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A review by directorpurry
The Map of Chaos by Félix J. Palma
3.0
The same criticism applies to this volume as much as it does the previous two books of the series: Palma's plot work is amazing, but his pacing is erratic, his character building, especially with women, is incredibly weak, and overall his writing just doesn't stand up to the story.
It's difficult to say with translated works whether Palma's writing has increased in quality or if Nick Caistor has just gotten better at translating. Regardless, The Map of Chaos read much better than its predecessors, but it was still over written and full of unnecessary tangents. For example, Conan Doyle is introduced and I skimmed about four pages on his background as I already came in knowing a fair amount about him.
But this was by far the most inventive and tied in to elements of the two previous novels in clever ways I never expected! I did have on criticism of the multiverse though -
I've spent years wanting to love this series, and I know the plot will stick with me, but Palma and I just didn't stick.
It's difficult to say with translated works whether Palma's writing has increased in quality or if Nick Caistor has just gotten better at translating. Regardless, The Map of Chaos read much better than its predecessors, but it was still over written and full of unnecessary tangents. For example, Conan Doyle is introduced and I skimmed about four pages on his background as I already came in knowing a fair amount about him.
But this was by far the most inventive and tied in to elements of the two previous novels in clever ways I never expected! I did have on criticism of the multiverse though -
Spoiler
when all the worlds are overlapping, there's little thought for time and space. I feel like a safe assumption would be you would come out at about the same place in space you left in your own universe. That's true until the climax, when everyone crashes into London regardless of where they were before. Reichenbach in Germany? Nope, now it's in London.I've spent years wanting to love this series, and I know the plot will stick with me, but Palma and I just didn't stick.