The glass sentence / S.E. Grove.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 i s 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

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

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? Excerpted from The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

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) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 6-9-When The Great Disruption of 1799 broke time apart, the world was thrown into chaos. Cassandra Campbell's well-modulated tones make Grove's high fantasy world, with its complex characters and landscapes, entirely believable. From teens to terrors, Campbell guides listeners through an alternate Earth filled with astonishing maps and extraordinary beings. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

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 melange 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.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2014 Booklist

Horn Book Review

In a world fractured into disparate eras during the Great Disruption, Sophia Tims is entrusted with the Tracing Glass (containing a memory thought to be the cause of the Disruption) when her uncle, the cartographer Shadrack Elli, is kidnapped. An intricate fantasy with a Gilded-Age feel, this solidly constructed quest features maps of all kinds and unusual steampunk-flavored elements. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.