Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Cartographers

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

27 reviews

alexlily's review against another edition

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4.0

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outernetbex's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

i really enjoyed this book. i knew almost nothing about it going in which i think made it really fun and surprising- especially the reveal. i had a few issues w the main character, but other than that found the characters believable. they felt like real people making decisions within the world they exist in. however, nell just felt a bit naive most of the time? it was stated throughout the book how smart she is, how good with maps she is, etc etc- yet we don’t really see that. everything going on with the maps she is either told or can’t figure out by herself.

AND WHY DO THEY NEVER TAKE PICTURES?.!,!, i understand that it wouldn’t like be a real copy of the maps, but it would allow them to study them longer? like the seaborn map of the library or whatever it’s called like she definitely could have taken a picture of it and found the hidden room. also i’m not sure about the reveal that her mom is still alive in agloe… like how is she not insane from isolation. idk i know it’s a magical realism story but it seems a bit far fetched even for the concept of this book. maybe it would make more sense if so much time had not passed?? idk

anyway i felt like i was connecting the dots despite nell’s narration, or clue gathering, not because of it. that being said i do like the reveals and think most of them are spot on with setting them up well enough that they make sense while also still feeling like a surprise.

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tericarol21's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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ejanephillips's review

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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

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cookiecat73's review against another edition

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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

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maethereader's review against another edition

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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.

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th18's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book was just fine. Nothing amazing. The writing felt juvenile and so many events were happening it felt rushed. I was irritated by the author constantly reminding us of how small the FMC was - her 'tiny frame' and how cardigans engulfed her etc.

Also she has a ton of bad personality traits that are just brushed away as her being a Young, like being too stubborn for her own good,not listening to anyone and not giving the map to the police like a sensible person after the break in and when she realised it would put a literal target on her back.

Lastly, her relationship kinda came out of nowhere after ignoring eachother the past 7 yrs. (Idk why Felix couldn't understand that she couldnt control her father firing him?!)

and honestly atleast 100 pages could've been dropped.

The nicer things:
Great idea but not great execution. It's nice that she still chose to stick with her passion for maps instead of going for a different higher paying job

(though unsure how she was going to be the SENIOR researcher at NYPL 2 days after returning to the place even though she hasn't even been working in a library the past 7 yrs).

Also somehow kept me reading until the end so props to the author for that.

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