Peng Shepherd

'Exquisitely written ... Be prepared to be swept away on an incredible journey' Brad Thor, #1 bestselling author of Black Ice 'A story about magical maps that lead to your heart's desire [and] the people who would do anything to find them ... A vastly rich experience' Charles Soule, author of The Oracle Year Some places, you won't find on any maps. Others, are only on maps... Nell Young has lived her life in and around maps. Her father, Dr David Young, was one of the most respected cartographers in the world. He's also just been found dead - in his office at the New York Public Library. Nell hadn't spoken to him in years - ever since he fired her after an argument over a seemingly worthless highway roadside map. A map which was mass-produced - and every copy of which is being found and destroyed. But why? Answering that question will take Nell on a dangerous journey into the heart of a conspiracy beyond belief, a secret about her family, and the true power that lies in maps... Step inside the hidden world of The Cartographers.

The Cartographers

What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps...

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history

Katy Watkins

Cartography, at its heart, was about defining one's place in the world by creating charts and measurements. Nell had lived her life by that idea, that everything could be mapped according to references and thereby understood. But she could see now that she had been paying attention to the wrong references.

 was not a map alone that made a place real. It was the people. 

echo

kristie alexis

I’m a bit conflicted about this book. I love geography so it was fun to read a book centered around maps and I like the overall story. But maybe I just don’t understand the deeper meaning but at a logical level I completely disagree with how the young family dealt with conflict in this book - I don’t understand why they felt their decisions HAD to be done the way they did. Keeping it vague for spoilers. 

I enjoyed this book from the beginning, the audiobook actually being one of the best I’ve ever listened too. But as I got to the end of the book I felt what was a solid 4 stars slipped to 3 because I just really don’t get the logic behind Mel’s parents decisions. I enjoyed it but I think that alone made it not as impactful of a book for me. I’m rounding up because I did enjoy the read for the most part.

Ashley Denktas

I’m a bit conflicted about this book. I love geography so it was fun to read a book centered around maps and I like the overall story. But maybe I just don’t understand the deeper meaning but at a logical level I completely disagree with how the young family dealt with conflict in this book - I don’t understand why they felt their decisions HAD to be done the way they did. Keeping it vague for spoilers. 

I enjoyed this book from the beginning, the audiobook actually being one of the best I’ve ever listened too. But as I got to the end of the book I felt what was a solid 4 stars slipped to 3 because I just really don’t get the logic behind Mel’s parents decisions. I enjoyed it but I think that alone made it not as impactful of a book for me. I’m rounding up because I did enjoy the read for the most part.

Eva Ströberg

The book had a good start. Thriller maybe? A possibility of adventure? Who knows what a map can bring? I'm always fascinated by maps, hence I wanted to check this book out from the library.

However, as the plot progressed, I felt like I could see the story and the plot right through, and I was only one-third in the book. As I was nearing the end of the book, I could see that my suspicion and my guess were right in the beginning. This book was almost transparent in their plot and the conversations, the characters were not strong enough to make this book as mysterious and murky and exciting as the author intended to be. 

Three stars because it was nevertheless entertaining (with the idea, not so much with the execution)

Bria

** spoiler alert **
           I thought it was going to be Humphrey for a sec, and I'm glad it wasn't because I don't think Nell or I would've been able to handle it 😩

I'm glad he turned out to be Bear because that whole friend group—except Wally of course—is just the family Nell needed after losing her parents. They never stopped loving her and never will, and I'm so happy she has that. She's lost so much and never knew why, so the fact that they were the ones to tell her and support and love her throughout?? Remarkable 😭

Sarah Sammis

This novel ended up reading like a satisfying blend of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (2012) and Paper Towns by John Green (2008). There's a mysterious society, the Cartographers, and a mysterious town — Agloe, NY.

Agloe as authors Green and Shepherd are quick to remind, is a real paper town. The publishers of the original map put Agloe in their road maps to prove that they were the owners of the data being printed. Agloe, NY did show up on other publisher's maps and a lawsuit was started. But nothing came of it.

In The Cartographers, there is a surreal reason for why. The how and why of it brings to mind The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig (2013), in that travel by map can be a very different and magical thing.


http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm...




Couple / Family	Utopia	Blue Highway	33FF33

Sonia Grgas

Actually a 2.5. Another book that sounded very intriguing but was just…meh! I could not comprehend the motivation for almost all of the characters’ thoughts and actions. I would have DNF’d if it were not a book club book.

Strong start but it just didn’t make sense in the end. Although it has fantasy elements, the emotions and decisions didn’t make sense as human characters. The characters weren’t relatable. 

Ali Angco

Victoria 

nuélle

my feelings abt this book are very conflicted.... like there were a lot of things abt it that I liked but also some parts seemed very pretentious ????

