Scan barcode
A review by pznightingale
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
2.0
... Can anyone explain some of the gaping plot holes to me?
Was the main character actually *35* years old? She acted like she was in her twenties. She took crazy bad behaviour from her father and her boyfriend and said and did nothing. Seriously, her dad got her fired from the job she got a PhD to get, because he said that she was doing work on low-priority things that wasn't necessary, and she was like "okayy" and lives the rest of his life without speaking to him, and now she is a pariah in the community. What? And Felix breaks up with her again and again for the worst reasons I've probably ever heard of, and yet she forgives him (even apologises?) What?
Did she actually have a PhD in cartography? I do not have a PhD in cartography and I knew some of the things about maps that she was shocked to find out about.
Did the bad guy have a motivation for what he was doing? This is a serious question. Please, if you know, let me know. Why was he doing these things at all (and why did our protagonists care?)
The plot holes were huge, but also, the writing was honestly pretty bad. There were weird, lazy proclamations like, "It isn't a map that makes a place real. It's the people." What does that actually mean, though? And, as usual, the editing errors were annoying. Please, someone, anyone, everyone, hire an editor. Just a cheeky little proofreader. I promise it's ok to.
It gets two stars instead of one because until it completely unravelled, parts of it were entertaining.
Was the main character actually *35* years old? She acted like she was in her twenties. She took crazy bad behaviour from her father and her boyfriend and said and did nothing. Seriously, her dad got her fired from the job she got a PhD to get, because he said that she was doing work on low-priority things that wasn't necessary, and she was like "okayy" and lives the rest of his life without speaking to him, and now she is a pariah in the community. What? And Felix breaks up with her again and again for the worst reasons I've probably ever heard of, and yet she forgives him (even apologises?) What?
Did she actually have a PhD in cartography? I do not have a PhD in cartography and I knew some of the things about maps that she was shocked to find out about.
Did the bad guy have a motivation for what he was doing? This is a serious question. Please, if you know, let me know. Why was he doing these things at all (and why did our protagonists care?)
Spoiler
The ending. It makes no sense. The reveal seems to make our bonkers protagonist happy, instead of absolutely furious that it was hidden from her for her entire life. Tam could have left at any point, been with her daughter, but she didn't because "the Youngs are stubborn." The Youngs are stupid.The plot holes were huge, but also, the writing was honestly pretty bad. There were weird, lazy proclamations like, "It isn't a map that makes a place real. It's the people." What does that actually mean, though? And, as usual, the editing errors were annoying. Please, someone, anyone, everyone, hire an editor. Just a cheeky little proofreader. I promise it's ok to.
It gets two stars instead of one because until it completely unravelled, parts of it were entertaining.