Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Cartographers

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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spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

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mysterious

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atamano's review against another edition

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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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allapaz's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense 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? No

3.5

thrilling mysterious dark academic, a worthy and wonderful adventure, I could see myself rating higher on a reread if some plot holes are resolved by me reading versus audiobook-ing as woof that’s a lot of details and characters for my oatmeal brain to remember without being able to flip back a page

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livwoods's review against another edition

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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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ejanephillips's review against another edition

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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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caseythereader'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? No

4.25

- THE CARTOGRAPHERS is part mystery, part ode to libraries and curation. I was drawn in right from the start, happily along for the ride as this strange tale unraveled.
- To be honest, I could see where the plot was going pretty much the whole time, but Shepherd's writing was so cozy and the characters so real that it didn't matter if I figured it out before they did.
- This is the kind of book that I would love to see turned into a movie: the mechanics of the unreality elements would lend themselves so perfectly to the screen. So would the plot twists, tbh, but I won't give those away here!

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