The Map of the Sky

The Map of the Sky
by: Felix J. Palma

(Victorian/Science Fiction)

591 pages [Hardcover]

H.G. Wells is once again pulled into all manner of danger and adventure when the events in his novel, The War of the Worlds, begin happening around him.

I’m really becoming a fan of Felix J. Palma. The Map of Time was pretty awesome and The Map of the Sky is just as good. While his novels can feel a little long and drawn out at times, the payoff at the end makes it all worthwhile.

This time, I was prepared and read The War of the Worlds beforehand. With The Map of Time, not much of H.G. Wells’ novel factored into the story, other than the subject of time travel, and the machine itself. With The Map of the Sky, having The War of the Worlds fresh in your memory will make the story that much more fun. I won’t tell you how, exactly, but I think it’s worth it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see characters from The Map of Time show up in this novel. It was nice to spend some more time with them and watch as they faced the horrors of alien invasion. There is also something wonderfully fun about H.G. Wells being an unlikely hero. There were some surprising twists and turns, which I have come to expect from Mr. Palma, and the way it all turned out, in the end, wrapped things up well but left me thinking. I love it when a book leaves you with a little nugget of something to ponder over. I’m very much looking forward to The Map of Chaos, and I’ll be reading The Invisible Man first in preparation. Until next time…

Happy Reading!

The Map of Time

The Map of Time

By: Felix J. Palma

www.FelixJPalma.es

(Steampunk/Time Travel/Victorian)

This novel follows the stories of three characters who each encounter the possibility of time travel in their own ways. While presided over by a mysteriously omniscient narrator, their paths overlap, with a skeptical H.G. Wells at the center. The story is woven together quite nicely in this way, and I enjoyed their individual perspectives on the subject and the occasional comments and interjections by the narrator.

While the story is about time travel, it is more about the questions posed by the possibility of it, and the implications such an ability would have, rather than the act of doing so. Could you change the past? Could you leave a dull present for an adventurous future? What affects the fabric of time? Each character struggles with these questions and their experiences greatly effect the choices they make as well as their understanding of the world around them.

Overall, this story was not exactly what I expected it to be, but was certainly not disappointing. The author had me fooled over and over again, leading the story in one direction, then changing it abruptly. This kept things interesting, since the story did have its fair share of slower parts, but in the end, I felt that these portions were necessary to really appreciate the characters. It’s largely the end of the story, the last hundred pages or so, where things really pick up and get interesting.

Sometimes, when reading a particular book, I’ll notice a few quirks of the author’s writing style, or a random but interesting detail. Here are my observations:

The author had a tendency to start at least half of his sentences with “and” for some reason, often when it didn’t seem to help the flow. He also used the word “atavistic” quite a few times. This detail is probably only interesting to me, but my exact birthday was used on page 535, down to the year, which was a little surprising.

This book may not have been the Steampunk adventure I had anticipated, but it was still very much worth reading. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in Steampunk or Victorian-Era fiction. Until next time…

Happy Reading!