The War of the Maps (The Vanished Kingdom #3) by Jonathan Auxier

The War of Maps is a thought-provoking, entertaining, and wildly fantastic conclusion to the Peter Nimble stories (or, is it?).

The War of the Maps (The Vanished Kingdom #3) by Jonathan Auxier. Abrams, 2025. 448 pages.

• Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12
• Recommended For: ages 10-15

The War of the Maps: The Story

Peter Nimble is finally bringing Sophie Quire to his home kingdom, where his sister Peg is queen. All the magic he’s been describing will be on display firsthand; Sophie will have to believe all the stories. Except that upon arrival, the guardian turtles have been turned to stone. And Peg is in a wedding dress? She’s getting married?

Quickly, before we readers can process it all, mayhem breaks out. Peter, Sophie, and Peg are on the run from the mysterious League of Maps. Peg’s erstwhile fiancé is whining about losing his new kingship. And the Rook’s minions have descended. A flying ship struggles to fly. Secret meetings break up. Peter is kidnapped. Who can they trust?

The War of the Maps: The Writing

… my fight is not against reason or clockwork or progress or maps but against certainty. Against the inability to see what might yet be. I am on the side of wonder—wherever it may appear.

~Professor Cake, p. 186

Auxier’s fans have come to expect sophisticated prose, witty wordplay, complicated plots, subtle nuance, serious atmosphere, and fantastical stories. The War of Maps delivers on all counts. Subtle humor sparkles (like the many “Sir” names: Sir Cuitous being a prime example). The plot weaves in and out, much like Peter’s flying ship. The world of Peter Nimble is alive and well, racing toward a final reckoning between magic and reason (including science).

If Peter Nimble and Sophie Quire were for readers around age 10-11, The War of Maps is more for readers around age 12. Not so much because of inappropriate content (although there are some considerations), but because the juxtaposition of reason and magic echoes the process of growing up. We struggle with this very conflict as we hit adolescence. Reason is bent on naming things (and, thus, freezing any magical proponents). Magic is all about possibility. And that’s a reflection of real life, isn’t it? When we are children, the possibilities are endless. It might really be a giant rolling furniture across the sky; thunder seems so much more prosaic.

An interesting motif that echoes this same conflict is the power in a name. Not unique to The War of the Maps, this idea is nonetheless a key element: when a child who was trained by Mother Hen to be a rook remembers his or her original name (and, therefore, a true identity), a spell is broken. Freedom results. The young people learn more of who Professor Cake really is (and what he is). The names of ships, buildings, and various people are clues to their identities and meanings. Even today, as countries, oceans/seas, and landforms are named and re-named, we recognize that naming carries with it something significant. After all, Adam named all the animals in the garden once upon a time.

The War of the Maps: What Does It All Mean?

As with so many good works of fiction, The War of the Maps raises more questions than it answers. The grownup part of me wants answers, even literary answers: Is Professor Cake a metaphor or stand-in for someone or something else? Which side is really correct? Is science bad? (No, obviously, but what would the book say?) How do we keep our sense of wonder even as we advance in knowledge? Perhaps most significantly, what is this book saying about faith and spirituality?

I’ll admit to not knowing the answers. Reading this book through the lens of Auxier’s other books helps flesh out some of the nuances. This is not a book to read as a first introduction to his work!

Considerations:

• Gender/Sexuality: A decade ago, I would have assumed Peg’s reticence to marry a boy and her public disavowal of liking boys to be a reflection of age more than agenda (she’s 14 and clearly a tomboy). Sophie protests that she doesn’t plan to get married either, but she and Peter seem attracted to one another (they do not end up together in this book). In 2025, though, Peg’s later friendship with a girl (at the very end of the book) coupled with her antipathy towards boys reads more like same-sex attraction than simply friendship and the desire to wait on romance. It’s not “in your face,” and some young readers may not even notice. Additionally, the Rook is given gender neutral pronouns; this is partially fitting because the Rook’s mask obscures features such that one cannot determine whether the creature (or person under the mask) is male or female. Again, were this book written 10 years ago, I believe it would have been presented differently, even an “it” used instead of “they.”

Bottom Line: The War of Maps is a richly complex fantasy that should be read after the others in the series.

Related Reading From Redeemed Reader

• Reviews: The other books in the world of the Vanished Kingdom include Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes, Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard, and The Fabled Stables chapter book series.
• Reviews: Other books by Jonathan Auxier we’ve enjoyed include Sweep (starred review!) and The Night Gardener (also starred).
• A Review: Young readers may also be interested in Wicked Nix by Lena Coakley (yet another starred review).

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