Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Cartographers

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

71 reviews

emeraldelephant's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-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

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middumullu's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

The premise was really interesting and honestly carried the first half of the book - maps are so exciting and niche, so exploring that world was a really interesting subject. The deeper I got into reading it the worse it got, though :/.

The characters were all one dimensional and did not grow throughout the story. The antagonist was very one note and his motivations were really underdeveloped. Most characters were explained (Nell is a Young, therefore she is stubborn) instead of showing this trait for her. The romance subplots in the book also lacked any kind of tension, chemistry, or energy - I only felt any kind of real emotion between Nell and Felix when they were arguing. As for the other couples, WHOOO did they lack chemistry! They felt so contrived, especially the love triangle (?) with Romi, Francis, and Eve. I don't understand what draws any of these characters together, other than the plot dictating it.

Now onto the tropes, oh the tropes. Nell's mother, Tamara, was burdened with the weight of the world with her story. First: she's the dead mother. Second: she's this brilliant and charismatic student that everyone loves. She did not feel like a real person, more of a vessel for other characters to go through emotions or problems.

It turns out she's alive the whole time which was a bad twist because of how predictable it was, and how unbelievable!

I had a lot of issues with her character lacking dimension and personality. The way that "found family" was used with the group of Tam and Daniel's college friends was told and not shown - it did not feel remotely real or close or dynamic, just like it wanted to jump onto the found family in academia trend. Just a bunch of people who we were told were smart and good at what they did but with no depth.

The world building was poor and I feel like it didn't hold up. Especially around the magic system - it was very loose in how it could be used and how it was practically applied in the story. There weren't any rules to how it worked, and any rules that were there shifted around according to what the plot necessitated. This was especially a problem towards the end of the book as the magic is explored more in depth.

I also noticed three missing commas. That was just a little picky thing I got frustrated with. But it's all these little details that added up to make it not a very satisfying book, or even one that made a lot of sense when held up to a light.

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spacecurl's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

3.75

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aklovekorn's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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mateoj's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I definitely thought John Green invented Agloe for Paper Towns—never have I been so happy to have been totally wrong! To compare the two novels actually seems a little insulting to The Cartographers. This is everything Paper Towns wished it could be and so much more; balm for the part of my soul that rages about all the cool concepts mediocre young adult fiction has butchered.

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amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

3.5

it was fine

i dunno why the parents made the decisions they did. i also figured out the villain pretty early on

i think the maps aesthetic is cool but it felt like too much sometimes

very slow start and slow pace not super exciting for a mystery

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