Good stuff: strong, relatable characters and a strong, creepy beginning. There was just enough story tension to keep me reading.
Not so good: for a story about maps and mapmakers, I felt lost a good deal of the time. Too much of the magic and its manifestations was a bunch of handwaving. The concept of 'our' world versus a 'dark' world and good vs. evil was pretty trite, although a couple of surprises were thrown in.
I don't think I'll bother with the rest of the series. ( )

I want to start off by saying that I received this book for review, but my opinions are my own and I am not paid for this review. That being said, Oh my gosh!!!! This book was soooooo good!!! Right from the very beginning of this book, it just took off full steam ahead with no slowing down! It's not a very long book, but they managed to pack a lot in just 192 pages! I loved it and would totally read the sequel!

I have a YouTube channel called Completely Melanie and one of the things I do on this channel is a reading vlog where each day I discuss what I am reading and my reactions to books. I said in my vlog many times while reading this book that I could totally see this playing out as a movie in my head. I think this book would make and awesome movie!

Sienna Farren's grandfather dies and leaves her his map shop in Bath, England. When she arrives, she is thrown into the world of Mapwalkers and learns that she possesses the magical ability to travel through maps. The Ministry of Maps is an agency that is charged with maintaining the borders between this world and the Borderlands which is the place where things that have been written out of history end up. It isn't a very nice place to be and the people there want into our world. Sienna must help the Ministry of Maps protect the borders at all cost! ( )

When I received this book, I was excited to read this. I was absorbed in this world and read this book in 2 days. I rarely read a book that quickly, but I could not put it down, plus it was a shorter book than I am used to, which was a little sad for me, because I wanted more. The first few chapters are the usual slow introductions, which I am okay with am prefer, then picks up as it should.

What I loved about this story, was the concept of ancient cities lost in our world, is over in the borderlands. When more land comes over, it pushes the other land out. The borderlands change and everything disappears completely at a certain time. I do not know why, but I had to chuckle as it reminded me of the lost and found concept of Halloweentown 2. Everything in the mortal world and Halloweentown ends up a Gort’s home, but anything that gets lost in Gort's house disappears forever. I believe this is why this concept held my interest and understanding. The borderlands and earth side were interesting for me. For myself, the borderlands remind me of the evil and cruelty our world has but is sometimes overlooked by our everyday lives. Earth side would be like our peaceful lives, but either ignorant or choosing to ignore the evil the world has.

Sienna is who we follow. She receives a map shop with a flat on top from her recently deceased grandfather. Her character development was good for how short this story is. I believe if we would have gotten any more, the character herself would have been too cloudy. Sometimes, given the story, less is better. Knowing this was a trilogy, the development did not bother me.

There is one think I am still not sure if I liked, but I know stuff like this happens in the read world. I do not know if I liked how quickly the romance developed between Sienna and Finn happened, but I think it worked for the story and it was not over the top. Sienna was an interesting character. The mapwalkers threw her in this world unknown to her and she took it how I could see some people take it. She felt like a real character.

The rest of the mapwalker team are interesting characters. Each one brought a different magical element to this story. You have Perry who has fire, Mila (who ends up being my favorite) is water, and one whose illustrations came to like. I loved these concepts. Each character reflected the power they have received. The struggle each one has when they overused their powers and have the result of a druggy was a neat concept.

I enjoyed this book. There are so many interesting elements lining up in this story. I was thrown into a world where there is another world besides our own and yet similar. How there are consequences of using your gifts, even if they are for good. How once you use it, the gift becomes like a drug. I would recommend this book for anyone who likes fantasy.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
( )

Book # 1 in the Mapwalkers series

This new series is a dark fantasy and a pretty weird story, not to mention gory to no end. A map of skin etched in blood and a world under threat…..

Those of us fans of this author already knows how creative she is and how richly and cleverly written her stories are. Well no exception here. Vividly said Bath comes to life with creepy characters and supernatural happenings. This intriguing story based on maps and cartographers propels us into a fantasy world where a mysterious agency maintains the borders between this word and the Uncharted. Spooky, indeed

On the surface Bath is a genteel place but Ms. Penn imagination show us that there is a darker side to the city. Beneath the charming streets lies a weird city, a place haunted by mysterious power. Here, local legends play a good part. Sienna Farren is the main character and is aided by colourful secondary players that have magical abilities and terrifying shadows to scare us to death…

Although this book as many good qualities I honestly cant’ say it drew me in, too weird for my taste but I must say parts reflect our real world where countries are ravaged by war, famine, poverty, terrorism and many other afflictions leaving their people to suffer the consequences…totally abandoned.

I received this ARC from the author for my thoughts. It may not have been my preferred book but it is definitely not one to pass over…..give it a go. ( )