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Feb 02, 2012

Kelly rated it:

I adore this book so much so that it has made the quantum leap onto the coveted "How do I love thee let me count the ways" virtual Goodreads shelf. At this moment in time I am struck speechless about how much I love and enjoyed reading The Map of Time, so I must formulate my thoughts before I write them down otherwise they'll be a gabbling mess. But I will say this: I love Señor Palma's mind in all its creative glory.

Okay, a week later thoughts have been formulated. Here g More...

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Laura rated it:

I was so excited to get this book - the back flap suggests a Jasper Ffordian adventure starring H.G. Wells. However... not so much. This novel is in three parts, only lightly interwoven. One of those threads is H.G. Wells, another is Gilliam Murray and his Trip to the Year 2000. The author has written this as a pastiche of Victorian novels, filled with digressions, overly adjectived, and a tad rambling.

Part One is the story of Andrew, an upper-middle class boy who falls in love w More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2011

Paul rated it:

The Map of Time” by Felix J. Palma, published by Atria Books.

Category – Sci/Fi/Fantasy

In Victorian England one could go to Murray’s Time Travel and be transported to the year 2000. They could witness the climatic conclusion of a fight for world domination between Solomon, the King of the Automatons, and Captain Derek Shackleton, the last hope for the human race.

The story begins with Andrew Harrington, from a well to do family, contemplating taking his life because More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

Angela rated it:

The Map of Time is a wonderful novel in three parts. In the first, H.G. Wells assists in traveling to the past to prevent a murder. In the second, H.G Wells bridges the gap between the future and the present. In the third, H.G. Wells must make a decision that will chart the course of the future. The fist two stories contain romantic elements while the third is a bit of a mystery. All of the stories overlap a bit bringing different characters together at different points in time. The end result i More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Donna marked it as to-read

DNF for only one reason: I couldn't keep dealing with the meandering plot. Everything else was fantastic. The writing was great, a beautiful translation (I've read some limp translations in my time). The voice sucked me right in as engaging and I couldn't wait to keep reading. The premise itself had me hooked and I wanted to know where it all went and ultimately ended up.

But damn it all if I had to deal with another multi-chapter aside that served as filler while the characters travele More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Alesha rated it:

I won this book as a Goodreads First Read. And I really enjoyed it. It was not what I expected, but I can't tell too much in what ways because it'll give too much away. The three parts are very different and mostly very seperate stories, yet they go together in a perfect way. One of the characters who ties the stories together is the author H. G. Wells. This inclusion seemed an odd choice to me until the character appeared in the novel and then it seemed perfect. He easily was my favorite charct More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2011

Nadine rated it:

Andrew wünscht sich nichts sehnlicher, als die Zeit zurückdrehen zu können, um Jack the Ripper davon abzuhalten, seine geliebte Marie zu töten.
Claire wümscht sich eine Reise in die Zukunft, wo die Männer aufregender sind als im ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert, wie der mutige Hauptmann Shackleton, der im Jahr 2000 als Anführer der Menschen gegen die Maschinen kämpft.
Glücklicherweise kann man Zeitreisen ja bei "Murrays Zeitreisen" buchen und dann wohnt ja auch noch H. G. Wells, der More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2010

Fábio rated it:

Quando tomei conhecimento desta obra, fiquei bastante curioso. As histórias sobre viagens no tempo sempre me fascinaram pela sua complexidade e imaginação intrínseca. E com uma obra tão aclamada como é “O Mapa do Tempo”, de Félix J. Palma (vencedor o Prémio Ateneo de Sevilla 2008), o interesse neste livro intensificou-se. E felizmente as expectativas foram superadas.
A invenção de uma máquina do tempo por uma empresa, as Viagens Temporais Murray, lança o mote. Tendo como fio condutor as vi More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

Oscar rated it:

Este libro es todo un homenaje a los precursores de la ciencia ficción, y a H.G. Wells en particular. Mediante todo un collage de personajes reales y de ficción, de novelas y de películas clásicas pertenecientes al fantástico y la ciencia ficción, Félix J. Palma ha construido un nuevo producto que se vale por sí mismo.

Londres, 1896. La novela empieza con Andrew Harrington escogiendo una pistola con la que suicidarse. El porqué no se puede contar, ya que se va desvelando en el transcurs More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 05, 2011

Lisa rated it:

This is going to be a tough review to write.

I can tell you how The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma begins. I could possibly even tell you what the Map of Time is. But most everything else I would want to tell you, I can’t tell you. It would spoil something. And this is the sort of book where you really don’t want the plot twists spoiled.

