Book Review: The Cartographer’s Daughter
Sep. 18th, 2016 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI really wanted to like Kiran Millwood Hargrove’s The Cartographer’s Daughter, because it has so many elements that in the abstract I like. Maps! Islands! Girls who are friends and go on great adventures together! Self-sacrifice! Volcanoes!
But it just didn’t work for me. The world-building seemed simplistic - it did that thing I find so aggravating where the names of places are almost but not quite what they are in the real world, so you have Afrik and Amrica instead of Africa and America. Just use the real names and pretend we live in a world where islands sometimes float. Or randomly assign different names to the continents!
But leaving aside this pet peeve, I really did feel it was poorly developed. Our heroine Isabella lives on the island of Joya, which was recently invaded by a guy who showed up from nowhere, proclaimed himself governor, and then… walled off most of the island? I’m not sure how you wall off that much of an island.
Also, at some point my suspension of disbelief snapped and I pretty much stopped accepting that Isabella and her BFF Lupe (who is the governor’s daughter; who knows why the governor lets Lupe consort with Isabella the commoner) actually survived as much misadventure as they got through. Isabella falls into the heart of a volcano that’s about to erupt! Even if she doesn’t burn to death, shouldn’t there be poisonous gasses floating around doing their poisonous gas thing? This on top of wolf demon creatures called tibicenas (which can smell well enough to follow a trail but not well enough to realize two girls are hiding in a crevice, apparently), a cave-in, and a couple of near drowning experiences.
Interesting premise, poor execution. It’s really too bad.
But it just didn’t work for me. The world-building seemed simplistic - it did that thing I find so aggravating where the names of places are almost but not quite what they are in the real world, so you have Afrik and Amrica instead of Africa and America. Just use the real names and pretend we live in a world where islands sometimes float. Or randomly assign different names to the continents!
But leaving aside this pet peeve, I really did feel it was poorly developed. Our heroine Isabella lives on the island of Joya, which was recently invaded by a guy who showed up from nowhere, proclaimed himself governor, and then… walled off most of the island? I’m not sure how you wall off that much of an island.
Also, at some point my suspension of disbelief snapped and I pretty much stopped accepting that Isabella and her BFF Lupe (who is the governor’s daughter; who knows why the governor lets Lupe consort with Isabella the commoner) actually survived as much misadventure as they got through. Isabella falls into the heart of a volcano that’s about to erupt! Even if she doesn’t burn to death, shouldn’t there be poisonous gasses floating around doing their poisonous gas thing? This on top of wolf demon creatures called tibicenas (which can smell well enough to follow a trail but not well enough to realize two girls are hiding in a crevice, apparently), a cave-in, and a couple of near drowning experiences.
Interesting premise, poor execution. It’s really too bad.
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Date: 2016-09-18 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-18 09:29 pm (UTC)But it's much less well-developed in The Cartographer's Daughter than it is in Penpal.
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Date: 2016-09-18 08:00 pm (UTC)I have
an irrationala completely rational prejudice against books that are "The [Profession]'s Daughter" or "The [Profession]'s Wife." Every time I see a new one, I think, "not AGAIN." I'm sorry it was disappointing, though. :(no subject
Date: 2016-09-18 09:32 pm (UTC)I feel like the author could have come up with a better title probably - there's a volcano! name it after the volcano! - but maybe it's just as well that it has the subpar one. It might warn some people off.
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Date: 2016-09-19 02:17 am (UTC)