Cigdem O

too predictable for a mystery book!! and it needed more magic, more romance and less characters..

I liked the plot more when it was still a mystery as to why people wanted the map.  I envisioned a reason like a lost Knight's Templar treasure, or something along those lines.  I wasn't thrilled with the twist of magical realism, but the book was still enjoyable.  Several of the plot twists are easy to see coming, but the mystery is compelling.  The backstory of what inspired the novel truly makes it worth reading.

shellybn

lots of really compelling elements in this book but it ended up falling on some tropes that i personally am not too much of a fan of — the young adult friend group with too many flavours of interpersonal relationship and has too many secrets and falls apart, the "villain" that is mildly neurodivergent-coded (obsessed with precision everywhere and constantly searching that feeling of "we finally have something together, just us"?), the parent causing child literal years of trauma but really it was for their own good/safety all along, the technology is the badguy, the (and this is really really really a spoiler) death-but-not-really-a-death... I think the mapmaking elements are really fun, though, and the idea of Agloe and things only existing when you have a map that shows you the way. the magic realism is great and it's not something that's picked apart or overly explained, it's just accepted as 

 because you know... they're mapmakers. they love maps.

oh, i'd also love more of an explanation of why humphrey does Classic. maybe it's just "the fastest way to make money" or whatever, or maybe i missed it.

Joyce

lots of really compelling elements in this book but it ended up falling on some tropes that i personally am not too much of a fan of — the young adult friend group with too many flavours of interpersonal relationship and has too many secrets and falls apart, the "villain" that is mildly neurodivergent-coded (obsessed with precision everywhere and constantly searching that feeling of "we finally have something together, just us"?), the parent causing child literal years of trauma but really it was for their own good/safety all along, the technology is the badguy, the (and this is really really really a spoiler) death-but-not-really-a-death... I think the mapmaking elements are really fun, though, and the idea of Agloe and things only existing when you have a map that shows you the way. the magic realism is great and it's not something that's picked apart or overly explained, it's just accepted as reality because you know... they're mapmakers. they love maps.

oh, i'd also love more of an explanation of why humphrey does Classic. maybe it's just "the fastest way to make money" or whatever, or maybe i missed it.

Patricia Nelson

I enjoyed this book, and would recommend for anyone who is looking for a story with a little magical realism thrown in, with themes about friendship, family, art versus science, sacrifice, and obsession. This was a book club pick, and there was a lot to discuss.

Mae Erceg

This book! I can not tell you how wonderful this story is. I loved every aspect. The writing, the timelines, the plot, character development, the plot twists! This is definitely one of my all time faves now and I’m excited to read it again down the line. 5/5 stars ! Highly recommend !

altlovesbooks

”I thought we were going to be friends forever. I thought nothing could tear us apart.”


More like books-about-maps and not books-about-books, but similar? 

Kind of a mediocre story with a super fun premise. A weird intersection of thriller, maps, and the New York Public Library is where you’ll find this book hanging out, and honestly it’s a very tough book to rate because of it. I don’t have a lot to compare it to.

Nell Young is an ex-cartographer, who once had her dream job working with maps in the NYPL, but was fired by her dad after a disagreement involving an old box of Junk and a gas station map. Now she produces fake replicas to hang on hotel walls, but dreams often about returning to her old job. That old gas station map comes back to haunt her after her father is found dead at his desk at the NYPL, and she soon discovers that it’s more dangerous than she ever knew.

Larger story/ending thoughts and spoilers:

(view spoiler)[So, like, how cool is it to be able to go literally anywhere as long as you have a map that says you can go there? I loved that idea, and wanted the author to play around with it a little more than just setting the story in Agloe, NY (which is a real (fake) place, actually) and creating convenient bolt holes for the characters to hide in for plot reasons.

I felt a little let down by the mystery as well. Once I could see where the story was going with Nell meeting the old friend group one-by-one, it became glaringly obvious that Wally was William, just by name alone. A mystery that is no longer a mystery becomes a bit boring to me.  (hide spoiler)]

It also read like a love letter to the NYPL. Which, don’t get me wrong, deserves all the love letters ever, but got a bit repetitive in story format. Nell waxes on for paragraphs about all the details she misses from the NYPL, details that no doubt exist but the average reader probably has a hard time connecting with. 

So, in non-spoilery general terms, I felt let down by the mystery, but did love the overall idea of the book. It was an entertaining enough read, but maybe not entertaining enough to rate it higher.

The integration of magical realism into cartography in this book was stunning (though there were disconnects in the logic, so if I were a geography major I'm sure I would not rate it as high). The concept of Agloe under phantom settlements tied with human thirst and greed creates a driving, well-reasoned plot. The evolution of the definition of found family throughout this novel left me reeling, especially since Nell is such a strong female lead, and I respect her wits and bravery. Although I guessed the plot twist in the end, I believe this is not "predictability," but rather it demonstrates how fleshed out the characters are. I could discern secret identities by comparing past and present decisions and actions. 

