I thought Felix J. Palma's 'The Map of Time' was interesting, quality writing when I read it last year. It had a mixture of facts, fantasy, historical legends, real and fictional people, precisely the level of details needed and not more, with twists and turns, character development, action, drama and sheer wonder. Just last week I came across his sequel to it, 'The Map of the Sky', and started reading it, expecting more superb writing of the same level or near it, as few sequels shine as brightly as the original. I was wrong,it wasn't quality of the level of The Map of Time... But I love it even more.
The Map of the Sky is one of those rare sequels that can be read without the previous book, though I would recommend reading the first one prior regardless due to how good it is. The Map of the Sky took the level and scope of The Map of Time and expanded it explosively, crossing time and space, paced perfectly, shifting perspectives with a skill that made it appear effortless. It made a despised character from the previous book into one to justly envy, drawing familiar other characters from the first novel into new ground of excitement, wonder and terror. It introduced far more sinister protagonists to the second novel, and also with it more historical and fictional characters that could have walked off the page into reality with assurance, if such a thing were possible. The first novel weaved the public response to H.G.Wells 'The Time Machine' and the historical events before and after its publishing--as well as a few others tied in theme--together fluidly in three parts. This sequel too weaved its story in three parts, but with more depth, revisiting The Time Machine, but also delving into 'War of the Worlds', 'The Invisible Man', and even 'The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket' by Edgar Allen Poe, who also appears in the novel as well as H.G.Wells himself, as a key character in the plot.
There were a few instances where The Map of the Sky had some foreshadowing immediately obvious to me due to having read the first book, but others that I didn't comprehend until near the end, and even those that I did grasp immediately were nuggets of power, waiting to be fully realized, unleashed like lightning to strike with excitement at being right and how much more there was to those nuggets than I even surmised despite my experience with the prior book and literature in general. Chekhov's Gun lay brazenly not only in the start, but was surrounded by an arsenal of subtly masked guns to extend the literary metaphor, all primed to strike their target with unerring accuracy. I often yearn for the experience I see in many author's works, and in that regard, this book evokes the same keening. It is one of the few times I am not only glad to have been wrong simply for the sake of not bearing the burden of wasted time or unnecessary sacrifice without reason. It was a time I was wrong and I wished that I too had a way to travel through time, even if only to jump forward and grab the next work by Felix J. Palma and his translator, Nick Caistor. Yes, the two books were originally written in Spanish and then translated.
To say these two novels could be turned into a movie does them injustice. Even a long-length one or a television miniseries would be far too short and unable to capture the beauty of these works. Every single one who actually reads my post: You should give these two novels a chance, there's even unabridged audiobook formats out there for people who don't like to read or can't. I cannot stress enough how excellent they are, this is exactly the type of quality I hope to write, and the works that inspired my love of reading, of story in general, and of writing are gems that I treasure, but these two books are like uncovering a treasure chest full of such gems. Read them.
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