The Uprising: The Mapmakers in Cruxcia
Eirlys Hunter
Gecko Press
Pub. 2021

March 8, 2022

For fans of playful adventure stories, the second installment in this spellbinding venture is sure to please.

In The Uprising: The Mapmakers in Cruxcia by Eirlys Hunter, Sal, Joe, Francie and Humphrey Santander are on a quest. Their famous mapmaker father is missing, and has been for quite a while, and they desperately want to find him. Their search has led them to Cruxcia, an eccentric valley full of wonders, where their father was last seen on a mapmaking expedition with one of his colleagues.

It just so happens that the people of Cruxcia need their help. The devious Governor and the scheming Grania Trading Company (GTC) are trying to take over this lovely place. To save their beautiful home, the people of Cruxcia need to submit a report to a judge to prove that they, as a people, own the land. But they need maps to do this. Coincidentally, what do the Santanders specialise in? You guessed it, maps.

Unfortunately, the GTC isn’t going to make this easy for them. They will go to all lengths to stop the Santanders from helping the Cruxcians complete the submission. But, since when have they let this kind of thing stop them? And so, the adventurous family set off on a mission to both save Cruxcia from an all-powerful corporation and find their father at the same time. Sounds easy right?

As it turns out, it is definitely not as easy as it sounds. Everything seems to be going wrong. It was already a hard-enough job, but now Ma and Humphrey are sick. It looks like the Santanders are going adult-less again. Can the Santanders, with the help of their new friends Hessa, Vivi, and Lysander, avoid the GTC, climb mountains, and survive floods, and put on one spectacular fireworks show, in order to save Cruxcia?

The Uprising is a fun, adventurous book with just a nice little touch of rebellion.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Uprising, and I think that Hunter is a very good author. Her writing definitely reminded me somewhat of the same style that Barbara Else uses, and being a fan of her books, I found this book quite an enjoyable read.

The characters are very heartfelt, and I was rooting for them every step of the way. Not giving any specific dates or years gives the book a kind of timeless feel. The world of the Santander family is interesting, with its little hint of magic, and it is described in satisfying detail. One thing that I will note is that I did have slight difficulties reading The Uprising as a standalone book. I had to go back and read the first book to have a full understanding of what was going on, and so I would recommend reading The Mapmaker’s Race before starting on this book, so that you fully enjoy it.

Overall, this was a lovely book that I am happy to add to my shelf, and definitely one that I will continue to go back to. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good adventure story, with a dash of danger, magic, and revolution. I think that 8-12-year-olds would particularly like this book. I enjoyed The Uprising very much, and I hope you do too. Happy reading!

• Nell is 13, homeschooled, and lives in Dunedin.