Review: The Cartographers

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book, but I guess this - plus that one climate fiction magical realist type book I read last year, I need to look back to remember which one - is a sign that maybe I shouldn't take book recommendations from a certain coworker. (Okay, that, plus that Louise Penny series - I could barely make it through one or one and a half books of that one.) But this book, which should've been right up my alley with its Pendergast-like NYC brain trust atmosphere and peculiar blend of mystery and magic, was as much of a flop for me as its relatively low GR rating should have portended. The preponderance of obnoxious - and obnoxiously indistinguishable - side characters, a muddled and half baked magic system, and the fact that the book bases one of its big twists on the same fictional (except not really) town that inspired the John Green novel Paper Towns...well, I never read that book or watched the movie because I never cared for John Green, but still, as a millennial of a certain age, I knew exactly where the name Agloe had come into pop cultural prominence before. Somehow, I didn't DNF this one, but it's still getting a one star rating, I'm afraid.

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