Review of The Mapmaker

Blurb: Kidnapped as an infant, Aleeya has spent her life as a slave to the Temple of Nesha with her wings bound and spirit unbroken. Her mapmaking skills and the will of the gods have kept her relatively safe in this foreign city, but her luck runs out when her escape plans are revealed, prompting her master to sell her.

Just before the sale is completed, slave smugglers kidnap Aleeya from the temple for reasons they refuse to share. They free her wings but deliver her into the clutches of a religious cult whose future hinges on their fantastical belief about her mapmaking abilities.

Worse yet, the man she’s loved from afar for years has decided to throw away his entire life to rescue her, and her foolish temple brother has tagged along. Now, she has more than just herself to worry about.

All Aleeya wanted was to go home and find her parents. Can she rise to the demands of her captors and find her way, even though the land of her birth is farther away than ever? And can she save her loved ones from themselves?

Review: All Aleeya wants is her freedom. She was kidnapped as an infant and enslaved to the Temple of Nesha, even having her wings bound. She strives hard to make herself valuable with her mapmaking skills, but all she wants to do is fly home to a land she doesn't remember. Aleeya is kidnapped and handed off to a homeless people who believe she is a saint sent to save them by building them a home with her mapmaking magic. She tries to escape, but it becomes difficult when her adopted brother and the birdman she cares for are also caught. Will Aleeya help the people who stole her or will she refuse and pay the price?

This is the first book in the well-written fantasy series, Mapmaker. There is some incredible world building with various lands and people who are not the typical two-legged humanoids we see in most fantasy stories. While this story is mostly focused on bird folk, the other species that stands out in my mind is four-legged dog people. The descriptions are fabulous and each have their cultural quirks. Please be aware that Aleeya is a slave and slaves aren't treated well in the land of Ka'ai.

The magic system is elemental based. Where Aleeya grew up, the only ones with magic were the Oracles, and they are revered. When she meets these new people, they have people who can wield the various elements. Ones who can work the air to blow the ships faster in the sea, earth wielders who can shape the land for farming, and those who can throw fire to protect the fleet. They also have oracles and they believe Aleeya has magic to help them. I won't spoil anything by delving into that, but I did really love the direction it went.

Aleeya is a birdwoman whose people lost a war to another faction of bird folk, and thus by the color of her feathers, she's enslaved. (I'd love to learn more about the history of the land.) She has my sympathy right off, and I was rooting for her to run away, except fate had other plans. She earned her keep at the Temple of Nesha (Goddess of the Wayward) by being a mapmaker and an excellent one at that. She's sold to pay the temple's debts and then kidnapped when she thinks she's being led to escape. The people she ends up with lost their land and are looking for a new one. Aleeya has a big heart and wants to help these folks. Yet I felt there were lots of layers that were hinted at that even she didn't understand in her innocence.

Lots of action and magic, and it's difficult to know who to trust. A few good twists in the plot I didn't see coming. There is a bit of romance, but it is more Aleeya coming to be who she was meant to be.

You can find N.E. White on her site and buy the book here.