The Cartographers
Ratings180
Average rating3.5
A niche subject with a secret that could change ‘everything'? Yes, please!
So this should have been a book I loved. I could overlook that the characters were one note because it was a big cast of characters and we had to keep up with several people. There were a couple plot holes that I filled in with my own suppositions. And that didn't bother me too much.
POSSIBLE SPOILER:
One of the things that did bother me and I really couldn't get past was that the bad guy was “hunting down and destroying every last [map] - along with anyone who gets in his way.” The bad guy was hunting and destroying people, but all the characters only cared about the maps! I don't think any of them cared about the murder victims until the last few pages. However by the time they cared about Murder victims the character motivations were so wild that I stopped caring. I think I could have overlooked the heartless characters if there was a little more recognition that they were heartless in pursuit of their maps.
“Maps bring people together.” This is a quote I think I will always remember and is my favorite in the book. This is a well crafted, fun story. I like the way the characters all respond in unique, realistic ways to the conflict. Good enough to read again.
This was a pretty neat book, a nice mystery and adventure with magical realism. While some things didn't quite add up to me and there are some grievances I have with the characters I enjoyed this story overall and found it compelling. Made me think a lot of John Green though.
It did kind of gnaw at me though that I couldn't quite believe that Wally was so dangerous when everything first went down. Like, yes, he went off the rails, but surely there had to be a better way than hiding in the town for 30 years while your daughter and husband are on their own growing up not knowing you and believing you're dead. Sure by the end he's obviously a problem, but initially I just don't buy it especially when the one person who might ever be able to get through to him decides to stay stuck in the town. Then the rest of you decide (because for some reason you're convinced Wally will come after you I guess) instead of sticking together to protect each other you're like yeah let's never see each other again thanks bye. Also Felix kinda sucks. Leaving Nell via a note the first time for something that wasn't really even her fault? Nah that's some bullshit and then he's giving her ultimatums to be with him the second. Absolute trash.
After hearing an interview with Peng Shepherd on NPR's Book of the Day podcast, I was really looking forward to her latest novel, “The Cartographers.”
New York Public Library: check. Rare maps: check. Dead/estranged father in maps room at NYPL: check. Right up my alley!
The first third of the book did not disappoint! The setup, tension, mysteries around every corner had me turning pages.
However, I found the characters to be rather one-dimensional. The plot also had some issues, such as the main character and her father, as well as a post-college fiancé, becoming estranged for 7 years. The villain's reason for all the mayhem also didn't make sense. I also think the author could have spent more time researching processes of folks who handle antiquities (they don't handle rare/brittle maps with used dish gloves, for example).
I ended up skimming the second half of the book. My overall sense is that the book was rushed and might have been much better if the author had taken more time with it. I will try another book of the author's at some point.
I am so conflicted by this book. The idea and concept of it were great, but something in the execution just doesn't sit right. The way the story is told makes no sense and constantly brings you out of immersion. The people keep telling Nell a part of the story but others are also in the car, which is totally gloshed over. Or more pretends that its not true. But that makes the way everyone tell their bit really unrealistic and weird within the context.
The way the world works with the maps and the fact her mother was stuck there also just makes no sense. So many things happened, and many characters died unnecessarily which makes the things that happen have no emotional pay off.
I am happy this didn't end badly because I really thought it was going to. The story pretended that Nell was lost forever, as if the whole reason her mom stayed there for so long was still active. But of course it wasn't. And luckily it didn't end that way. It did leave me so utterly unsatisfied and disappointed though.
I love maps
The concept for this story is fascinating and the fact that it's based on a real fake town is ever cooler.
Certainly more magical realism than actual magic. And I'd consider it more of a mystery than anything else.
Did not like the writing style of this book. All the characters were unlikable. It's sad because I was really looking forward to this book.
I liked it, the idea was original enough but there were just some plot drivers that seemed very forced, in particular the Father daughter bust up, and the forced “love interest” subplot that seemed totally dictated by the publisher and had no reason whatsoever to be there. Apart from that pretty light and enjoyable
I have always had a fascination with maps. My career (geologist) and several of my hobbies (sailing and hiking) revolve around both map making and interpretation so the theming here was always going to capture me.
Here we are given a Dan Brown style mystery wrapped in some magical realism based around a very real artifact present in some maps - phantom settlements. These are fake places put onto maps to try and catch copyright thieves. The cross genre nature of this story does lead to some messiness in the structure, and the inherent plot holes found in any Dan Brown style mystery are most definitely present here too, but I had fun reading it. Definitely a book that forces you to suspend your disbelief so ymmv depending on how you approach it. For me an adventure featuring cartographical nerdiness works well. The fantastical elements are maybe a bit overwrought but in the end it is fun, and to be honest, that is the main reason to read things, isn't it?
*2.5 stars. The cover is fantastic. The concept is ingenious. There is intrigue and mystery. There is magical realism. It has all the things - and yet, in the end I failed to connect with the characters and repetitious (this really got to me at times, see an example below) and muddled backstory didn't serve to move the narrative. The most exciting development in the novel, the mind-blowing discovery that should be the very crux of the mystery, is barely explored, and many of the characters and their interactions seemed of the cut and paste variety. The big finish feels silly and the plot holes detract from any sense of wonder that might be remaining. The second big fiction release recently (The Book of Cold Cases) that has let me down.
