The Cartographers by Peng Shepard is a mesmerizing tale of map makers and the hidden treasures of maps. This book is an adventure/mystery that dips into science fiction and fantasy. The love of map making is explained really well and why some people dedicate their lives to it. This book has some great characters that I was drawn to. The book has a really cool twist midway through that changes what this book is about and makes it truly unique. The writing and the words are really powerful in this story. The pacing was a little slow at the beginning, I was losing interest right in the middle when, the book hits it’s twist which immediately interested me and the second half moved rapidly. The Climax was good I figured out one twist pretty early on of who a hidden figure was, which made the climax good but not great. I do feel the book repeated its self a little to often, which was one of my complaints in her debut novel The Book of M. Peng Shepard has only written two books and I have been really impressed by the writing and the descriptions and just how unique the storytelling has been. This novel was on Goodreads best of 2022 so far reads. The Cartographers was published on March 15 2022.

Plot Summary: 8 year ago Nell was fired from her dream internship at the New York Public Library, she found three maps in storage that she thought held value and could really help the funding for the library. She was fired by her father at the time and has not spoken to him since then. She receives a call early in the mourning from the library thinking it is him, but it’s the police who want her to come down since her father was found dead. I looks as if her father fell or could have been pushed off a ladder. She meets with the director who was always found of her ask her to collects some of her fathers things, she finds a secret hatch with a 1930’s gas station of upstate New York, a map that she got fired for that he called junk. She takes the map and finds it not in the data base she adds it and plans to return it. but when she comes back the next day she finds a guard murdered and a break in occurred right after she logged the map, with no items stolen. She researches the map and finds it is wanted for a high price by a group that is called the Cartographers, a group that will kill to get it. Nell discovers her father was once part of the group and fired her when she found the map to protect her. Nell must find out what is so special about the map before it is too late.

What I Liked: Really cool twist in narrative half way that took the book to another level. Because of that level the book is hard to define which I liked. The book had some great fleshed out characters. I liked the details in map making and the history of it in the book. The flashbacks were one of my favorite parts and thought they did a great job of connecting to the present. I really liked how unique the overall story is.he ending could have been better but it ended on theme of maps coming from love and the perfect map is one with a purpose. I really enjoyed the cover art a lot.

What I Disliked: The novel repeats it’s self a little bit too much. One of the twist that figured out early on is baby stepped so much and has three instances, two of the instances are repeats, to point to the twist. I felt like Shepard didn’t trust her audience to figure it out, without it getting spelled out. I see it a lot in new authors which Peng Shepard is but the rest of the book is so mature.

Recommendation: The Cartographers is a really fun unique story that I recommend checking out. I did like Peng Shepard’s other novel The Book of M just a little bit more. She has written two solid first and second novels that are both unique stories full of beautiful writing and characters. I rated The Cartographers by Peng Shepard 4 out of 5 stars.