A journey through the realm of the dead.A threat that will change the world.A choice that might save everything—or end it all.
As natural disasters sweep Earthside, a mutant army rises in the Borderlands, driven by the dark force behind the Shadow Cartographers. Sienna and the Mapwalker team must use the Map of the Impossible to journey through the realm of the dead and face the nightmare at … the dead and face the nightmare at its heart.
But when one of their number is taken and the team begins to break apart, each Mapwalker must face their greatest challenge.
Can the Mapwalker team reach the Tower of the Winds before the Shadow claims Earthside?
Will Sienna choose Finn — or turn away from the Borderlands forever?
Map of the Impossible is book 3 of the Mapwalker fantasy adventure trilogy.
The Mapwalker Fantasy Adventure trilogy:
- Map of Shadows #1
- Map of Plagues #2
- Map of the Impossible #3
more
Map of the Impossible (Mapwalkers #3), my fourteenth read from author J.F. Penn. The epic conclusion to the Mapwalker Trilogy. Captivating, with well-developed characters coupled with an outstanding story-line with its intricately woven twists and turns. Penn, as always, does a good job with her character development. I’ll be reading more by this author. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018
I looked forward to my pre-release copy of the third in the series, and I was not disappointed. In her usual action packed, fast pace, the world is experiencing many catastrophic events. Naturally the end of the world, instigated by the evil individuals in charge of the borderland.
Adventures teeter on disaster but ultimately overcome this threat, but the world needs yet more to balance the future. With this twist at the end, I hope the saga continues in the hunt for a fairytale ending for all.
This last adventure of Sienna was so much fun to read. Though there was a lot of foreshadowing as to what the end would be, it was still a surprise.
Loads of awesome description brought the journey to the Borderlands alive (some scary stuff deep beneath the earth) and Zoe was a great addition to the team and to the magic of Mapwalkers.
I like what happened to Mila and the Waterwalker possibilities of the future.
The action scenes were superb and the story took one on an emotional rollercoaster. Everything wove neatly from one place to the next making this a page-turner that I couldn’t put down.
A great ending to Sienna’s Mapwalker story.
*I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest opinion.
The Border between Earthside and the Borderlands has been closed for a while now. Earthside has been experiencing many uncommon natural disasters, and they’re unsure of what is happening in the Borderlands. Suspense and both light and dark magic show up throughout the book. It is an awesome end to the trilogy and can also be read as a standalone. This book kept me up reading into the wee hours. I absolutely recommend it. I’m sure I’ll read all three books again.
One of Joanna Penn’s great attributes is to create brilliant, believable characters and then thrust them into a truly strange fantasy world, in this series she has created an organisation that uses maps as a medium to travel between realms, the human one (rather prosaically based in Bath in the UK) and the borderlands which is not a nice place!
Although I am not a huge fan of dark fantasy, the sheer quality of the writing has meant that I have thoroughly enjoyed being engrossed by this trilogy, and couldn’t wait to see where the story led. The ending was totally unexpected, and yet managed to seem almost inevitable once I had read it.
Although this book is a fantasy, it does reflect a lot of real-world issues, people trafficking, slavery, family loyalty, being faced by impossible choices, and utilising talents as well as possible, and it is this link to the real world that makes this book so relevant and readable.
With each book we have been introduced to new characters, and in this one it is Zoe, who starts out as a very clever but minor member of the map restoration team, using her talents as a weaver to untangle the threads of damaged maps and then rearranging them as part of the restoration project. However she grows in confidence and abilities as she helps a team entering the borderlands, and ends up being a major player in the spectacular ending. I love this type of character development which makes them much more human, and inspirational.
I am fortunate to be a member of this author’s advance readers team, and so received a complimentary copy of this book, but have voluntarily written this honest review.
Excellent finish to very good trilogy. Sirena and her fellow mapwalkers continue their fight against evil. Ending is a surprise but really is the only way it could have ended.
A series of tremors, each more powerful than the last, until the sea withdraws further than Meihani had ever seen in her long life. Then the first drops of the tsunami fell upon her, wiping out all life on the low-lying island of Fongafale off the coast of Australia. This will not be the last natural disaster.
So begins the wonderfully descriptive opening of J.F. Penn’s Map of the Impossible, the final book of her Mapwalker series.
Perhaps, Sienna Farren and Mila Wendell had both mapwalked the Borderlands once too often as they felt the pull to leave their homes in Bath, England. Something had shifted for both of them in their last mission for the Ministry.
Perry Mercator’s magic for most of his life had been out of control until on his last mission in the Borderlands for the Ministry, with Sienna and Mila, he had learned to channel his magic and saved his team.
Sienna longed to see Finn again, Mila thought of swimming with Ekon in their magical forms, and Perry felt an enormous pull to the Borderlands to face his traitorous father who had become a Shadow Cartographer bent on destroying Earthside.
One too many missions and all of the Mapwalkers could be permanently pulled to the Borderlands and become Shadow Cartographers themselves.
Something had shifted for all of the Mapwalkers in their last mission. They had one foot on either side of the border and it was slowly tearing them all apart.
