A novel by J.F. Penn
Map of the Impossible
A journey through the realm of the dead. A threat that will change the world. A choice that might save everything, or end it all.
The border is sealed, and both worlds are dying: tsunamis and earthquakes wrack Earthside while the Borderlands starve in shadow.
When new recruit Zoe Saroyan uncovers a triple-layered Egyptian map hiding a path through the land of the dead, the Mapwalkers have one impossible route back: through catacombs of reanimated sacred ibis, past the serpent at the border's heart, to the Tower of the Winds, where the truth about what holds the two worlds in balance is waiting, and something in the shadow has been calling Sienna's name.
For readers of Shadow and Bone, Neverwhere and A Darker Shade of Magic.
Available in ebook, paperback, hardback, large print and audiobook. Buying direct supports the author most, and ships worldwide.
The research behind the book
The Book of Two Ways
The oldest map of the underworld, painted inside a four-thousand-year-old Egyptian coffin. The book's crossing follows it.
Four million ibis
The real catacombs of Tuna el-Gebel and Saqqara hold millions of mummified sacred ibis, votive gifts to Thoth.
Wadi Hammamat
The Eastern Desert quarry whose Ramesses-era map is the oldest surviving geological map on Earth.
Belladonna and its antidote
The real pharmacology behind the story's drug: deadly nightshade, and physostigmine from the Calabar bean.
The Lady of Shalott
Tennyson's weaver of a world she cannot enter, and the Waterhouse painting, inspired Zoe's magic.
Tuvalu
The real Pacific atoll nation facing the rising sea, where the book opens.
Audiobook available direct from the author and on Audible, Apple, Kobo, Spotify and more.
