The Mapmaker's War: Keeper of Tales Trilogy: Book One (The Keeper of Tales Trilogy)
Domingue’s second novel, following her well-received The Mercy of Thin Air (2006), is an intriguing fantasy set in an ancient land. Aoife, a precocious 12-year-old, is apprenticed to her kingdom’s aging mapmaker; four years later she is dispatched by the king to map his entire realm. On her travels she finds a nearby kingdom where, inexplicably, she feels surrounded by peace, free of the rancor and competitiveness she left behind. When her discovery becomes known, the king plans an invasion. Aoife, now married to the king’s son, tries to slip away to warn their neighbors, but she is imprisoned and her twins are taken from her. Eventually she escapes and lives in exile with the welcoming inhabitants of the land she discovered, who take her in “like a foundling child.” Domingue deftly explores themes of motherhood, gender equality, and the powerful ties that bind us to our roots, while at the same time mesmerizing the reader with the story of a mythical land struggling to protect itself from the greed and jealousy of the slowly encroaching outside world. --Deborah Donovan