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A review by aprilnnp
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
4.0
I keep vacillating between 3.5 and 4 ⭐️ for this one.
On one hand, the concept of this story is fascinating and pings all my receptors - books, libraries, a little intrigue, a little magical realism, a little love story, a lot of old-college-besties history, and while I don’t love maps, my husband does and so I feel like I have an adjacent fondness for them (even though I can’t read them properly to save my life.) The book moved fast enough to hold my interest and honestly the last quarter was a real page turner. On the surface, it should’ve been at least a 4-star book for me.
But while I was reading I kept having this niggling feeling of things being just a little off, just not hitting right - and it mostly boils down to the book feeling just not quite *enough.*
I wanted *more* magic, *more* fantasy, *more* love in the love story, a whole hell of a lot more communication from all parties involved, and honestly could’ve used some better exposition all around. I found myself just not quite believing it, which left the book feeling kind of flat for me.
Still glad I read it, definitely an enjoyable reading experience, but I’m still searching for my Holy Grail book of the year.
On one hand, the concept of this story is fascinating and pings all my receptors - books, libraries, a little intrigue, a little magical realism, a little love story, a lot of old-college-besties history, and while I don’t love maps, my husband does and so I feel like I have an adjacent fondness for them (even though I can’t read them properly to save my life.) The book moved fast enough to hold my interest and honestly the last quarter was a real page turner. On the surface, it should’ve been at least a 4-star book for me.
But while I was reading I kept having this niggling feeling of things being just a little off, just not hitting right - and it mostly boils down to the book feeling just not quite *enough.*
I wanted *more* magic, *more* fantasy, *more* love in the love story, a whole hell of a lot more communication from all parties involved, and honestly could’ve used some better exposition all around. I found myself just not quite believing it, which left the book feeling kind of flat for me.
Still glad I read it, definitely an enjoyable reading experience, but I’m still searching for my Holy Grail book of the year.