Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

Read: July 11-24, 2012

read in 14 days

pages: 613

An exquisite journey with twists and turns that keep the reader intrigued and guessing just how all these pieces are going to fit together in the end. Felix J. Palma has crafted a beautiful written story set in 19th century London with genuine characters you really care about.

There are three parts to this novel and each part deals with a slightly different set of characters. The opening story is of Andrew Harrington and his beloved Marie Kelly. The story is one of heartache and lost love. Andrew wants nothing more than to escape the life he has been living the last 8 years. With the help of his cousin and the crafty, creative H.G. Wells Andrew finds the solace he is seeking. 

The second part is the story of Claire Haggerty and Captain Derek Shackleton. Claire is a woman who feels she does not belong in her time and longs to break out. She doesn't want to marry the "dandies" that are courting her. She longs for a love that is of another time and seeks it by traveling to the year 2000 via Gilliam Murray's Time Travel. Her antics cause a snowball of events that entangle H.G. Wells yet again. Once again his creativeness comes in handy. My favorite thing about this part of the book was the letters that are written. I love when letters are part of a story and these work very well in allowing the reader to get to know Claire while she does not appear too often in person in the story. I won't divulge the information in these letters, but the letter writing is what kept me reading by this point. The novel is quite long, BUT it is worth it.

The last part of the story made me wonder. I'm not entirely sure even now how it works with the rest of the novel. I understand parts and why they needed to be there, but I almost feel as though it was dream like because it was so surreal feeling. If someone else reads this or has read it let me know what you think is going on! 

The point of view works very well because the use of an omniscient narrator allows the reader to be privy to information they otherwise would have no access to. With that being said I think there is something with this narrator that makes the last section feel dream like. Being omniscient, we as the reader learn so much through the narrators observations that the characters don't learn until much later. Or at least I was able to figure out things before the characters come to their conclusions. 

Overall I think the novel is a great piece of work and I look forward to the next book in the series, Map of the Sky. I understand it has been published in Spanish already and is being translated. So this is exciting. I think this translation was great and I only found ONE typo so that was fabulous! 

Another key thing that I loved about the book is the setting and the historical parts of the novel. We meet so many characters from another time such as H.G. Wells and his wife, Jack the Ripper, John Merrick a.k.a. the Elephant Man and the characters and their individual stories are worked into the novel perfectly. I enjoyed reading about the characters and confirming the facts on line in my own research as I read along.

One of my favorite quotes that I thought was just beautiful was:

"Like a coat wearing thin at the elbows, night was beginning to unravel at one of the farthest edges of the sky, its opaqueness gradually diluting into an even paler blue, until a hazy light slowly began to reveal the contours of the world."

I encourage anyone who enjoys a good historical fiction novel with a twist to pick up this novel. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Look for the next novel The Map of the Sky in September 2012