The Map of the Sky
It’s sci-fi, it’s romance, it’s historical, and it’s intriguing.
Sci-fi – H. G. Wells sees his work The War of The Worlds coming to reality as aliens invade London and quickly take over the planet.
Romance – spoiler alert – Gilliam Murray, the super villain from The Map of Time has a makeover and returns as Montgomery Gilmore, a millionaire so in love with the New York Socialite Emma Harlow he promises her he’ll bring the first scene of the Martian invasion from The War of the Worlds to reality.
Historical – the entire narrative is set in the Victorian era. And I must say in this regard that Nick Caistor did a fantastic job translating Palma’s work to English. So much so that I enjoyed reading it in English more than in Spanish. I don’t know, English/London, London/English, it feels right.
I thought the biggest challenge for Palma was to get this ambitious combination of genres working together, yet all this facets were weaved seamlessly and nicely into the narrative. When it came to go from one plot to another in this intricate story though – or from present to past and back to the future – instead of introducing interesting hooks to link them, the author made use of a narrator, in a voice completely alien from the one in the actual story. Still, Palma is a fine storyteller and The Map of the Sky is a testament to that.