The Glass Sentence (The Mapmakers Trilogy, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Jun 01, 2014 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: library, middle-grade, fantasy

Don't tell me you know how to map someone's memories, then not tell me how! THAT'S JUST A BIG TEASE.

Whew. That's off my chest.

I wanted to love this book. I've been seeing nothing but praise from both professional reviewers and friends whose taste I trust. But I just couldn't love it. I loved the idea of it, that suddenly the world was broken up into different epochs, with some people moving forward in time and others going back. Mammoths roaming the earth again! Boston Puritans pulling themselve Don't tell me you know how to map someone's memories, then not tell me how! THAT'S JUST A BIG TEASE.

Whew. That's off my chest.

I wanted to love this book. I've been seeing nothing but praise from both professional reviewers and friends whose taste I trust. But I just couldn't love it. I loved the idea of it, that suddenly the world was broken up into different epochs, with some people moving forward in time and others going back. Mammoths roaming the earth again! Boston Puritans pulling themselves up by the bootstraps! Japan flung into the 40th century, according to the map at the front! We don't get to see most of this, though. Sigh. Neither mammoth nor Japanese cyborg traveler was to be found. Also, I did not understand why people didn't spread out around the world and help each other. Why weren't the Japanese robots fighting the mammoths?! Did modern technology not work in the past eras? This is not explained.

The plot was exciting enough, though, and there's a sense of urgency, though later the urgent timeline proved to be . . . kind of a red herring. But a little ways in I realized that I didn't care very much for the characters, which were all archetypes. (Pirates with hearts of gold and a passion for fancy hats! Absent-minded scientists! Plucky young heroines! Clever and kind bachelor uncles who think nothing of raising a young girl alone!) This became a real problem. There's no sense of danger from throwing in your lot with a band of pirates when you're pretty sure the pirates are secretly decent folk who will stop at nothing to rescue a total stranger, because you've seen it 12+ times before.

But what really began to frustrate me was that . . . I was confused as hell. By the maps. Maps, maps, maps. The book is all about maps. It should be called The Glass Map. I'm not being facetious, it really should: the action of this book hinges on a glass map, not a sentence. How they make these glass maps is not revealed. They can map anything in this world, you see, despite the fact that most of them are living in an 1800's type society. This is considered only mildly amazing. They can map memories, weather, people, and places. But they won't tell you how. Someone devises a way to map memories that will permanently take them from you, though, and that's bad. We do get to see that process, which is apparently magic because it's sure as shootin' not scientific. There is no comparison to how the more ethical maps are made, though, leaving me wondering. There are endless discussions, however, about certain maps and whether or not they should even exist, for the SAKE OF HUMANITY. None of this makes any sense to me. I do not understand it at all. A map of the world would destroy the world? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I HAVE A MAP OF THE WORLD ON MY PHONE. The ending made no sense. It was all very pretty, and very visual, and then I went . . . wait, what? I kept thinking of Incarceron and the sequel, both of which were very weird and stylish and then ultimately made me scream, BUT THAT MAKES NO SENSE! PLEASE MAKE SENSE NOW!

Also, I could not figure out who this book was for. It seems to be middle grade, but there's some serious torture in it, as well as medical experimentation that leaves one character grotesquely scarred. Um, hokay. If this is for teens, we need to take the "friendship" between the main character and the boy up a notch. If it's for younger readers, well, they're probably gonna have nightmares. I know I was a bit freaked out.

So... The book wasn't terribly written. I really enjoyed the premise and the descriptions. But the plot needed to be laid out better, and some questions needed to be answered. Also, characters= not that spectacular. ...more

79 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2014 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, young-adult, tween, alternate-planes-and-histories, audio, mythopoeic

Well THIS looks interesting! But I can't imagine how it would work! The blurb on the Penguin page: " cross one border and you're in the 1900s, cross another and you're 500 years into the future or the past." - If North America is year 1900 and South America is year 2400, surely the future knowledge and inventions would filter back into the past, and eventually the globe would all be the same "present" again? I'll have to read and find out ...

This is officially my FIRST AUDIO BOOK!!!! Ever! Also, Well THIS looks interesting! But I can't imagine how it would work! The blurb on the Penguin page: " cross one border and you're in the 1900s, cross another and you're 500 years into the future or the past." - If North America is year 1900 and South America is year 2400, surely the future knowledge and inventions would filter back into the past, and eventually the globe would all be the same "present" again? I'll have to read and find out ...

This is officially my FIRST AUDIO BOOK!!!! Ever! Also, the first audio book I checked out of the library and listened to on my iPad. This is a new experience. It's kind of fun. I do miss some details, because it's hard for me to just listen, I'm very visual, and my mind wanders when it's just audio. Although I did get into it enough that I missed my highway exit - oops!