Perry’s father had previously crossed the border, killed the Illuminated Cartographer, and set a fire that destroyed so many of his maps in the Ministry library.
The maps could not live without an Illuminated Blood Mapwalker. Reluctantly, Bridget Ronan became the new Illuminated Cartographer. She wondered if the Ministry was irreparably wounded in the fire, but not all of the maps had been destroyed.
As the newest in a long line before her, Bridget could no longer physically leave the Ministry or ever travel again. Each time she roamed into the maps, part of her own life crumbled away, dissolving into the ink.
Had Bridget’s predecessors also had to learn everything from the beginning? Opening the volumes of annals, turning the pages, and scanning the text she searched for a way to reopen the border safely again.
When they had closed the border to end the last attack they had not realized the ramifications. The world beyond deteriorated with earthquakes, tsunamis, and people dying because they couldn’t cross over.
The Borderlands were home to many; they were an escape to many more. Now they knew that Earthside needed an escape valve, a way to relieve the pressure. Neither world could exist in isolation.
The border was the most immediate problem. Closing the border to prevent a wave of plague-carrying refugees now seemed like a terrible mistake. In closing the border, they doomed Earthside to an acceleration of devastating natural disasters.
They had to find a way to open it again. With great risk, the Mapwalker team had to find a way to enter the Borderlands once again and safely reopen the border. Sienna and the Mapwalker team must use the Map of the Impossible to journey through the realm of the dead and face the nightmare at its heart.
Will the Mapwalker team be able to rescue one of their captured team members before her imminent sacrifice? Will the Mapwalker team reach the Tower of the Winds before the Shadow claims Earthside? Will Sienna have to make a life-altering decision to safely reopen the border perhaps forever?
Master storyteller, J.F. Penn superbly guides the Mapwalker team on their final fast-paced, exciting, terrifying at times adventure to once again attempt to save Earthside and possibly begin improving the Borderlander’s cruel existence.
In full disclosure, this review is based upon reading a free, advance copy from the author.
I’m sorry to see the series come to an end, as it’s been an exciting trip. By all means, read Map of the Impossible and the previous two books: Map of Shadows and Map of the Plagues. You’re bound to enjoy them all; especially, if you’re a dark fantasy thrill rides fan!
I was given an advance copy, by J.F. Penn for my honest review.
‘Map of the Impossible’ falls in genre’s that I don’t typically read. I’ve always believed that good authors books always find their way into readers hands. It’s J.F. Penn writing that has made me a fan, I really like her Arkane Series a lot and figured that her Mapwalkers series would be equally good.
Just like with Stephen King, Penn has the gift, to give her readers a heart pounding hellacious read, scare the crap out of you, yet your glued to every word, you don’t want it to end and they leave you begging for more please.
She expertly researches, it has a theme, that could be ripped right out of the headlines, like all the history she mixes into it, especially present day Bath, puts you right into the pages, over loaded with action, with an extra helping of twist and turns and best of all good conquers evil.
‘Map of the Impossible’ really isn’t a standalone novel, for best reading results you’ll want to read ‘Map of Shadows’ first and then ‘Map of Plagues’.
While I don’t want to give too much away. The authors created a World where you have an Earthside, whose borders continuously shift and change, it has portals that takes you into the Borderlands and made up of what gets cast out from Earthside. You also have areas that end up being lost forever. Interestingly the Earthside is present day, you have all the tech, while the Borderlands are medieval, and one can’t take anything from one side to the other.
What makes this series so good, has been that the story told through Sienna a mapwalker whom also is a blood cartographer, has the able to create maps using her blood and the team holds onto each other as they jump into the map. Two other mapwalkers are part of her team, Mila has water magic, enabling her too move water and become transparent in water. The other is Perry who has fire magic and uses it as a weapon.
With this one Penn added a new member to the team. You have Zoe who is a weaver, she’s also able to create webs, she’s untested and accepted by the team. Also add two borderlands Finn and Ramsey to the mix, they can’t go to the earth side and part of a group trying to free the borderlands from evil leader who wants to take over earth side.
Definitely recommend the author J.F. Penn, your guaranteed a hellious fast paced read, she hook you in as a reader and just glad she left the Bath portal ajar for more Mapwalker books.
This series has meant something to me. My first dive into a different world for me. I usually read detective novels and love them but when this series came out I decided to give it a try since I have read many of the other books by J.F. Penn. I enjoyed this series and this book was a great addition. I love the way she makes her town the center of the books, treating it like another character that you want to visit. All of the different characters having different abilities making them a perfect team together.
In this final book of the Mapwalker Trilogy, the consequences of the now, pretty much, impenetrable barrier between Earthside and the Boarderlands are being felt almost daily. Now Sienna and her team of Mapwalkers must get through the barrier by taking a route protected by the dead.
Well written, intriguing, and realistic characters that are on a mission to save two worlds. Engaging, and entertaining dialog help this exciting, and action packed plot move along at a quick pace while unexpected twist kept me engrossed in the story. I think this is a satisfying end to a compelling, must read series. Fantastic book!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.