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A review by alexandriam_rose
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
3.0
this was a weird one - I ended up listening to the audiobook, which definitely helped with me initially liking the overall tone and atmosphere of the book, especially the first 25% or so.
It is all old maps, def a New York book with the library, mysterious murders, secrets, a thing that is apparently actually real called phantom settlements, secret shops in chinatown, and slightly dark academia. All of this starts out as a very cool and interesting premise, but I don't know if it holds up for the entire story.
I was interested in the book the whole time, again audiobook + sort of a thriller plot helped, but the magical element felt oddly unbelievable even though it is meant to be actually magic... I am usually here for fantastical elements but as more events happened and things were explained it felt like things didn't quite add up and there were some plot holes. I don't usually need everything wrapped up, but the execution felt a little confusing at times. The character motivations/decisions also probably contributed to that, for the most part I could go along with it, but when I really stopped to think about it they felt a bit strange, maybe over the top, or just without a little common sense? Though maybe they were justified in being scared of the villain, who was pretty obsessive...
reading some other reviews, I get the frustrations/critiques, but I liked the ideas around maps and the premise.
It is all old maps, def a New York book with the library, mysterious murders, secrets, a thing that is apparently actually real called phantom settlements, secret shops in chinatown, and slightly dark academia. All of this starts out as a very cool and interesting premise, but I don't know if it holds up for the entire story.
I was interested in the book the whole time, again audiobook + sort of a thriller plot helped, but the magical element felt oddly unbelievable even though it is meant to be actually magic... I am usually here for fantastical elements but as more events happened and things were explained it felt like things didn't quite add up and there were some plot holes. I don't usually need everything wrapped up, but the execution felt a little confusing at times. The character motivations/decisions also probably contributed to that, for the most part I could go along with it, but when I really stopped to think about it they felt a bit strange, maybe over the top, or just without a little common sense? Though maybe they were justified in being scared of the villain, who was pretty obsessive...
reading some other reviews, I get the frustrations/critiques, but I liked the ideas around maps and the premise.