The Mapmaker: A Novel of the Days of Prince Henry, the Navigator

by Frank G. Slaughter

Battle at Sea...
Fabulous Far-off Lands...
Romance and Adventure...
fill the pages of the raging sea-novel—the story of Andrea Bianco, the Ventian navigator who searched always for the challenge and danger of the unknown.
His is a tale of cutlass striking scimitar, of the beautiful, unattainable Angelia, od loss at sea, rescue and death...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance

351 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Frank Gill Slaughter , pen-name Frank G. Slaughter, pseudonym C.V. Terry, was an American novelist and physician whose books sold more than 60 million copies. His novels drew on his own experience as a doctor and his interest in history and the Bible. Through his novels, he often introduced readers to new findings in medical research and new medical technologies.

Slaughter was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Stephen Lucious Slaughter and Sarah "Sallie" Nicholson Gill. When he was about five years old, his family moved to a farm near Berea, North Carolina, which is west of Oxford, North Carolina. He earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity College (now Duke University) at 17 and went to medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He began writing fiction in 1935 while a physician at Riverside Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

Books by Slaughter include The Purple Quest, Surgeon, U.S.A., Epidemic! , Tomorrow's Miracle and The Scarlet Cord. Slaughter died May 17, 2001 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Reviews

[Michele Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an over-looked gem. I will read it again.

[Queirosiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Um homem obcecado pelo mar que reuniu à sua volta um conjunto de astrónomos, navegadores e exploradores."

Um Romance Histórico giríssimo. Ainda mais quando o espaço e o tempo da acção decorre num Portugal na época dos Descobrimentos!

A personagem principal, André Bianco, um cidadão veneziano, é capturado e tornado escravo numa galé.

Numa súbita batalha em alto mar, escapa e é salvo por uma caravela Portuguesa, de D. Bartolomeu Perestrelo.

Parte para a Vila do Infante onde inicia uma série de viagens aos "Novos Mundos".

Mas aquilo que mais gostei no livro foi sem dúvida a forma como os portugueses eram retratados: pessoas justas e honestas.

[Jose Pina Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não costumo ler muitos romances históricos e se todos forem tão interessantes como este, faço mal ... A história passa-se na época dos Descobrimentos e consegue dar uma visão da sociedade e das grandes questões desse tempo, enquadrada no inicio dos Descobrimentos portugueses. As virtudes, estratégia, riscos e dificuldades deste empreendimento estão bem patentes nas páginas deste livro - hoje em dia falaríamos certamente no estabelecimento do cluster do Mar em Sagres ;-).

[Brett Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent summer read! Really great job by Slaughter in weaving fiction with fact. Helps you to understand the challenges the early explorers experienced at a time when essentially the only areas mapped where around the Mediterranean.

[Merelee · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites! The hero is just too cool, throughout his troubles, which are huge. Accurate historical research.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this Book. Not only did Frank Slaughter tell a terrific story but aside from entertaining it was interesting and full of worthy places and wonderful deeds.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a combination of a fairly middle of the pack story mixed with a host of interesting details and historical data about the very early beginning era of exploration. We see the story begin in the belly of an Arabic galley in which our hero is a slave chained to an oar, rowing until his death. He manages to get free, get home, establish his identity, and then the real troubles start.

There's a romance, betrayals, political struggles, duels, and all sorts of events which fill the book but overall its mostly about the early age of exploration where Europeans tried to map the world using the best instruments and science at their disposal. The hero, Andre Bianco of Venice, ends up with the Portuguese court and he has a secret from the Arabs called Al Kamal. With this, he can determine latitude which has been to this point a mystery to sailors.

It is quite entertaining, and Slaughter is a terrific, largely forgotten author. The story has pretty much every element of adventure fiction from the time packed into a quick-moving, well-told tale with plenty of lush description. However, the protagonist is too good. He's smarter, stronger, tougher, more capable, more skilled than everyone.

Andre fights better than the warriors, is stronger than the strongest men, is smarter than all the other mapmakers and scientists. He's such a paragon that you never really have any sense of his danger once he's properly introduced. And that diminishes the drama and really my ability to connect to the story.

But the real star of this book is the sometimes too-dense historical information, jammed into the story about how navigation, sailing, shipmaking, and fighting was done at sea at the time. Five decades before Columbus sailed to find a western route to the Indies, things were pretty unclear and primitive, but developing very quickly. And that saves the story from otherwise being a pretty forgettable Marty Stu adventure.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clean

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this historical/fiction action adventure! Kept me wanting to read more and learn more about the process of early adventurers had to discover what lay beyond the horizon!

[hyper saline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reviewed the wrong book. This is the right one. It's good and page 34 will get you laid if you tell that shit to your date

[Natasha Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta novela, al igual que varías de Frank G. Slaughter, son en primer término históricas, luego su argumento puede llegar a variar en los subgéneros de aventuras, misterio o romántica. Ésta novela, lo tendrá todo, siendo una de mis preferidas. El cartógrafo y el misterio del Kemal es una extraña mezcla del Conde Montecristo con Piratas del Caribe, lo cual podemos ver desde el diseño de la portada (¿no se parece al Capitán Jack Sparrow el navegante que posa en primer plano?).
En el prólogo, el autor señala que hay datos reales en el argumento: varios personajes (como Andrea Bianco, fray Mauro, Enrique de Portugal, Vallarte y Alvise de Cadamosto, ambos capitanes; Jahuda Cresques), así como los mapas de Andrea (uno de los primeros mapas del mundo) que poseían una geografía muy parecidas a las que conocemos hoy en día en la parte sur.
Andrea Bianco es un personaje muy rico, que atraviesa varias transformaciones durante toda la novela producto de los obstáculos y giros que se le presentan. Los personajes femeninos poseen un ego especial, que rompe con la mujer pasiva, y la ganadora del corazón de Bianco será una sorpresa para la cual deberemos esperar hasta el final. Una historia de traiciones y censura que saciará el apetito del más exigente lector.

[Marieli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A histroial novel about the man who drew the first map that encluded the Far East along with the then known whole.

[Kiri · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.8 stars

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slaughter does a good job of mixing fiction and fact to carry us away to the ancient mariner's world.