You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

99 reviews

ikeastorage's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Phantom settlements are incredibly interesting to me, the idea of them becoming real when following the map is great. The magic(?) system seemed well thought out and wasn't too confusing, although it was a bit confusing because it was introduced ~halfway through the book though it worked out well.
The way the original Cartographers were integrated with Nell's life was done very well. I did guess that William was Wally pretty early after he was introduced but Humphry caught me by surprise. /pos Nell's mother being alive was not my favorite part of the ending but, personally, it also didn't take anything away from the ending.
All in all, I think this was a great, enjoyable read and I would recommend it.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

livwoods's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book got me out of my reading slump. What a fantastic, intriguing story about maps and their power to bring people together, or, unfortunately, drive them apart. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mcbuckelew's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Ehh lots of characters and a little hard to follow on details. Not sure if  the main plot twist really makes sense if you think about it. 
Also the author has clearly never been to Wisconsin or UW Madison lol. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

stagemanaginger's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Easily hands down the best book I’ve read in a long time. I’m usually pretty good at figuring out twists before they happen, but this book got me almost every time! Truly magical. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

amplify's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I read through the first 3/4 very quickly and found the storyline engaging and enjoyable but, as expected from other reviews, the end did fall apart a bit and what plot holes were forgivable did become rather annoyingly obvious and distracting. 

It almost felt as though the publisher put pressure to speed the process up and the author didn’t slow down to question motivations enough to make them believable. Not enough, “not what would I like to see happen and what should really happen” questioning going on while developing the finally thesis.

That said, I loved the concept and I really enjoyed a solid 75% of the book so…
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ejanephillips's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

adamsbookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 I loved the idea of this novel and the overall plot was well executed. However there was something about this novel that just couldn't keep my interest. It just felt so long and I had to force myself to keep reading by locking my phone in the other room. Maybe my attentions span is the problem here? Who knows. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cookiecat73's review

Go to review page

mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

quidproqueer's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Excellent concept, but only decent execution. The ending didn’t quite stick the landing for me personally, but I enjoyed the ride for what it was. I liked the amount of magical realism and could’ve done with a bit more world-building connected to that magic. The characters could’ve been more developed but I liked the variety of personalities. Still generally a fun read. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

maethereader's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

This was an engaging story in the beginning, then I got bored (the characters weren't especially likeable or believable) and this could have easily been a DNF... but at around the 50% mark, it picked up again, weaving together the characters' lives & pasts, and I was quite engaged from that point on. The different voices for different characters in the audiobook was quite enjoyable as well. I also found myself really liking the magical realism, mystery element, and excitement in the second half of the book. And I love that this is based on a true story! That little history section at the end, so fascinating! It makes it feel all the more magical.

Unfortunately, the magical bits did not have rules or logic, something which I had been waiting the whole time to be put together. That was quite disappointing and leaves a lot of large plot holes which make the whole story just not make sense. The second disappointment was just that the characters didn't seem super real -- many of their motivations and actions just didn't make sense (especially the "evil" character). I think if the magic in this book made sense or if the characters were genuinely believable, this would have been a favorite for me.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings