Hawaiian-born 16-year-old Nix Song has spent most of her life traveling though time, "navigating" on her father's schooner, the Temptation. Her father, Slate, is a haunted man, addicted to opium and heartsick at having lost Nix's long-dead mother, Lin. He is anxious to return to 1860s Honolulu so he can reunite with and hopefully save Lin. To do this, he needs an accurate map of the era r 16 years, Nix and Slate have jumped through different centuries, acquiring maps that have led them astray. They have also gathered a wonderfully diverse ship's crew that now includes Nix's multilingual, roguish, Persian love interest, Kashmir. Finally they find a proper map and have a chance to actually rewrite history, but Nix, though longing for her mother's presence in her life, is understandably fearful of what this will mean for her existence. With time travel, fantasy, Hawaiian history, mythology, cute animals, and a feisty protagonist, romance and fantasy readers will find much to enjoy in this quick read, which features a conclusion suggesting a sequel.

Although born in Hawaii in 1868, Nix Song is sixteen years old in modern timedue to her father's time-traveling ship, on which she is an expert, but unhappy, deckhand. Nix has spent her entire life on board, dipping in and out of various lands and centuries. Her ability to tag almost any experience with a mythic reference speaks to her love of reading, although it may leave some teen readers feeling distanced. Nix's relationship with her father, Captain Slate, is troubled by his fierce obsession with time-traveling back to 1868 Honolulu, where her Chinese mother died giving birth to Nix. She is terrified that such a trip would erase her existence. A misdated map lands the ship in Honolulu in 1884, where businessmen are plotting to overthrow the last king of Hawaii. They offer Slate his desired 1868 map if he will loot the Royal HawaiianTreasury, assuring their victory. Nix comes to this task reluctantly but with an extraordinary, perhaps unrealistically, sudden intuition based on ancient Chinese lore. She is aided by a shipmate, Kashmir, an inveterate thief whose cheerful, teasing friendship is one of the book's delights.Time travel can be intricate; Heilig presents a dizzying array of intermeshed events, dates, and maps. The plot is rooted in actual Hawaiian history, and redolent with realistic details and Hawaiian folklore. Belief is necessary for time travel, Slate tells Nix, and the reader may ultimately be surprised at how smoothly the fantastical elements here mesh with the real.Katherine Noone.