No le he puesto cinco estrellas porque no quería que la gente pensase que lo considero una obra maestra.Pero me ha parecido una novela divertidísima, desde el narrador omnisciente que hace bromas, hasta los escritores como H.G. Wells que se convierten en personajes de la trama, y por supuesto, la utilización de tropos de la ciencia ficción clásica, como los viajes en el tiempo. Me encantan las historias de viajes en el tiempo y es uno de mis recursos de ficción favoritos. Así que esta novela me ha encantado. Es un libro constituído por tres relatos interconectados, pero cada uno con su personalidad propia y su propio giro (me encanta que el escritor utilice algunos trucos para sorprender). Si lo que se busca es pasar un rato divertido con un relato de ciencia ficción con sabor a los relatos de ciencia ficción de finales del XIX y con toques de steampunk, ésta es sin duda la novela para ello.La única pega es que es parte de una trilogía (aunque se pueden leer los tres libros por separado) y no tengo los dos restantes tomos. Espero arreglar ese inconveniente pronto. Wow, very frustrating book. Good 400-page story buried in those 700 pages, and the last few chapters were pretty interesting (hence the second star) – but the road to get there just wasn’t worth the effort. I was ready to quit after the first 100 pages, since there hadn’t even been a mention of time travel yet – but then there was a fairly interesting episode, so I kept going. And so it went – long stretches of frustration, but then just enough to convince me to give it a couple more chapters. And then you reach the point where you just want to see how it ends – i.e., to find out if everyone and everything were really as stupid as they/it appeared, (answer: not really, but pretty close). Palma is Spanish, and the book overall is way too “European” in that French cinema sort of way – just way WAY too much back story, explanation, and flowery nonsense in between the interesting bits, (pages 100-104 basically involves two people entering a building a climbing a flight of stairs – which to us unsophisticated Americans could have been handled in a couple of sentences).Won’t give a full review, but do want to highlight a few of my main complaints:1 – The characters: there wasn’t a single sympathetic character in the whole story, much less a true "main character." They were all either overly romantic, spineless, amoral, or just generally dim…not a simple person where I didn’t ultimately figure, “eh, he deserves whatever happens to him.” Even H.G. Wells was pretty much a putz.2 – The future (AND SPOILER HERE): For much of the book, Palma’s description of the future just sounds really stupid. Of course, later on you find out that it IS stupid because it’s the simplistic creation of the book’s fairly uncreative main antagonist – but for several hundred pages, you find yourself thinking, “good Lord, this is dumb.”3 – Time travel: The first few twists are interesting – “time travel’s real – oh no it’s not! – oh yes it is! – oh no…” But after a while, you’re just waiting for the next reversal – because you know it’s out there somewhere.4 – Style: Every so often, this omniscient, uber-annoying narrator breaks in to “spare us unnecessary details” or otherwise break the fourth wall. I have no problem with this in principle; but I just don’t think it’s used very well here. And then there are the letters (SPOILER?) – a long, voyeuristic letter where the (overly romantic) female character has to give an 8-page blow-by-blow of her first sexual experience to her (amoral) lover; plus Wells’ endless letter from the future to his past self, which covers…well, pretty much everything.I’m coming off a nice string of seven 4-5 star books, so if this wasn’t the only book I had left during a long week in Tokyo, I would have bailed long ago. However – made it all the way through, so that you don’t have to. YOU’RE WELCOME. :)
What do You think about El Mapa Del Tiempo (2008)?
The Map of Time is a book with an action focused on three parts, each of them outlining other characters and stories, but keeps the old main characters and stories. The omniscient narrator shows a rarely emotional engagement. Perhaps the author wanted to emphasize that the details make the difference, or that living our life while time is passing away depends a lot on our perspective. To outline the main points, what pleased me at this book were the details which Félix J. Palma wrote with an admirable authenticity, so they do not seem boring, but vital. While reading, I felt like I traveled in that time and I breathed the same air, ate the same food and I shared with the characters the same opinions, ideas, hopes and dreams. The book that I had the opportunity to read is the result of a great imagination and an original writing style. Every emotion is underlined, until you get to the highest intensity.In brief, it is an unusual book, that surprises you and gives you a good feeling not only while reading, but also after finishing it.
—saj0302
This is certainly one of the quirkiest books I've read in a long time. I can't even begin to give an outline of the complexities of the story albeit to say it's a fantasy/time travelling epic where nothing is as it seems. Although I did enjoy the fantastical idea of what the author was trying to achieve, the book was somewhat unbalanced with the first two parts plodding along followed by a spectacular third part with a surprising twist that certainly did pack a punch. What was needed was more of the last one hundred pages and perhaps more editing in the middle and for me The Map of Time would have lived up to the promise of its evocative cover. ★★★☆ (3.5 stars)
—jenafarhar
Una obra literaria de calidad, con una trama original y sorprendente. Me encantó!!!
—Frank
I couldn't get into this book and stopped after 102 pages. I had high hopes too.
—nsutta
