The Cartographers

Hardcover, 400 pages

English language

Published by William Morrow & Company, William Morrow.

ISBN:
978-0-06-291069-1
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

3 stars (1 review)

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 …

5 editions

Hit and miss

3 stars

The description of some of the things in this novel, e.g. academic life, large corporations and search algorithms seem a little off, as if the author didn't actually know how they work. Unfortunately, some play a bigger role in the story. If you can suspend your disbelief about those the hunt for the mystery is exciting once the pace takes up. I did guess the main villain halfway through, though. While there are some ponderings about the purpose of maps the project one of the characters is working on - a map of everything - only gets a cursory treatment. It could have merited a book of its own.