The Last Mapmaker

"This is one that was a family favourite. I’ve heard it many times, because my daughter loves it. She’s listened to it over and over! It’s such a beautiful fantasy audiobook. It’s more for middle-grade readers, probably age eight and up. Sura Siu, who narrates, does a marvellous job, she has a great time with all the different characters, telling the story that takes you out to sea on a ship and exploring new worlds. It goes into more tense situations, and she does a great job, not making it too scary but really helping you feel all the emotions around the story. I think that she has a good balance between the adventure story and the more serious subjects and how those tie together and specifically connect to her mapmaking. Throughout the book, Sai is learning about how to make maps, and gradually her mentor is teaching her about what happens after you’ve made this detailed map and other people go out to explore that place and have an impact on the people there. I think it’s interesting seeing how Christina Soontornvat has a background as a scientist, and I think that factors into the story as well, where you get a great sense of the ocean environments and the places they’re seeing, but also the impact that people can have on the environment and what we can do to try to preserve it. It’s a Thai-inspired fantasy world, so you’ve got the different place names and people’s names that Sura does a great job narrating to make it all feel very real. I think it is an excellent audiobook, and one that stood out for its beautiful narration and also the complex story it’s telling for younger readers."