Nix’s father is a Navigator. That means that he, using real maps (the ones actually hand-drawn by cartographers) can TRAVEL THROUGH TIME. He can even travel to fantasy lands, if he so desires.

But he doesn’t.

The only thing he really wants is to go back to 1868 and find Nix’s mother. Even if going back could erase Nix’s existence . . .

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My Rating

Three and a half stars.

An Entertaining One Sentence Summary

Nix’s dad is completely, brutally obsessed with going back in time and finding Nix’s mother even if that means plundering the Hawaiian Treasury with an army of Sima Qian’s terra cotta warriors come back to life and hey who cares his daughter might be obliterated in the fantastical impossibility of two of yourselves existing in one reality (whaaaaat) he gonna do it anyway.

*Go daddy, go daddy*

The art of this amazing Deviant artist book fan fiend

More Entertaining Short Summaries

TIME-TRAVELING PIRATES.

Cute Persian dude who steals stuff for Nix.

Hawaiian folklore.

Moneyyyyyyy.

Pretty ships.

Magical birds that heal diseases.

A bag that never gets full (this would be helpful for my schoolbooks yes yes).

A cute little dragon named Swag (so whenever I read about him I just imagined the red dragon from Mulan because he so #swag).

Initial thoughts

I walked into the library.

I wanted something pretty.

I saw this prettiness.

And I picked it up.

#Goalz

I am notorious for passionately hating the world of YA. AND YET I READ YA ANYWAY. Yes, I am a pathetic mushroom of indiscretion. But this book?? Wow. The language was so colorful, so deep. Nix made tons of references to mythology and other high-intellect things (instead of being typical fluffy YA in which you don’t have to consider ANY sentences whatsoever).

However . . .

This book was EXTREMELY CONFUSING.

I still don’t even know what exactly happened (that may be because I crammed reading this thick novel into three days’ time and I was racing with myself to see how fast I could read it AND Spring Break is almost over HELLLLLP). Heilig often used too much explanation that didn’t actually explain anything so I was just sitting there, rereading a chunk of text that was absolutely critical to understanding how Navigating works.

So I gave up.

Maybe I’m just lazy.

I don’t understand what happened to Nix’s mom; who the heck Joss was; Bee’s background; and who in the world was Rotgut? Not much character development beyond Nix, Kashmir, Slate, and then the dashingly handsome Blake (because it’s YA . . . gotta throw in a handsome duuuuuuddddeeee)

BUT.

Time travel is an incredibly mind-boggling genre to write and I applaud Heidi for her beautiful take on it. The book truly was enjoyable, even if it did have a few objectionable elements that just seemed to be THROWN IN (more on that in a moment).

So . . .

What I did like

• The actual intelligence of this book.
• The beautiful descriptions of Hawaii (book me a flight rn k thanks)
• PIRATESSSSSS
• Kasmir 😉
• The magical warrior dudes that left people trembling in fear

What I didn’t like

• The time travel wasn’t explained very well. STILL confused about important details.
• Okay so they were all making a big deal about how long it would take to rob the Hawaaiin treasury and make a map to get back to 1868 Hawaii but then it took Nix and her crew like a few weeks to get the plan for Hawaii destruction written and then Blake is like oh dude I can draw give me a few days and you’ll be on your way.
• Like what.
• What happened here.
• I think Heidi got tired of writing (which I kinda don’t blame her IT’S EXHAUSTING)
• There were some objectionable elements. Thrown in. For no reason. Why. Plus some cussing. And Bee had a wife?? And she was a girl?? And she used to be in a tribe and she bought her wife for cattle? #BackstoryConfusion

Quotable Quotes

In every myth, paradise was meant to be lost.

Jealousy is simply the fear of being abandoned.

Have you read this book? Do you LOOOOOVE the time traveling? The pirates? The sassy, attractive Persian thieves???