{"id":1808215,"date":"2022-07-22T09:29:57","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T13:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1808215"},"modified":"2022-07-22T09:49:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T13:49:10","slug":"review-the-cartographers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/07\/review-the-cartographers\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Cartographers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BookI bet you\u2019ve been wondering what I thought about Peng Shepherd\u2019s novel The Cartographers<\/strong><\/em> (William Morrow<\/a>\/Orion<\/a>, March 2022). After all, it\u2019s a literary fantasy about maps: is it even possible<\/em> for a book to be more relevant to my interests? Well, wonder no longer, because I\u2019ve reviewed it for Strange Horizons<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This piece is a little bit different from the usual review, in that it examines The Cartographers<\/em> in the context of mysteries and fantasy that deploy similar map tropes, as well as the id\u00e9es fixes our culture has about maps. As I write in the review<\/a>, there\u2019s an awful lot for me to unpack:<\/p>\n

I have been writing about maps for nearly two decades, and in that time I have encountered many works of fiction that incorporate maps and map tropes into their storytelling, whether as paratexts or as plot elements, and I have never encountered a story, at any length, as thoroughly encompassed by maps as The Cartographers<\/em>. It\u2019s not just that almost every character in the book works with maps in some fashion, whether as a cartographer, artist, librarian, map dealer, or technician. Nor are maps just a plot point\u2014they are <\/em>the point. The Cartographers<\/em> is a Stations of the Map: its pilgrimage follows a path that touches on so many aspects of maps and mapmaking, from academic cartography to fire insurance maps. It spends time on the purpose and meaning of maps: it aspires to an almost Socratic dialogue. It deploys familiar fantasy genre tropes about maps. But it\u2019s structured as a mystery novel, and opens with a murder.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amazon<\/a> (Canada<\/a>, UK<\/a>) | Apple Books<\/a> (UK<\/a>) | Bookshop<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I bet you\u2019ve been wondering what I thought about Peng Shepherd\u2019s novel The Cartographers (William Morrow\/Orion, March 2022). After all, it\u2019s a literary fantasy about maps: is it even possible for a book to be… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,960],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1808215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-maps-and-literature","category-my-stuff","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6102,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/horror-vacui-the-fear-of-blank-spaces\/","url_meta":{"origin":1808215,"position":0},"title":"Horror Vacui: The Fear of Blank Spaces","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 November 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"In an article I published in 2013, I argued that one key difference between fantasy maps and the real-world medieval and early modern maps they purport to imitate is blank spaces: fantasy maps are full of blank spaces (that which is not in the story is not on the map),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/carta-marina-b-1024x733.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/carta-marina-b-1024x733.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/carta-marina-b-1024x733.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/carta-marina-b-1024x733.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3969,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/02\/the-maps-cartographers-made-as-kids\/","url_meta":{"origin":1808215,"position":1},"title":"The Maps Cartographers Made as Kids","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 February 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Maps made by children are interesting enough; maps made by children who went on to be professional cartographers\u2014that's something else altogether,\u00a0as All Over the Map's Betsy Mason shows. Because you know they all did that, when they were kids.\u00a0(And no, before you ask, I don't think any of my childhood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4585,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/07\/the-cartographers-daughter\/","url_meta":{"origin":1808215,"position":2},"title":"The Cartographer’s Daughter","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 July 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Noting for future reference: The Cartographer's Daughter, a middle grade novel by Kiran Millwood Hargrave that came out last November from Knopf. \"[W]hen a series of mysterious events shakes the community, it\u2019s Isabella\u2014daughter to the island\u2019s only mapmaker\u2014who will lead a party of explorers into the forest in search of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/cartographers-daughter-97x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1790248,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/02\/how-black-cartographers-have-mapped-racism-in-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1808215,"position":3},"title":"How Black Cartographers Have Mapped Racism in America","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 February 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Writing at The Conversation, geographers Derek Alderman and Joshua Inwood explore African American examples of \u201ccounter-mapping,\u201d from maps made by the Black Panthers proposing new police districts to modern interactive maps of lynchings and police violence. \u201cBlack Americans were among the earliest purveyors of counter-mapping, deploying this alternative cartography to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Human Geography"","block_context":{"text":"Human Geography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/human-geography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lynchings-tuskegee-1024x817.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1786226,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/09\/the-onion-the-cartographers-secret-continent\/","url_meta":{"origin":1808215,"position":4},"title":"The Onion: The Cartographers’ Secret Continent","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 September 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"The Onion: World\u2019s Cartographers Continue Living Secret Life of Luxury on Idyllic, Never Disclosed 8th Continent. \"'Ah, yes\u2014this is the life,' said topographical researcher Garrett Farthing, chuckling to himself as he delicately put the finishing touches on yet another map showing their current location to be an empty stretch of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Imaginary Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/imaginary-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4049,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/fantasy-rpg-mapmakers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1808215,"position":5},"title":"Fantasy RPG Mapmakers","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 March 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Geek and Sundry looks at four cartographers who make maps for role-playing games: Dyson, Derek Ruiz (Elven Tower), Mike Schley\u00a0and Deven Rue (Rue Ink). Previously:\u00a0The RPG Maps of Dyson\u2019s Dodecahedron.","rel":"","context":"In "Games"","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1808220,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808215\/revisions\/1808220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}