A review by laurenleigh
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

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

4.5

Genre blending can be done poorly, or in this case, can be done very well! I would say this read mainly as contemporaryliterary fiction, where we’re set in the present day, and there’s a lot of time and space to explore relationships. The thriller and magical realism elements were wonderfully subtle, and the blending together was done with a good deal of finesse. I loved how the story Nell’s parents unfolded alongside the main action, told through her parents’ friends. This was done with different narrators, who were primarily quite good, only one bugged me lol. I also LOVED that Harper Collins put the maps from the book in a pdf online and mentioned this link at the beginning of the audiobook. What a great way to honor the important visual component while in audio format!
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