YA
Time travel and pirates is the sort of setup that could easily tip into pure gimmick, but The Girl from Everywhere keeps it grounded by caring about the people inside all that movement. The settings do a lot of work, and that’s half the fun, yet it never felt like the book was only showing off its places.
What stuck with me most was that the character work was doing the heavy lifting underneath. If the shifting locations had taken over completely, I think I’d have drifted off. As it is, the book earns the wander.
What stuck with me most was that the character work was doing the heavy lifting underneath. If the shifting locations had taken over completely, I think I’d have drifted off. As it is, the book earns the wander.
The setting is the hook, but that kind of book lives or dies on whether the emotional centre keeps pace. Time travel can get very showy very quickly, which is fine until it starts acting like a distraction from the actual story.
What I like here is that the premise promises movement, but the real interest is whether the characters can hold still long enough to matter. That balance is harder than it looks.
What I like here is that the premise promises movement, but the real interest is whether the characters can hold still long enough to matter. That balance is harder than it looks.