Cartomancy: Book Two of The Age of Discovery (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: grand minister, inland lords, corpse dust, Year of the Komyr Dynasty, Year of Imperial Prince, Prince Cyron (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Stackpole's second book in his Age of Discovery series (after 2005's The Secret Atlas) offers more complex geopolitical intrigue shaped by magic—in particular, the chaotic "wild" magic released more than seven centuries earlier by "the Cataclysm," when the Empress Cyrsa split the realm into "the Nine Principalities." Grandmaster cartographer Qiro Anturasi, despite being the prisoner of Imperial Prince Cyron of Nalenyr, has somehow been able to create a brand new continent in what had hitherto been an unoccupied portion of the ocean. Meanwhile, Qiro's grandson, Kelos, who has been sent to map the wild lands of Ixyll, has been captured by Prince Pyrust of Deseiron, who, like Cyron, schemes to unite and rule the Nine Principalities. A profusion of characters and subplots slows the pace, but there's adventure aplenty for those who like their fantasies big and bloody. (Feb. 28)
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From Booklist

The prolific and gifted Stackpole continues the fantasy saga he began in A Secret Atlas (2005). Its setting is based on the great age of European exploration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In that era, maps were rare, expensive, and often credited with supernatural or, at least, mysterious powers. In the world of Stackpole's fiction, maps constitute a potent form of magic and are expected to bring together two brothers and a sister from alternate worlds to complete a collective quest: a life-or-death search for their homeland, which is menaced by invaders who can be defeated only by legendary champions who shall rise from the dead (shades of the legend of Frederick Barbarossa!). Sufficient suspense, enough action, intelligent characterization, and detail drawn from this-world history all boost Cartomancy well above the ruck of the standard quest tales, though to its credit, it can be enjoyed simply for the quest, too. Another feather in Stackpole's already well-plumed cap. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 429 pages
• Publisher: Spectra; Age of Discovery #2. edition (February 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553382381
• ISBN-13: 978-0553382389
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #391,675 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellence, without a doubt, March 4, 2006

By	Lucas York (CT, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Cartomancy, the sequel to A Secret Atlas, does everything ASA did right-- and very little of what it did wrong. This time, readers don't have to wait half the book to get to the important parts. While actual action sequences aren't truly common, the promise of them looms over the entire book, making even political issues exciting to read-- and when action does come along, it comes in style.
The books follows a number of different threads, meaning that readers with one specific favorite character may be dissapointed when their story comes along only between peeking at what everybody else was doing. It doesn't make the story slow, however-- there is a very definite sense that things are getting done while characters are "off screen."
And things definitely get done. If readers of ASA thought that the world was in danger before, they'll be very, very worried by the end of Cartomancy. Still, there is some hope-- some people are not who they seemed (or thought themselves) to be.
With such a large-scale clash of ideas and ideals in the works, the third book in the trilogy would have to have a momentous climax to the overall story, and certainly a satisfying resolution; judging by the writing of Cartomancy, Stackpole should be able to pull it off.

4.0 out of 5 stars Cartomancy, August 31, 2008

By	Christie M. Simpson (Okinawa, Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

the book was imaginative. It takes a few pages to get into but once you do its great.

4.0 out of 5 stars A strong middle, November 9, 2007

By	Steven Saus (Dayton, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Empire Strikes Back is my least favorite of the original trilogy. The Two Towers is my least favorite of the Lord of the Rings. And so on. Usually, the second book of a trilogy tends to drag. You have to further develop the characters - but you no longer have introductions, so it's more exposition. You have a plot that's not ready to climax. It - like Frodo and Samwise - just plods along.

And that's what I expected from Cartomancy. While I appreciate (and understand the need for) all of those "middles", my expectations were lower for this book, especially since I liked A Secret Atlas so much. And so it was. There was a rapid change in one of the main characters - one I'm still not sure I like. The plot continues on, and even an invasion doesn't provide quite the same thrill that I got from the climaxes of A Secret Atlas. A plateau or plain that we know we need to get through.

Until I was two thirds of the way through the book, and suddenly realized that the plateau was not flat. It was a gentle rise, that had been taking me higher and higher, so gently that I had not noticed. I found myself on the perch of a literary cliff, and Mr. Stackpole, with consummate skill, shoved me right off the prepice.

It is fair to say that I am exhibiting great restraint in taking the time to write this instead of leaping for my bookcase to get the third book in the trilogy, A New World.