The Glass Sentence

by S. E. Grove Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Overview

A*New York Times*Bestseller
An Indiebound Bestseller
A Kids' Next Top Ten Book
A Summer/Fall 2014 Indies Introduce New Voices Selection A 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.
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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 listeners 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.

This audiobook includes a PDF of maps from the book.

“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 Timesbest-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
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“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

Editorial Reviews

OCTOBER 2014 - AudioFile

Cassandra Campbell performs this compelling alternate history featuring Sophia, a girl from an era that echoes late-1800s Boston. Sophia’s uncle, her sole guardian, is kidnapped by a woman who is determined to unify a world that has become unmoored in time. Campbell creates voices and accents that deepen the characters. She helps listeners navigate the complicated plot as Sophia joins the mysterious Theo and follows her uncle’s maps to other countries that inhabit not only other spaces, but also other times—some far in the past, others in the future. Campbell’s pace matches the story’s action, riddles, and exposition as Sophia tries to figure out her place in the world and how she might save it. A.F. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

The New York Times Book Review - Gregory Maguire

…refulgent with nervy invention. Wheeled vessels of upright, living trees, named boldevelas. Faceless wraiths, called the Lachrima. The carta mayor, a lake-size map. And dinner dishes made of chocolate, suitable for eating as dessert!…Though I got a little lost following the strategies and ambitions of various potentates, factotums, seers and rogues, I am in no doubt about the energy of S. E. Grove as a full-fledged, pathfinding fantasist. The Glass Sentence is named "Book 1." I look forward to the next installment to place upon the pile. Intensely.

Publishers Weekly

★ 04/14/2014
In the alternate Earth of Grove’s thrilling, time-bending debut, first in the Mapmakers series, the world was sliced up, seemingly at random, by the Great Disruption of 1799 and reassembled with numerous present, prehistoric, and future “Ages” all connected. In New Occident, roughly the eastern third of the former United States, it’s now 1891, but to the north exists the Prehistoric Snows, and northern Africa is ruled by the ancient Pharaohs. Thirteen-year-old Sophia Tims is pulled into a web of intrigue when Shadrack, her famous “cartologer” uncle (half mapmaker and half magician), is kidnapped by religious zealots looking for the legendary “carta mayor, a hidden map that traces the memories of the whole world from the beginning of time to the present.” Joined by a boy named Theo and a ship full of pirates, she travels to Nochtland, a kingdom in what was once Mexico, in search of answers. 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. Ages 10–up. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, William Morris Endeavor. (June)

School Library Journal

05/01/2014
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

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2014-03-17
In this opening volume of the Mapmakers trilogy, 13-year-old Sophia Tims travels into mysterious and uncharted lands in search of her kidnapped uncle and must save the world while she's at it. In the Great Disruption of 1799, the world came apart. Continents were unfastened from time and flung into different Ages. Europe plunged into a remote century, the Spanish Empire fragmented, and the United States became an uneasy mix of adjoining Ages: the Baldlands in the West, Prehistoric Snows to the north, New Patagonia to the south—and Sophia's Boston is now in New Occident. Sophia's parents are missing in a different Age, and politicians are about to close New Occident's borders, forever trapping them on the outside. When Sophia's uncle, master cartologer Shadrack Elli, is kidnapped, her search for him sets her on an adventure with the fate of the whole world at stake. Grove's intelligent and challenging debut is brilliant in concept, breathtaking in scale and stellar in its worldbuilding; this is a world never before seen in fiction. Sophia is a likable heroine, a girl with no sense of time who must use her wits and her uncle's maps to save the world before time runs out. Wholly original and marvelous beyond compare. (Fantasy. 10 & up)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169351194
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Series:	Mapmakers Trilogy Series , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

Read an Excerpt

The glass cases had been shattered, their contents gone. The bureaus lay open, their drawers bare. Here, too, the books had been pulled from the shelves and thrown to the floor. Sophia took in the destruction, too stunned to call out again. Everything, every single thing in the map room, had been destroyed or stolen. A broken glass map crunched beneath her boot and she looked down at the shards. There was a long, jagged scar across the leather-topped table. She touched it gingerly, as if to make certain that it was real. Then she raised her head and her eye fell on the wall map above the armchairs: the map of her parents’ voyage. It had been torn in half, ripped clear through from one end to the other.

Sophia stared numbly at the pins that lay scattered around her on the chairs and carpet, a single thought running through her mind: Where is he? Where is Shadrack? Where is he?

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