Review: A Mixed Bag of Love, Disappointment, and Unanswered Questions

Hey everyone, it's Haley and today I'm going to be doing a spoiler-free review for The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heigler. This book follows NYX, a young woman who has grown up in a world where her father has this incredible ability - he can travel anywhere he wants, as long as he has a map to it. Whether it's a real-world location or a fictional one, his power allows him to traverse the globe with ease. However, what makes NYX's life even more complicated is that she's been searching for a map that could take her back to her lost love, which is actually her mother.

I have to say that I really loved the writing style of this book. One of the things that stood out to me was the numerous references to William Blake, one of my absolute favorite poets. I found these little Easter eggs to be delightful and added a touch of whimsy to the story. Additionally, I appreciated the use of metaphor in the plot. These metaphors were woven throughout the narrative in a way that seemed almost organic, even if they ultimately fell flat for me when it came to the overall storyline.

The characters in this book are also an interesting aspect worth discussing. Nicks, NYX's father, is a complex figure with a fascinating power. However, I found him to be somewhat one-dimensional and lacking in depth as a character. He was often more of a plot device than a fully fleshed-out person, which made it difficult for me to connect with him on a deeper level.

On the other hand, Cashmir is a character who really stood out to me. His wit and air of confidence were infectious, making him a joy to read about. I found myself wanting to know more about him as the story progressed, and he ultimately became one of my favorite aspects of the book. Unfortunately, his relationship with NYX was also somewhat underdeveloped for my taste.

Speaking of NYX's father, I have to say that I couldn't stand him. He comes across as a self-centered and manipulative person who only cares about getting what he wants. His actions have a profound impact on NYX's life, leaving her feeling lost and uncertain about her place in the world. While it was frustrating to read about his behavior, I also felt bad for NYX because of the way he treats her.

One of my biggest disappointments with this book is the plot itself. As someone who loves books with travel as a central theme, I was really looking forward to seeing how the power worked and where NYX would end up. However, the story failed to deliver in this regard. Despite the promise of multiple destinations mentioned in the synopsis, the characters only traveled to a few locations, which left me feeling underwhelmed.

What did disappoint me even further is that nothing was explained about the travel method or its consequences. Unlike some books where the main character discovers they have special abilities and must learn to control them, NYX has been living with her power for her entire life. As such, there were no explanations or tutorials on how it worked - you simply got thrown into the story without any background information.

In terms of pacing and tone, I found The Girl from Everywhere to be slow and dry at times. The author's writing style is engaging, but the plot struggled to keep me invested. Overall, my experience with this book was mixed. While I appreciated certain aspects of the narrative, such as the references to William Blake and Cashmir's character, the disappointments far outweighed the positives.

Ultimately, I ended up giving this book three out of five stars. It was a letdown after all the hype surrounding its release, but I'm always eager to discuss books with fellow readers and hear their thoughts on them. If you've read The Girl from Everywhere, please share your experiences with me - I'd love to hear about what you thought of it!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone it's Haley and today I'm going to be doing a spoiler-free review for the girl from Everywhere by Heidi heig this book follows NYX and nyx's father has this really cool ability he is able to travel anywhere he wants so whether it's a real world or fictional world as long as he has a map to it he is able to go there but he has been obsessed with getting this one map forever that could take him back to his lost love which is actually nyx's mother but the problem is that finding this map and going to that place could actually erase nyx's existence the writing of this book was actually one of the things that I really loved about it there were multiple references to William Blake which is one of my absolute favorite poets so I loved reading the little kind of Sly references to Blake in there and I felt like there were a lot of things that were metaphorical that really worked with the story but they ultimately kind of fell flat when it came to the plot the characters themselves Nicks I found to be kind of just a not a very compelling um protagonist I wanted a little bit more from her I wanted her to kind of come out of her shell and become a character on her own because I felt like her character was mostly defined by those around her which was a little bit disappointing for me because I think she did have the potential to be a really great protagonist but there just wasn't that kind of compelling nature that you really need in a main character cashmir actually really liked as a character I found him to be kind of witty and he had this real kind of air of confidence um surrounding him but you did sometimes see the holes kind of poking through that especially when it came to Nicks and I think that their relationship was one of my favorite parts of the book and I just think that Kashmir was a character that kind of carried the story for me just cuz he was really fun and I loved hearing more about him nix's father I just could not stand and I think that was kind of mostly the point um he was a great a a-hole and I just I felt really bad for NYX because of that but I really wish that she could kind of move past what was happening with her father because I feel like as much as she acted like she was turning a blind eye to it it did really affect her and kind of more of the decisions that she made and her confidence the plot is where this book fell entirely flat for me so I really felt like honestly this book reminds me a lot of Passenger by Alexander Bracken which is funny because I had a lot of the same issues with passenger that I had with this one so I was so excited for this book it was one of my most anticipated releases for I believe it was winter of this year I don't even remember winter or spring um but it just let me down I just I thought that more Central to the plot would be the travel because in the synopsis you get certain places that um they can go and I was expecting them to go to those places but they don't really travel a lot travel is at the heart of the story but not like they don't actively travel themselves which was really disappointing because I love books where you travel and especially because the mode of travel in this book is so unique and interesting um I was really looking forward to seeing it but that being said nothing was explained I did like the fact that it wasn't like normal books where like kind of that Trope where you have the the um main character finds out all of a sudden that she's part of this new world and she has to learn it but the beauty of that is that you get to learn it alongside them so they're asking for explanations but NYX already has been living in this world her whole life so you don't get those explanations they're not thrown in there at all you're just kind of thrown right into the story which was really disappointing cuz I wanted to know how the travel worked and why it was happening and what was going on but I was just kind of left floundering without those explanations honestly the plot itself I just could not really get into I couldn't get on board with it and I just I was very disappointed because I wanted so much more for this book but it just didn't really do anything for me it was slow and and it was just a little bit dry and dull to be honest so overall I ended up giving this book a three out of five stars which is really unfortunate because I was so looking forward to it but it happenss I mean it's whatever it was a little bit of a disappointment but moving on to the next book so yeah um if you guys have read this book definitely let me know your thoughts on it because I'm very interested to see if other people have felt the same way that I did and and yeah I'll see you guys in the next video bye\n"