The narrator is Cassandra Campbell, and she does a great job with the accents, but she does pronounce some things a little oddly. (I always thought Mina was "meena" but she says "min-uh")

Unfortunately, I'm finding this to be mostly annoying. It's excessively wordy, for one. 40% is good story, 60% is excessive detail. Sophie doesn't just put a drop of water on clay, she takes the water bottle, sticks her finger in the cool liquid, then gently places her finger above the clay and blah blah blah make it stop! I'm well into the book now, and the damned story still hasn't started yet, because of all the asides and descriptors and just generally TOO MANY WORDS. It's just not my favorites style. In addition, I'm finding a lot of the terminology to be just an annoying affectation. The constant references to "one hour" or "nine hour" or whatever ... why do I need to know what time it is at every passage? Added to that, I don't even know what time it is exactly, since they use a different system. It's just annoying, like someone constantly poking me with a feather. And on top of all that, I am not enjoying the narrator. Her enunciation is ridiculously precise... and while I appreciative her ability to use a different voice for each character, I dislike the breathy voice she adopts for Sophie, and the grating vocal fry she employs for Uncle Shadrack.

Once Shadrack is kidnapped by Blanca, the book gets more interesting, as some actual action starts happening. But still, I didn't love. I found Blanca, the purported "bad guy," to be the most appealing and sympathetic character. Sophia and Theo both annoyed me, especially Sophia.

In the end, I'd rate this as fun, but not fantastic. My kids (8 and 10) listened along to parts, but they both lost interest, so it doesn't seem to appeal to the intended age group either. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 26, 2014 Emma rated it liked it

Boston, 1891: Nearly a century has passed since the Great Disruption remade the world and threw all of the continents into different Ages. While Boston and the rest of New Occident moves forward in the 1890s, other parts of the world reside in drastically different Ages including some from the near past, prehistory and others that are entirely unknown.

Thirteen-year-old Sophia Tims knows all about maps thanks to her uncle Shadrack Elli, one of the most renowned carologers in New Occident. With th Boston, 1891: Nearly a century has passed since the Great Disruption remade the world and threw all of the continents into different Ages. While Boston and the rest of New Occident moves forward in the 1890s, other parts of the world reside in drastically different Ages including some from the near past, prehistory and others that are entirely unknown.

Thirteen-year-old Sophia Tims knows all about maps thanks to her uncle Shadrack Elli, one of the most renowned carologers in New Occident. With the borders closing any day and Sophia's parents still missing after ten long years with no word, Shadrack and Sophia prepare to leave New Occident and mount a proper search expedition.

Unfortunately in midst of their preparations, Shadrack is kidnapped. With no idea how to find him beyond one small clue and a basic knowledge of what to expect in the Baldlands, Sophia sets off with an unlikely traveling companion and little else. As Sophia and Theo journey toward the Baldlands' capital of Nochtland they will uncover shocking truths about the Great Disruption and find themselves at the center of a vast conspiracy that could change the entire world in The Glass Sentence (2014) by S. E. Grove.

The Glass Sentence is Grove's first novel. It is also the start of the Mapmakers Trilogy.

Groves presents a rich fantasy with gorgeous world-building. Maps at the beginning of the novel introduce readers to Sophia's world as well as the outlying regions. The story opens right in the middle of the action as New Occident's borders are closed and never lets up.

The story expertly plays with readers' ideas of history and causality imagining, among other paradoxes, a world where John Donne is known through his works before the Great Disruption as England has not yet reached (and may never reach) the time of his birth. These details lend a haunting quality to The Glass Sentence allowing readers with knowledge of the related world history to imagine what might have been.

However readers who lack the historical background (due to youth or lack of interest) will still find an engrossing fantasy here. Sophia and Theo travel across New Occident and into the wilds of the Baldlands where they encounter outlandish travel companions and chilling villains.

Chapter epigraphs from Shadrack's published works as well as other sources further the world-building and explain key details of this alternate history to readers while a narrative structure reliant on clocks and time-keeping help keep readers grounded in the story.

Unfortunately with so many vivid and evocative details in the world-building and backstory, The Glass Sentence is decidedly lengthy at 493 pages. Although the arc of this novel is resolved in this story, the over-arching story of Sophia's missing parents will likely span the rest of the trilogy. Readers who enjoy thick, intricate fantasies will undoubtedly find a new favorite in this promising start to a series with both middle grade and young adult appeal.

Possible Pairings: The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi, Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale and Nathan Hale, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, The Boneshaker by Kate Milford, The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel, The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld ...more

Like · see review

Jun 15, 2014 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: old-reads, mt-bookpile-2011-2015

Such an original world! In some ways, it reminded me of The Rithmatist with the nearly-our-world setting and the imaginative use the author makes of something we take rather for granted, in this case, maps.

The quest/trek we (via Sophia and Theo) undertake, first to find Uncle Shadrack, then to Varessa and the carta mayor follows the usual route: danger to be avoided, seemingly untrustworthy people being "good guys" and "good guys" who really aren't, etc.. But again, there's enough that's slightl ...more

Like · see review

Jun 27, 2016 Hope Decker rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, book-club

I wished I could have loved this book, but of course I say that because I didn't. It was a great adventure story, but I had the hardest time keeping track of 'time,' which, if you've also read the book, you might find ironic. ...more

Like · see review