The Girl of Ink and Stars
#7943.67 adjusted 3.69 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2016 Reading commitment Low Kiran Millwood Hargrave Last reviewed 2026-09-29
Overview
Kiran Millwood Hargrave's 2016 debut, winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year, is set on the island of Joya, where a Governor has forbidden all travel by sea and walled the village of Gromera off from the island's Forgotten Territories. Isabella, a cartographer's daughter raised on her father's maps and stars, volunteers to guide the search when her best friend, the Governor's daughter, disappears beyond the walls, and finds a monster-haunted wasteland where the island's old myth of a fire demon is waking. Published in the United States as The Cartographer's Daughter.
Mythic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
The Girl of Ink and Stars (2016) core · 3.67 (17,997 ratings); Chicken House, May 2016; the author's debut. Published in the United States as The Cartographer's Daughter.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Girl of Ink and Stars? The Girl of Ink and Stars's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is The Girl of Ink and Stars finished? Complete (2016).
- How much reading does The Girl of Ink and Stars take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~240 pages).
- How is The Girl of Ink and Stars ranked? #794 in this site's official ranking, based on 17,997 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #794?
Ranked #794 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.67 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (17,997 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #793, The Darksword Trilogy (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 1 book · Complete · 18k ratings · Ranks #794 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment mythic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Waterstones Children's Book Prize, 2017: won: The Girl of Ink and Stars
- British Book Awards (Children's Book of the Year), 2017: won: The Girl of Ink and Stars
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.67 across 17,997 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: The Girl of Ink and Stars (Kiran Millwood Hargrave) accepted 2026-09-29
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Kiran Millwood Hargrave (official site) Tier 1
- BookTrust Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-09-29
Rule: Core Canon = The Girl of Ink and Stars (2016) only, standalone.