A review by maethereader
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

This was an engaging story in the beginning, then I got bored (the characters weren't especially likeable or believable) and this could have easily been a DNF... but at around the 50% mark, it picked up again, weaving together the characters' lives & pasts, and I was quite engaged from that point on. The different voices for different characters in the audiobook was quite enjoyable as well. I also found myself really liking the magical realism, mystery element, and excitement in the second half of the book. And I love that this is based on a true story! That little history section at the end, so fascinating! It makes it feel all the more magical.

Unfortunately, the magical bits did not have rules or logic, something which I had been waiting the whole time to be put together. That was quite disappointing and leaves a lot of large plot holes which make the whole story just not make sense. The second disappointment was just that the characters didn't seem super real -- many of their motivations and actions just didn't make sense (especially the "evil" character). I think if the magic in this book made sense or if the characters were genuinely believable, this would have been a favorite for me.
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