Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

122 reviews

emmonsannae's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-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

2.0

I’d really wanted to read this book for a long time, and it wasn’t an unenjoyable read, but I was disappointed by it. The story is promising and is an easy read. The premise is so intriguing! Its actual book was a bit of a letdown, though. The writing is a bit clumsy with a lot of telling rather than showing. I didn’t feel that words were used especially well—they were used in a utilitarian way to produce the story, but because of this they ended up taking away from the story. I ended up reflecting a lot while reading on how many other authors (even “non-literary” ones) fit language to their own ends so smoothly and effectively that we often don’t notice the artistry to what they’re doing. 

Most importantly, I felt the author took advantage of readers’ suspended disbelief by choosing not to explain key elements, which meant I was never fully bought in to what the plot was doing. And it was predictable—I guessed the major plot twist about 100 pages in. The characters were also fairly one-dimensional. Their motivations felt unbelievable and contrived for the sake of the narrative. Ultimately, I just didn’t feel like the book was well-written. It’s such a great idea for a story, though—I enjoyed the creativity of it very much. 

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hello_lovely13's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25


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olma's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

Had trouble setting this down. It reminded me of a mix of “Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore”
by Robin Sloan and “Series of Unfortunate Events.” 
That being said, I felt like the end was somewhat rushed and under-explained. Nell said she wouldn’t pick the map over her family, but she technically did and for some reason took months to actually reach out and let Felix know she was okay. Also, I felt like the explanation of the map wasn’t satisfactory. If all you had to do was make a map to create anything you wanted, why was it so important to put it into the Haberson map? He could have just drawn a map by hand theoretically and changed anything. I get that the danger was that he could control the world, but since other trap rooms /phantom settlements existed, there’s no reason Tam’s specific map needed to be uploaded (other than Wally’s obsession with her). I just didn’t feel like Tam staying away for 30 years actually needed to happen based on what actually happened and could have happened. Why protect that town from Wally when there could have been hundreds more? They literally could have tracked down any map with a phantom settlement.

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gillshea's review against another edition

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Love interest was terrible but I could maybe push through that but the pace things were getting revealed was so slow and things that got revealed didn’t give enough need to want to learn more. 

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esthersshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

I loved this book! The beginning is a little dense but I loved how the plot unfolded. For the first half of the book, the plot takes a backseat to character development. Literary writing, a murderer on the loose and a touch of dark academia? Yes please and can I have some more? 

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hal00alex's review against another edition

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

3.5

Great plot. Writing style relies on info dump which can take away from the characters, but the info dump teaches you a lot about maps. 

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spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

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mysterious

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kefowler's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

4.0


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emmakchapman's review against another edition

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

4.25


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sarahflanders's review against another edition

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

3.0


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