The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan (review)

Marrill from Arizona wants to save her sick mother, while Fin from an orphanage on a grim pirate world wants to find his missing mother; both kids stumble onto a ship traveling the Pirate Stream, a magical water source that connects all worlds. Luckily, they land with a capable crew and embark on a quest to find a fabled map that will, perhaps, give them all they seek. Of course, a powerful map in a parallel time/space stream can be devastating in the wrong hands, and Marrill and Fin quickly learn that Serth, a terrifying and obsessed wizard, is also seeking the map pieces in order to fulfill an apocalyptic prophecy. The pace takes a bit to get rolling, but once it does, there’s no catching one’s breath as the kids (and the crew with whom they’ve fallen in) risk life and limb to gather pieces and try to stay one step ahead of, or sometimes catch up to, Serth. Neither Marrill or Fin have much experience in making friends, and their tentative but determined efforts at understanding how to compromise, risk, and share with a peer is one of the quiet highlights of the novel. Fans of The Phantom Tollbooth will appreciate the traveling aspect: each area the crew encounters is effectively described as quirky, dangerous, and distinctive. Readers will undoubtedly be eager for the next volume to see what happens next for both the tortured, haunting Serth and those who are trying to stop him.