For fans of The Golden Compass, this is book two in the Mapmakers Trilogy and follow-up to S.E. Grove's stunning debut, The Glass Sentence It is the summer of 1892, one year since Sophia Tims and her friend Theo embarked upon the dangerous adventure that rewrote the map of the world. Since their return home to Boston, she has continued searching for clues to her parents’ disappearance, combing archives and libraries, grasping at even the most slender leads. Theo has apprenticed himself to an explorer in order to follow those leads across the country—but one after another proves to be a dead end.
Then Sophia discovers that a crucial piece of the puzzle exists in a foreign Age. At the same time, Theo discovers that his old life outside the law threatens to destroy the new one he has built with Sophia and her uncle Shadrack. What he and Sophia do not know is that their separate discoveries are intertwined, and that one remarkable person is part of both.
There is a city that holds all of the answers—but it cannot be found on any map. Surrounded by plague, it can only be reached by a journey through darkness and chaos, which is at the same time the plague’s cure: The Golden Specific.
"This delicious blend of magic, history, and science will continue to delight fans of intricate world-building and rich storytelling."—School Library Journal
"Readers who have already read the first installment will gladly savor another journey with Sophia and marvel at the worlds they enter. Brilliantly imagined and full of wonder."—Kirkus Reviews
PRAISE FOR THE GOLDEN SPECIFIC"This delicious blend of magic, history, and science will continue to delight fans of intricate world-building and rich storytelling."—
School Library Journal"Readers who have already read the first installment will gladly savor another journey with Sophia and marvel at the worlds they enter. Brilliantly imagined and full of wonder."—
Kirkus ReviewsRAVES FOR THE GLASS SENTENCE A New York Times Bestseller
An IndieBound National Bestseller
A Summer/Fall 2014 Indies Introduce New Voices Selection
A Top Ten Kid’s Next Selection
A Publishers Weekly Flying Start
A Washington Post Summer Book Club Selection
A Junior Library Guild Selection
One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Summer Reads
An Amazon Summer 2014 Reading Selection
An Amazon Top 20 Children’s/YA Book of 2014
An ABC Best Book of 2014 * “Brilliant in concept, breathtaking in scale and stellar in its worldbuilding; this is a world never before seen in fiction . . . Wholly original and marvelous beyond compare.”—
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* “A thrilling, time-bending debut . . . It’s a cracking adventure, and Grove bolsters the action with commentary on xenophobia and government for hire, as well as a fascinating system of map magic.”—
Publishers Weekly, starred review
*“Stellar . . richly layered and emotionally engaging from the first page through to the intriguing cliffhanger end.”—
BCCB, starred review
* "A mind-blowing debut . . . The bookmaking behind this first novel is as elegant as the maps within it."—Shelf Awareness, starred review
“Wonderful. This author's imagination is just amazing.” – Nancy Pearl on NPR.org
“I am in no doubt about the energy of S.E. Grove as a full-fledged, pathfinding fantasist. I look forward to the next installment to place upon the pile. Intensely.” – Gregory Maguire,
The New York Times Book Review “Not since Philip Pullman's
The Golden Compass have I seen such an original and compelling world built inside a book.”—Megan Whalen Turner,
New York Times best-selling author of
A Conspiracy of Kings “Absolutely marvelous. It’s the best book I’ve read in a long time.”—Nancy Farmer, National Book Award-winning author of
The House of the Scorpion "A page-turner . . So imaginative."—Meghan Cox Gurdon,
The Wall Street Journal “Exuberantly imagined [and] exquisite."—Elizabeth Wein, New York Times best-selling author of
Code Name Verity
