Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

30 reviews

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me Secret History-but they grew up vibes. Now I really want to start a map collection.. 

Two things that bothered me were how stereotypically not-like-other-girls Nel is, (petite, unruly hair, big glasses, big cardigans, not chic, bookish, quiet but feisty) i struggled to imagine her that way and the wording always prompted an eye roll from me. The second thing was just how easily everyone spilled their past to Nel even though it was the first time they had seen her in 2+ decades, and the fact that they included all their petty drama. It completely broke immersion for me whenever someone who was prev ously reserved started talking about what was going on in their relationship and even their sex lives. I liked the story but the way it was conveyed to the reader felt weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol and Medical content

Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual content

cyndi1966's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

cgreenstein's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

Fast-paced and inventive, with enough hints to make the reveals feel earned rather than out of nowhere but not so many that everything is obvious right out of the gate. That's a hard balance to strike, I think, and this book handles it well, so each time something is revealed it's satisfying instead of prompting eye rolls. I would've appreciated a little more explanation of the climactic scene, and some of the ins and outs of how everything worked required me to go back and reread, and I am still not 100% sure I got it, but I think that's on me-- I'm not a detail-oriented reader, and I was more interested in the plot, which is rapid and twisty. The characters are fun, too, especially the family friends!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

spineofthesaurus's review

mysterious

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Stalking

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Classism and Pregnancy

tericarol21's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Grief, and Gun violence

atamano's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, and Gun violence

ikeastorage's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity

livwoods's review

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. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Grief, and Death

renyoi's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Really engaging text on cartography, interpersonal relationships, and familial dynamics. Author is good at making complex ideas understandable, but falls short near the end of the book in making her character motivations understandable,

specifically Wally, whose villainy went rather unexamined in any meaningful way the entire time

.  Thoroughly enjoyable ready with fully fleshed out characters you will absolutely grow to care for deeply, even when they make seemingly nonsensical decisions. Recommended!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Stalking, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity and Grief

Minor: Gun violence

cookiecat73's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Sexual content