The Glass Sentence (Mapmakers) - Hardcover

Grove, S. E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670785024 ISBN 13: 9780670785025

Publisher: Viking Childrens Books, 2014

Synopsis

A New York Times Best Seller
An Indiebound Best Seller
A Kids' Next Top Ten Book
A Summer/Fall 2014 Indies Introduce New Voices SelectionA Junior Library Guild Selection
One of Publishers Weekly&;s Best Summer Reads


&;Not since Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass have I seen such an original and compelling world built inside a book.&;&;Megan Whalen Turner, New York Times best-selling author of A Conspiracy of Kings

She has only seen the world through maps. She had no idea they were so dangerous.
 
Boston, 1891. Sophia Tims comes from a family of explorers and cartologers who, for generations, have been traveling and mapping the New World&;a world changed by the Great Disruption of 1799, when all the continents were flung into different time periods.  Eight years ago, her parents left her with her uncle Shadrack, the foremost cartologer in Boston, and went on an urgent mission. They never returned. Life with her brilliant, absent-minded, adored uncle has taught Sophia to take care of herself.

Then Shadrack is kidnapped. And Sophia, who has rarely been outside of Boston, is the only one who can search for him. Together with Theo, a refugee from the West, she travels over rough terrain and uncharted ocean, encounters pirates and traders, and relies on a combination of Shadrack&;s maps, common sense, and her own slantwise powers of observation. But even as Sophia and Theo try to save Shadrack&;s life, they are in danger of losing their own.

The Glass Sentence plunges readers into a time and place they will not want to leave, and introduces them to a heroine and hero they will take to their hearts. It is a remarkable debut.



&;I think The Glass Sentence is absolutely marvelous.  It&;s the best book I&;ve read in a long time.  The world-building is so convincing, the plot so fast-moving and often surprising, and the ideas behind the novel so completely original. I love this book.&;&;Nancy Farmer, National Book Award-winning author of The House of the Scorpion

&;I loved it! So imaginative!&;&;Nancy Pearl

&;An exuberantly imagined cascade of unexplored worlds, inscribed in prose and detail as exquisite as the ... maps young Sophia uses to navigate such unpredictable landscapes. A book like a pirate's treasure hoard for map lovers like me."&;Elizabeth Wein, New York Times best-selling author of Code Name Verity

&;Brilliant in concept, breathtaking in scale and stellar in its worldbuilding; this is a world never before seen in fiction . . . Wholly original and marvelous beyond compare.&;&;Kirkus Reviews, starred review
 
&;A thrilling, time-bending debut . . . It&;s a cracking adventure, and Grove bolsters the action with commentary on xenophobia and government for hire, as well as a fascinating system of map magic.&;&;Publishers Weekly, starred review
 

About this title

About the Author

S. E. Grove (www.segrovebooks.com) is a historian and world traveler. She is the author of the Mapmakers trilogy.

Reviews

Gr 6 Up—In the Great Disruption of 1799, time itself broke apart and fragmented, stranding countries and continents in different time periods, some of them thousands of years apart. Thirteen-year-old Sophia lives with her Uncle Shadrack in New Occident Boston, discovering the magic and science of maps. When her uncle is kidnapped by those seeking a powerful artifact, Sophia must journey through a dangerous, shattered landscape to seek out help and answers. An ambitious fantasy debut plunges readers headlong into a complex world built around the very nature of time. A fluid mixture of magic and science combine with the dramatic setting to bring freshness to a familiar plot arc. It will appeal to those who enjoy dedicated world-building and new worlds to explore, but it does suffer from some excess padding that may discourage reluctant readers. The complexity of the setting, plus instances of torture and character trauma make this a story to recommend to mature tween and teen audiences. For a first novel, this is particularly engaging, but not without room for improvement. This title is comparable to Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy (Knopf), and those who enjoy the works of Brandon Sanderson, particularly The Rithmatist (Tor Teen, 2013) are sure to snap this one up. Map-making has never been so fascinating.—Stephanie Whelan, New York Public Library

In the late eighteenth century, a great temporal disruption plunged the world into chaos—some continents remained in the present, while others were thrust into the distant past, a far future, or an ever-shifting mélange of ages. A century after the disruption, Sophie, who lives with her famed mapmaker uncle Shadrack, arrives home one day to find their house ransacked, her uncle kidnapped, and their secret map room—housing mystical maps containing memories—emptied of all of its treasures. Was Shadrack secretly hiding the key to a map capable of healing the rift in time? Together with her new friend Theo, Sophie embarks on an adventure to distant lands to find her uncle. Encountering pirates, hidden cities, undiscovered ages, and legendary creatures along the way, brave Sophie uses her ample smarts and powers of observation to unlock deep secrets. Though the plot occasionally seems overstuffed, debut author Grove wraps the complex central premise of this series opener in lavish detail and brisk plot turns to sweep readers along through her fascinating, fully realized fantasy world. Grades 6-9. --Sarah Hunter

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Childrens Books
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670785024
• ISBN 13: 9780670785025
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 489