I just finished The Cartographers this morning and I feel I should chill out before writing this review, but here I am writing a review with all the fresh, raw emotions spread all over me. To start off, this was a good idea. I adore that it was about a real situation, I love that the author used the real names and really enjoyed learning about the secret … but….
     The plot was no there. Or it was, but there were holes. Not sure if this was a ‘chicken or the egg’ type of dilemma, but it wasn’t working out. 

 I have a long list of situations that caused this miss but I’ll go over a few of the big ones here. As other reviewers pointed out… the relationships (romantic and friendship). Too weird. All these friends loved each other enough to not be friends anymore? What was even keeping them apart? The relationship that was ‘so strong’ that when girlfriend’s dad blow up and causes issue… we hate the girlfriend? I could see if only boyfriend’s ‘life was ruined’ but it wasn’t either party’s fault. Also, if you love is so strong to last over 7 years… wouldn’t it be strong enough to face uncomfortable situations like losing your job? Tam’s entire storyline… didn’t make sense. Wally’s entire storyline… didn’t make sense. I guessed who Wally was right away, also annoying.
     The magic was there, but not there enough where the reader could really enjoy it. It wasn’t explained enough. What are the rules of the magic? Can they be used for evil? Is that the issue here? 
     Scenes from the library were not interesting enough and not often enough that book lovers could melt into. 

It’s overall a pretty messy book. Messy characters. Messy plot. Messy ending. I’m surprised I finished it. I think I was hoping it would get better. That the ‘twist’ would come and I would be amazed. I will say, I did finish it. So there’s that. I wasn’t in pain while reading… so there is also that. Those last two points are wha tis saving this book from a 2 star rating for me. What it comes down to is, this book was overhyped. Wasn’t magical. And sadly, I could not recommend to fellow readers.