Review: Literate & Lyrical Sci Fi Fantasy
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 15, 2012
This review is based on the copy provided to me by the publisher, Untreed Reads, on July 30, 2012, in exchange for my fair, honest, and impartial review, via Goodreads Group Making Connections.Review of A Cartographic Analysis of the Dream State by Pat Murphy5 StarsA literate and lyrical exploration of the polar cap of the planet Mars, of the art and science of cartography (map-making) and of the human psyche and its capacity for imaginative dreaming and projection, "A Cartographic Analysis of the Dream State" simultaneously intrigues and soothes, leaving readers blinking at the end and wondering why it is over so soon.Sita, a cartographer of the Martian landscape, is the descendant of Tibetan refugees, raised in India by a university-educated father, but she holds close the stories and legends passed on of the great-grandfather, a mountain guide in Tibet, who led expeditions on searches for the yeti-the snow creature sometimes called "the abominable snowman." Sita believes yeti are real, not so much as they are pictured, but as inhabitants of the dreaming state, nocturnal messengers; and she believes the polar regions of Mars are just as likely to sport yeti as are the Himalayas of Tibet, if she dreams them into being-and just maybe, she will be proved accurate in thinking so.