I picked up this book on a whim, when looking for one “recommended by a librarian” to finish the little summer reading challenge. The theme for the challenge was “voyage through time” with a generously broad interpretation- so things on the librarians’ pick shelf ranged from historical fiction to time travel stories. I chose one of the former to read for the challenge, this one is of the latter.
It’s about a girl whose father is captain of a ship- and the ship can take them anyplace they have a map for. And depending on when the map was made, the ship takes them to that time as well. Apparently it also works for places that were drawn from imagination- shores of islands that never really existed, maps drawn for fantasy countries- the ship will take them there. Disappointingly, in the story they never actually go to a fantasy land (as far as I read), but they have curious items and magical creatures on board that only existed in places reached by invented maps. Such an intriguing premise! and I often like stories that take place on sailing ships, and this one has a bit of pirate adventure feel to it. But somehow I lost interest halfway through. Not sure why- probably because I’m not the target audience and the further it got into intrigue and adventure, the less interested I became.
There’s so much going for it, though. The girl has a difficult relationship with her father, in the first place because her mother died (of an illness I think) when she was born, which devastated him. In the second place, because he has an addiction to opium. And his quest is one that might put her in danger- he wants to find a map that will take him back to the island she was born on, in particular right before her birth, so he can give her mother a cure. He’s adamant about this goal, even though tried many times and never got to the right time and place. The closer he gets to success, the more anxious our main character is for what will happen- it’s that classic time travel paradox. Will she cease to exist? will she exist as herself at the current age, and also as an infant? does her father even care. He doesn’t seem to. Again, I’m not sure why I got tired of this novel. It certainly reads well, I was going through it quickly at first. There’s a love triangle that arises, between the girl, one of her shipmates, and a young man on an island they land on. There’s also some minor characters that could be interesting- two more shipmates from distant, exotic places- but they seemed rather flat and so in the background, I felt like I never really knew who they were. Oh well. I think my twelve-year-old might really like this book, but I found myself picking up magazines to read instead, between chapters, so it’s time to move on for me.
Borrowed from the public library.
