seriously, can’t recommend this book enough. I hope everyone pre-ordered and demand their libraries carry this book because you will not be disappointed.
The Girl From Everywhere and The Ship Beyond Time are two book that everyone needs in their lives.

P.S. I know this can’t be the end of this series. Not with that ending.

*Originally posted on creatyvebooks(dot)com
** Received an advanced copy via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

It’s no secret that Heidi Heilig’s The Girl From Everywhere is one of my favourite books. I talk about it often and I still think about it often. I fell in love with Nix and Kashmir and the whole crew of the Temptation. So when I received the advance copy of The Ship Beyond Time, naturally I was ecstatic.

I said it before and I’m saying it again: I just think the concept of a time travelling ship is the coolest thing ever. Not only does it take the story to any time in history, to any place in history, it also provides such an interesting foundation for a story that is just as much about the relationship between the crew mates as it is about traveling through time. And as I’ve said before, this crew is made up of some of my favourite characters ever.

Nix is of course my heroine, but what I admire about her most is brought out in her friendships with Kashmir and even Mr. Blake. The three of them technically build the dreaded love triangle, but it’s such a unique take with an abundance of mutual respect that it makes it really hard to hate it. Of course I have a route I’m rooting for, but it’s hard to completely write off the other options. Especially with Nix’s cursed fate seeming to lean towards one or the other.

This romantic intertwining played a much larger part in the book this time, as it was the motivation for Nix’s actions to change the past and ultimately drives the climactic ending, but how this usually annoys me, didn’t here. Heilig has mastered the art of the love triangle and has managed to make love a primary plot point without being too overbearing on the rest of the story. It’s quite a feat that not many people seem to be able to manage.

I love Heilig’s writing. There are some really beautiful passages in here where the description was almost like poetry and everything painted such a vivid and real picture in my mind. Things do get heavier and a bit complicated in this book, with time lines and changing memories and dreams about things that may or may not have happened. But this was what made me love this so much! It wasn’t confusing, just a lot to take in, and the layer upon layer of information and possibilities was so rich, I found myself loving every single second.

I can’t imagine what it took to map this book out, the way certain lines crossed and came together in very different parts of the linear story I was reading. It was done incredibly well and I can’t say enough how much I love this concept. It’s probably one of my favourite things to read about because it’s difficult to get right, but just so awesome when someone does. And Heilig does. She really, really does.

Like it’s successor, I would give this more than 5 stars if I could. And while I liked the idea of this maybe being the conclusion for this series, the ending kind of leaves it open for more and I really wouldn’t hesitate to travel with these characters again and again. I just have so much love for these books! I wish I could keep going back in time to relive them.

Originally posted on citygirlscapes.com

The Ship Beyond Time has all of the charms of The Girl From Everywhere and continues to build on the relationships and themes from the first book while introducing a few new characters and conflicts.

The central relationships between Nix and Kash and Nix and Slate are deepened and complicated through their new adventures and obstacles. Plus, we get to see more of Bee and Ayen, who are married with Nix, Kash, and now Blake as their adopted children (so cute!), as well as Rotgut, who reveals that he once had a lover who became a monk instead (I am 100% down with queering up the cast even more, yes).

My favorite thing about the scene involving the latter is that the crew asks Rotgut about this unnamed former lover with, “What was their name?” One important way of challenging cisheteronormativity is by using gender neutral pronouns to refer to unknown or hypothetical people in general and when it comes to crushes, partners, spouses, etc. It’s small but significant because the language we use matters.

Although some people might call it a love triangle, I never really saw Blake as genuine competition for Nix’s affection because it’s pretty clear from the beginning of the book that Nix loves Kash and only sees Blake as a friend. What was more interesting and engaging to me was the interactions and dynamic between Kash and Blake, who share certain things in common and are in this adventure together despite their [perceived] rivalry over Nix.

One of the things I really liked about the character arcs and development was that they always connected back to a common theme of exploring the implications of Navigation. With Blake, it’s about the question of whether to change history when it involves injustice like the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. With Kash, it’s the sort of existential crisis that inevitably arises when you consider that he came from a place that was imagined and made up by a random French author. With Nix and her father Slate, it’s about whether the sacrifices are worth it when it comes to trying to save the one you love.

From the beginning, this book grabs your attention and your heart and doesn’t let go. It is fast-paced and hard-hitting with so many twists and revelations. Beyond driving the plot forward, most of these twists and revelations also pack an emotional punch and saturate you with so many intense feelings. I don’t want to spoil anything important, so I’ll just say that I spent a lot of time screaming internally while reading this book (partially because everyone in my house was asleep), and the ending was unexpected but still great. Even after you finish the book, the story and the characters will stay with you and live on. Although this book is the conclusion to the series, there is room for more adventures with Nix, and I would not object at all to more books being added.

As with the previous book, there is bonus material at the end of the book discussing the origins and histories of various characters and locales that come from real life or myth. I always love reading background information about the books I read because it adds to my enjoyment and understanding of the book.

I loved Heilig's first book in this duo, The Girl From Everywhere, and this concluding novel didn't disappointment. It had the elements I loved from the previous novel: fabulously wrought characters, intriguing world-building, brilliantly rendered sense of place, and drama from more than cheap love triangles. But it also went more deeply into the why/how of the time travel, and our heroine and her crew had to wrestle with the implications of this "power' as well as the ethics.

Once more, Heilig plumbed history for juicy stories that seem too impossible to be real and wove them into her fantasy setting seamlessly. As before, Nix is a breathtakingly awesome heroine -- smart, loyal, determined, and fiery -- and her relationships are rich and complicated. She doesn't get any easy outs, and Heilig doles out one deliciously gut punch after another. The story wraps up wonderfully, yet not neatly, and I'm dying for a reread of these two books already.

This series is such a unique blend of fantasy, historical fiction and time travel. I've never read anything like it, but I want more. This second book was a bit harder to get through, but I suspect that was my own circumstances rather than anything to do with Heidi's writing. Today I finished the last half of the book and, man, I think that it is among the most beautiful love stories that I have read. Tragedy and hope all at once; it really pulled on my heart strings! I'm torn between wanting a Book 3 and wanting the ending left exactly the way it is now.

As good as the first. I devoured both in a few days. The characters and their adventures captured my heart, and the writing makes me want to swim around in her words.

I LOVED this book! Heidi seamlessly weaves the mythology and story into something beautiful that'll tug at your heartstrings and leave you wanting more. Filled with suspense and romance, it's a fitting conclusion to a wonderful duology.

The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig is the second book in the Girl from Everywhere series. I have to say that this book far surpassed my expectations!

The characters were engaging. The plot had me laughing, crying, cheering and at times, sitting on the edge of my seat to what was going to happen. All in all, one fantastic book ~ 5 Stars!

I received this book for free. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are my own. Thank you to Greenwillow books and Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I received my copy day before yesterday in the mail and could not put it down. Fantastic follow-up to The Girl From Everywhere. Nix is such a carefully drawn three-dimensional character - she simply comes alive on the pages. I won't spoil the plot and resolution; suffice it to say, it's earned and satisfying. Well done!

I absolutely fell in love with the first book, and tore through the second. Unfortunately, this story feels unfinished. I truly thought it was leading into a third book, and when I realized that this was the end I was very disappointed in the so called ending.