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A review by bioniclib
The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma
3.0
I wanted to love this book, but it turns out I only like it.
It came across as a sci-fi book for non-sci-fi fans. For the majority of the book Palma leaves you wondering whether the time travel mentioned is real or a hoax. Adding to my frustrations was the fact that it was really three separate stories tied together by the common thread the HG Wells (yes the same one that wrong The Time Machine) character provides.
The first story is about Andrew Harrington, the son of a wealthy man who is enjoying the fruits of being young and rich. That all changes when he falls in love with a whore. If that's not scandalous enough, the whore is none other than Mary Kelly or Jack the Ripper's fifth and final victim. When his beloved is brutally butchered, he descends into depression. He stays there until his cousin takes him to Gilliam Murray's Time Traveling expedition.
It seems the man has found a land outside of time. In this land there are holes to the future. One of which leads to May 20th, 2000. That's the day the Brave Captain Shackleton defeats the mighty Solomon, King of the automatons that have all but rid the Earth of mankind. Unfortunately, for Andrew, that's the only time to which Murray can travel, but have no fear, HG Wells has a time machine!
I'll stop the synopsis here because going into depth would spoil the surprises. I'll just say that the second story centers around Captain Shackleton and the third is the most similar to normal sci-fi stories. As I mentioned before HG Wells figures prominently throughout the book. Yet, he doesn't appear until 100s of pages into the first tale. That, ultimately, is an example of why I was disappointed with the book.
Palma breaks the proverbial 4th wall, talking directly to you. At first, I thought it was clever but as the story went on, I realized that he takes forever to make his point. Near the end of the book, Henry James (yep, another real life author) is introduced. Palma gently chides the man by describing his writing style as long-winded and I'm left to wonder if in doing so he acknowledges his own ambling prose.
Like the Sherlockian, I found it fun to read about a real author in a book. Ironically enough, Bram Stoker is featured in both of them. But unlike the Sherlockian, The Map of Time goes on too long. He takes forever to give character background and even furthers the plot with letters written to the characters. One of which is nearly 20 pages long. The plot is marvelous but he seems to have hidden it behind meandering background details. I will say that just when I start to get tired of it, he draws me back in with a good plot twist.
So, in the end, I would recommend it but with caution. One final word of warning: as befits a story that starts off with the death of a lady of the night, the language can be a bit saucy. So proceed with caution.
It came across as a sci-fi book for non-sci-fi fans. For the majority of the book Palma leaves you wondering whether the time travel mentioned is real or a hoax. Adding to my frustrations was the fact that it was really three separate stories tied together by the common thread the HG Wells (yes the same one that wrong The Time Machine) character provides.
The first story is about Andrew Harrington, the son of a wealthy man who is enjoying the fruits of being young and rich. That all changes when he falls in love with a whore. If that's not scandalous enough, the whore is none other than Mary Kelly or Jack the Ripper's fifth and final victim. When his beloved is brutally butchered, he descends into depression. He stays there until his cousin takes him to Gilliam Murray's Time Traveling expedition.
It seems the man has found a land outside of time. In this land there are holes to the future. One of which leads to May 20th, 2000. That's the day the Brave Captain Shackleton defeats the mighty Solomon, King of the automatons that have all but rid the Earth of mankind. Unfortunately, for Andrew, that's the only time to which Murray can travel, but have no fear, HG Wells has a time machine!
I'll stop the synopsis here because going into depth would spoil the surprises. I'll just say that the second story centers around Captain Shackleton and the third is the most similar to normal sci-fi stories. As I mentioned before HG Wells figures prominently throughout the book. Yet, he doesn't appear until 100s of pages into the first tale. That, ultimately, is an example of why I was disappointed with the book.
Palma breaks the proverbial 4th wall, talking directly to you. At first, I thought it was clever but as the story went on, I realized that he takes forever to make his point. Near the end of the book, Henry James (yep, another real life author) is introduced. Palma gently chides the man by describing his writing style as long-winded and I'm left to wonder if in doing so he acknowledges his own ambling prose.
Like the Sherlockian, I found it fun to read about a real author in a book. Ironically enough, Bram Stoker is featured in both of them. But unlike the Sherlockian, The Map of Time goes on too long. He takes forever to give character background and even furthers the plot with letters written to the characters. One of which is nearly 20 pages long. The plot is marvelous but he seems to have hidden it behind meandering background details. I will say that just when I start to get tired of it, he draws me back in with a good plot twist.
So, in the end, I would recommend it but with caution. One final word of warning: as befits a story that starts off with the death of a lady of the night, the language can be a bit saucy. So proceed with caution.