Julia Li

charisa

finally done with grad school app so can return to manic reading!! 

unfortunately, this was… a letdown. stellar premise and promising setup and then?? flat characters with totally contrived motivations, an endless string of plot holes, and possibly the most forced romance i’ve read in a while. the writing came off as almost mechanical, full of same-voice dialogue and way too many descriptors. also, if you’re going to market a book as “magical realism”, there has to be, you know, maybe a little magic…? sadge.

Carissa 

@pengshepherd wrote an AMAZING book. Being a cartographer is so much more than making maps. Friendships, dreams, and journeys all come into play in this novel as Nelly, a cartographer and daughter of cartographers is faced with a mystery on her hands. In the novel, Shepherd always had a unique twist to the climax and even more twists to the resolution. I give this book an 8/10 and can’t wait to read a sequel in the future (hopefully) and another book by her.

Vilandra

The concept and the writing were superb and kept me wanting to read more. I did sometimes feel like the stakes weren’t as high as the characters thought, but overall enjoyable with good characters.

Lane Hokanson

This has an amazing premise - but was about double the length it should have been. I ended up listening at 1.25x speed because I needed to slog through the middle. I still recommend it, but it was for sure a much slower read than it should have been. If it had been tightened up I think this would have been a 4 or even 5 star read.

Great read, and a fascinating, delightful concept at its core. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Claire Durand

I loved the idea of this book and was super excited to read it. I was still having a great time with it until they introduced magic. I have yet again failed to read the tags of a book and been disappointed when the fantasy element comes into play. Don’t get me wrong, I love fantasy. However when I’m expecting a book to be an interesting real life mystery and it turns out that you can actually enter a map it becomes something completely different. The type of magic was not the thing that I had the biggest issue with while reading this book. Mind you I did read it when I had COVID and was 90% sure I must have been missing something. But after reading multiple different reviews I have come to understand that I did get the logic of the book. Unfortunately, to me, this does not make it a good read. There were quite a few characters in this book but a lot of them seem unfinished. None of them were particularly likeable and they all did things that didn’t even really make sense. My biggest issue with the book was Wally. Wouldn’t it have been better if Tam just came out of Agloe and told them all she was alive. Obviously he had still been robbing places of their maps and putting people in the hospital but I feel like believing that he killed Tam drove him to the point of insanity. I just feel like there were a lot of plot holes to do with the magic of the maps that didn’t make any sense. Also I’m still pissed that Swan died and they just glossed over it. I loved the idea for this book but I personally didn’t like the way it was executed.

Courtney

3.5⭐️
I listened to this book on audio. The plot is an excellent idea, however, the execution of it ultimately left me wanting more. I loved the idea of magical mapmakers, but the story takes place too much in reality. I needed more magical realism. The ending left me wanting and I easily figured out the whodunnit parts. I enjoyed the alternate POVs, however had trouble figuring out their reasonings behind the ultimate coverup. 

Overall, I recommend this and think the audio was good.

One of my favorite reads of the year. A tantalizing magical mystery with just enough twists and turns and plenty of love and friendship to go around. 

Brian Alderman

Christine Bruce

Her mother died when she was young, and now her father has died under mysterious circumstances in his office. But he was a cartographer, he studied maps at a prestigious library. Who could want him dead? And why has he left her a mysterious worthless map- a 1930s road map by a company no one’s heard of?

So begins the promising story of Nell trying to piece together not only her fathers death, but an entire secret organization. It soon turns into light speculative fiction, and is honestly so entertaining. Until the final few pages. 
 
As Nell unveils the truth, she meets her parents’ friends who all know more than they seem. She uncovers a secret town and a lost love. And while I was annoyed at times, it was entertaining. 

Both she and her exboyfriend express frustration at her bullheadedness that cost them their relationship. Except that connection is never explained and I feel like a scene was left out somewhere. She’d got in a fight with her dad, the boyfriend defended her, they were both fired. She collected her desk and returns to their shared apartment to find he’s packed up and left. And somehow, she’s blamed for ending their relationship and his career (except his experience is what got him a job with a top tech firm making millions…) it just never made sense and seemed childish and contrived whenever they spoke about it. 

Spoilers: 
Then there’s the resolution to the mystery itself. Even as someone who is quite scholarly, I don’t understand their drive. It’s at an almost fake level of obsessiveness. You left your husband and child. For a map. When you could have just… published the info you already had and researched more later. There was no reason to leave the world behind. To let your child think you were dead. None at all. It was ludicrous. 

An entertaining book squandered in the final 5% of the book. 

💭 
6/10
Intriguing premise
Fascinating mystery
Flat climax and resolution

The Cartographers

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