A long-awaited and exciting adventure story, Finley Rowe
The Uprising: The Mapmakers in Cruxcia
Eirlys Hunter
Gecko Press
Pub. 2021
April 07, 2022
Eirlys Hunter’s The Uprising is the sequel the other Mapmakers fans and I have been waiting for! Following The Mapmakers’ Race, the thrilling second book shows us the depths people will go to find their family. With a corrupt, evil villain the Santanders have their work cut out for them.
In the last book, the Santanders put the little money they had into a mapmaking race but this time, the quest feels a lot more personal because they are looking for their long-lost father. They are affected when they see underprivileged people sitting on the streets when they have a lot of money to spend.
In The Uprising, we join the Santander family as they depart from Porto Pearls in search of their father who has been lost on an expedition for a year. They arrive via dirigible at Cruxcia, the last known place anyone had seen him.
But when stopping for a rest, Ma and Humphrey feel sick after drinking spoiled water and stay at Auntie Pi’s apothecary while Hessa, their tour guide, enlists their help to save the farmland and sacred cemetery of their ancestors from the governor of Cruxia, The Moustache Man.
Racing to beat The Moustache Man and his associates, the Santanders help out their newly discovered cousins to keep their land. Corrupted judges and all manner of evil people are in their way. Will the Santanders even make it out alive? The Uprising will keep you on your toes as this quest could end up being their last.
Travelling through mountains and valleys, dealing with the loss of loved ones and the making of new friends, I loved this book and suggest reading the first in the series, The Mapmakers Race, beforehand, although it could work as a standalone.
Eirlys Hunter writes with an enrapturing style, and I read the book cover to cover in one go. I enjoyed being immersed in a different world and the new characters of this book are well-developed. I definitely suggest this book to anyone who loves adventures and the wilderness.
- Finley lives in Dunedin.