Was this edited, like, at all?
“...I scarcely had the first inklings of how far it had really gone. None of us really knew just how deep this obsession of his really went. We didn't know what he was truly capable of.”
This seems a bit repetitious in a repetitive sense. It truly reads like it might repeat what repeatedly what was just said. It is just repetitive repetition.
2.5 Stars
When I start reading a new book I have the rating in mind from start to finish and when I tell you I fought hard for this book. I kept making excuses for it in my mind to keep that rating high. At 40% I had to accept it wasn't going to be a 5 star read, at 70% we hovered at 4-3 stars, at 80% I was sure that my final verdict would be 3 stars and I had a review drafted already that said “It was a good story but not a good novel.” Then somehow at that 90% mark it dropped to a 2 star, because it made me mad. I can't in good conscience even say it was a good story after reading that last act.
The premise is so interesting, the mystery intriguing, the cover GORGEOUS, but that's all the praise I could find after finishing the book.
One thing that stood out as I was reading was the lack of immersion. The author didn't spend time painting the settings or crafting the atmosphere of the scenes leaving me feeling emotionally disconnected to the happenings of the book. I wanted to be in there, experiencing the story with the characters, feeling the wonder and the grief and shock and joy, instead I felt like I was a passive bystander reading some director's notes for this excellent movie they had in mind.
While the majority of the book was told in third person, there are chapters from in first person POV from various characters. There are 2 problems I found with this:
1. The shift from third person to first was so clumsy and entirely took away from the reading experience
2. None of these characters have a distinct voice. They all sound the same.
The magic system in the book's universe was so confusing to understand. This wouldn't actually matter a lot of times, I've read plenty of books where the magic is never explained, but it felt especially bad in this book in particular because the characters are academics. Academics who have just discovered magic. And they did try to explain it to us but it was just a confusing mess all in all.
(Personal pet-peeve: some of the dialogue is too cheesy and cliché. Maybe just a nitpick)
One last thing, in terms of the dark academia genre, this book falls flat. Self importance, secrecy, and drama are key components to dark academia novels, but these things can also be insufferable. Most books in the genre deal with it by making the reader feel included in this elite group and making the audience buy into the hype of whatever discipline the cast of characters focus on like classics, theatre, history, the likes. I expected this book to make me fall in love with cartography and make me understand why these characters are so passionate (to the point of MURDER) about the craft of map making. The Cartographer's did no such thing and I think that's it's biggest failure.
The concept and the writing were superb and kept me wanting to read more. I did sometimes feel like the stakes weren't as high as the characters thought, but overall enjoyable with good characters.
Posted at: https://fanfiaddict.com/review-the-cartographers-by-peng-shepherd-audiobook/
Peng Shepherd, once again, perfectly blends reality and the fantastical into an engrossing page-turner that is guaranteed to satisfy.
The best fiction stories I???ve read are those that are steeped in truth. This is where Peng Shepherd shines. Her previous novel ???The Book of M??? was loosely based on a real event called ???Zero Shadow Day??? which happens when the sun reaches it???s zenith position twice a year for locations between +23.5 and -23.5 degrees of latitude and people ???lose??? their shadows. Her short story published on tor.com ???The Future Library??? is based on a real project where writers submit story to a trust that plants trees in Norway which they will use to publish those stories 100 years from now. The Cartographers is also is rooted in truth, but you???ll have to figure out how after you read the book.
Once i had caught wind of The Cartographers, the title alone peaked my interest. From my hobby of geocaching to perusing Google Maps with no particular destination, I???ve been fascinated with maps and the secrets they may hold. To this day I???m always curious to explore and often think of those remote places and who inhabits them. The Cartographers plays a sweet tune to the curiosity that there???s more out there that we just don???t see.
The story opens up with our main character Nell Young imagining her life as a map conservationist at the New York Public Library, touching up the ???T??? in ANTARTICVS in the lower right legend of the famous Frau Mauro (left image ??? I immediately hit the web and found this beautiful interactive version to tease your taste buds) but rather she just prints another duplication ??? opposite of what she was trained to do in a previous life. Nell had a former life working with her renowned cartographer father at the map division in the NYPL until an ???incident??? which caused them to break contact with each other for the past 7 years.
As the story progresses, Nell learns of her estranged fathers death and stumbles upon some secrets that he has been withholding from her from that fateful ???incident???. We follow Nell as she collect the pieces and clues only known to her fathers former colleagues (who had known Nell when she was a baby) about a ???project??? he was consumed in and potentially more about her mother who she also lost when she was young. The deeper she digs the more mysterious, and dangerous, things become.
Within each ???section??? of the book, as new key characters are introduced, we get a bit of a flashback as told from their perspective, telling Nell about their time in college with her parents. The audio narration here plays upon the multiple narrators, giving each character their own voice, though only during these flashback scenes. We learn more and more about what happened to Nell???s mother, her father???s secret ???project??? and the power of the maps surrounding the group.
There were a couple excellent character reveals here, edge-of-your-seat moments, and questions of trust and loyalty which all lead to a fantastic read.
BONUS: After reading, do a quick search about some of the things mentioned and you???ll never look at a map the same way.
What is the purpose of a map?