The Girl From Everywhere: A Book Review

In an effort to get through the books I own before reading new books, I picked up The Girl From Everywhere, which I actually started reading back in October of 2025 and then DNF'd. But one of my personal intentions of the year (as opposed to my writerly intentions) was to actually allow the process to be a process. And since I didn't hate the book, I was just struggling with the pace of it, I picked it back up.

I'm sort of glad I did? It was good for my attention span, I think, and there were some rewards.

✦

What I enjoyed: 

• the premise - a time (& dimension) travelling sailing ship via maps! 
• the prose - there were some really gorgeous descriptions that set the scene
• Nix's name
• The thorough-seeming historical research

• Joss - the most compelling character of them all, whose story I would devour and probably prefer to read!
• The folk tales and mythology
• The Hawaiian Night Marchers
• Kashmir - an interesting and romantic character who is far more patient with Nix than I am
• The entire section on Emperor Qin Shin Huang's mausoleum (chilling, horrifying, engagingly depicted)
• The near-tender way the terracotta warriors were treated

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What I didn't enjoy:

• the vague explanation as to how Navigators actually Navigate
• the slow pace
  
• the confusion as to Joss's timeline (this may be a me issue - a lot of the depiction of time travel requires a suspension of logic I find difficult to achieve)
• Nix is rarely ever honest or direct in her communication, which can make her interactions really frustrating to read (I had to remember she's only sixteen and had not the greatest parent)
• The pace of the ending, which felt rushed, though it was a satisfying ending in and of itself
• Kashmir felt exotified, but given he's from a fictional world...it's sort of ok? Maybe? I'm not sure about this yet...
  

What I didn't mind (that other reviewers did)

• The love triangle: Nix herself explicitly says that she only considered a relationship with Blake (2nd love interest) because it would hurt less to lose him, and it felt safe to feel for him when she already knew/believed it wouldn't go anywhere (poor Blake, though)
• The romance (with Kashmir): for those who don't care for romance, this is an easily ignorable aspect of the overall story. For those who do like romance, it's all pining and self-denial and unconventional romantic gestures. Kashmir is a wonderfully romantic figure. Nix is semi-frustrating, but it's pretty fun that she's the more pragmatic and emotionally closed off character. Also, she has extremely understandable attachment issues thanks to her father, so one shouldn't judge her too harshly

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Will I read the sequel? Yes! In fact, I am reading it right now, specifically because there was enough about the world and magic of it that I'm intrigued to see further developments, and I'm hoping the pacing issue will be addressed. So far, it seems quicker paced and I like the development of the romance and the exploration of Navigation happening. I hope it holds up.

Until next time, happy reading and writing!