Book Review – The Ship Beyond Time

Book: The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl from Everywhere 2) by Heidi Heilig
Release Date: March 9th 2017
Tags: Time Travel / Sci-Fi / Science-Fiction / Alternate realities / Diversity / POC / Historical Fiction / Young Adult
Rating: 3,5 out of 5 stars

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Other books in this series I reviewed
The Girl from Everywhere

Goodreads

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Possible spoilers for the previous books in the series

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Synopsis

After what seems like a lifetime of following her father across the globe and through the centuries, Nix has finally taken the helm of their time-traveling ship. Her future—and the horizon—is bright. Until she learns she is destined to lose the one she loves. To end up like her father: alone, heartbroken.

Unable to face losing Kashmir—best friend, thief, charmer extraordinaire—Nix sails her crew to a mythical utopia to meet a man who promises he can teach her how to manipulate time, to change history. But no place is perfect, not even paradise. And everything is constantly changing on this utopian island, including reality itself. If Nix can read the ever-shifting tides, perhaps she will finally harness her abilities. Perhaps she can control her destiny, too.

Or perhaps her time will finally run out.

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Review

The Ship Beyond Time is the sequel to The Girl from Everywhere and the conclusion to this duology. While I enjoyed this book overall but I do have some bones to pick with it. The book continues not long after the ending of the first book and has Nix navigating the ship. Unfortunately there is of course no immediate happy ending for our time travelling crew.

Compared to the first book this sequel is a bit faster in pace with picking up the plot. I suppose in this book the characters and the workings of the world have already been established and so they don’t take extra time. We can plunge straight into it.

I think the book plays to the strength of our characters and their relationships for the most part. Nix and Kash have a close relationship and while Nix attempts to initially hide something from him I am pleased that she ended up sharing it with him rather quickly into the book. I hate it when partners hide something from their significant other. Just be honest. It lasts the longest. Their relationship also was slowly dealt with throughout the book. Nix has a fear of losing him. Of loving him and then turning into her father.

The first book is told completely from Nix’s first person point of view. This book is the same way except we also get about 5-6 chapters from Kashmir’s first person point of view. While their voices are very different I found it a little grating at first. I don’t like these kind of changes at all. But it didn’t pull me out of the story.

Another thing that bothered me and the person I was buddy reading the book with was how at the ending certain things just aren’t resolved. There were mentions of Blake and Kashmir having dreams of alternate lives that gave a lot of questions and so on. I also feel the last scene to the book left a lot open and opened the possibility to returning to this world and these characters. There certainly is a lot still left to discover that this book opened up. Which it maybe could have and should have resolved if there is to be no continuation.

I also think I kind of miss Hawaii as the backdrop to the story. While Ker-Ys is interesting, it didn’t spark in the descriptions like Hawaii did in the first book. I think you could tell the author’s own love for Hawaii there.

I was however immensely displeased with how Blake was dealt with at the end of this book. Like no. I was not feeling that turn of events at all. It doesn’t feel like Blake. I can’t say more without spoilers but it left a sour taste in my mouth. Especially considering he was building relationships with others on the crew.