Title: The Ship Beyond Time

Author: Heidi Heilig

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Date: February 2017

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy

Series or Stand Alone: Series Book Two

 

Synopsis can be found here.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

Review:

After leaving their beloved Hawaii behind, Nix and her family and crew aboard the ship the Temptation strike out towards NYC and another series or adventures. There, she leans she will lose the one she loves most to the sea. And with that information, the idea that perhaps we can change our fate. And if so, is it worth sailing to the ends of the earth to find out?

Book One left me speechless and book two is no exception. It’s best to start with the first book The Girl From Everywhere, so don’t read further if you haven’t read it yet. There’s a lot more riding on this for Nix as she tries to outwit a clever foe and save her beloved in the process. What I really liked about it was how Nix was so vulnerable and frightened, so many nice layers to her character that really shown through in this sequel. In the first one, she was afraid of disappearing. And now, she’s afraid of the power, or lack there of, that the Navigators have.

We do get a little bit of Kash’s point of view in this story too which is fun. There’s a nice balance between him and Blake where they were just superficial foes in the first one, now they’ve come to an unsettling truce. Blake especially really shined in this sequel. His murky motivations were wonderfully human and real, with a lot of his own demons haunting his movements. He developed into one of the most interesting characters in the book, more than even Kashmir. (Though I love him.)

The story gets a little weighted down though and slows towards the middle as they go back and forth between what is possible and what is inevitable. There was still a lot of action and surprises that kept me interested, and I looked forward to reading it every night, sometimes even trying to put my baby down a little early so I could have an extra 10 minutes. (didn’t work.)

Overall, this sequel is a worthy second book in the series. It lives up to the adventure and creativity that I loved about the first one, exposing new layers to already beloved characters and introducing new dangers tonic and her crew. I can’t wait for book three.  I’ll just sit here in the corner then, biting my nails until it’s done.