First thing I loved about this novel: the Narrator. This is not just any omniscient narrator — this one has a charming voice and a lovely way t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 07, 2011

Amber rated it:

Palma's story hinges on time travel and the concept of parallel universes. That alone should tell you that this novel is one you should limber up your mind for before reading. The way he juggles, tangles and untangles the contradictions that such ideas bring with them is quite impressive, and following the story all the way to the end will solve any confusion about the author's intent. Well worth the read.

The other thing I loved about this book is how it makes me want to read H. G. Wel More...

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Dec 02, 2011

Suburbangardener rated it:

This is so much more than a SciFi novel about time travel. I was blown away by this book. Where to start? The incredible characterization, from which I knew who was speaking simply from the prose? Or maybe it was the self-referential humor and irony displayed by the author/narrator, e.g., using a certain descriptive phrase, and then having the identical phrase in a novel in the book trashed as bad writing? The direct asides to readers may seem jarring to some, but I truly loved that aspect of th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 13, 2011

Rita rated it:

I am drawn to any book/movie/tv show about time travel, so I was very interested in reading this book based on its title and the marketing blurbs for it. But 250 pages (out of over 600) in, I was still telling others I didn't really know if I liked it or not. Most of the writing is superb. Well, since I read the English language translation of this book--originally written and published in Spanish--I can only assume the original work is as well written as the translation. The author and trans More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

melissa1lbr added it

So, I started this book all excited to read about a time travel story and H.G. Wells saving literary works. I spent the first 100 pages reading about some guy who falls in love with a prostitute and then when she is brutally murdered (I'm pretty sure this isn't spoilery) he falls into an epic 8-year slump and ends up trying to kill himself. I was really annoyed at the details both of his sexual escapades (wait, he loves her at first sight - of her painting, no less - and their relationship, as More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 27, 2011

LL rated it:

After reading two chapters, 28 pages into the book, I decided to give up. There was no way that I would be able to suffer through the torture for 600+ pages.

The novel was set in a Victoria era. It read like a historical fiction, and the language used was very much “proper old-style English”. First off, I really did not like the way the author wrote these long-winded sentences, describing anything and everything in a flowery descriptive manner that drove me nuts. It took forever f More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 13, 2011

J.M. rated it:

In Victorian England, for a fee, it is possible to move out of time and space and see the future or the past at Murray’s Time Travel.

Andrew Harrington, a wealthy young man in love with a common Whitechapel prostitute named Mary Kelly, wants to go back in time and stop Jack the Ripper from murdering her. It is either that or suicide.

Claire Haggerty is a victim of the times, an independent woman with a strong mind who feels stifled in Victorian England. She wants to travel to More...

0 comments like

Oct 09, 2011

Chris rated it:

This was one of those books this year that I took a risk on. The plot blurb was intersting, if a bit sounding like a David Warner/Macolm McDowell movie, but the cover art was great and it's set in London.

Wow. Wait, I mean . . .

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book starts as a simple time travel story with all those paradoxes that make my head hurt. But it is so much more than that. It's about the creative process, it's about writing. It's all summed up in the last ch More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2011

Nicole rated it:

Nach einem relativ langen Hörbuch-Marathon, muss ich echt sagen: Mir raucht der Kopf!
Ich liebe Hörbücher, weil man gedanklich gesehen wirklich in die Geschichten abtauchen kann. Egal bei welchen Genre, bisher hatte jedes Hörbuch eine entspannende Wirkung auf mich. Aber hier...? Keinesfalls!
Natürlich hat der Autor des Buches "Die Landkarte der Zeit" nicht an fantasivollen Erzählung gespart und einen tollen Mix aus Sci-Fi-, Geschichts- und gefühlvollen Roman kreiert. Und denn More...

0 comments like

Oct 02, 2011

Weirde rated it:

Prima di tutto c'è da dire che la sintesi sopra presa pari pari dalla quarta di copertina inganna tantissimo, ma questo non è un male poichè così il lettore poi sarà più sorpreso dal vero conternuto del libro ricchissimo di colpi di scena sorprendenti ed impensabili all'inizio.

Paroprio per la natura del libro le cui soprese sono piacevolissime non voglio rivelarvi troppo mi limiterò a dirvi che mi ha davvero piacevolmente ...sorpresa... eh eh

Scherzi a parte è scritto ve More...

0 comments like

Sep 15, 2011

Captainslog rated it:

The Map of Time almost deserves a genre of its own. It’s certainly unlike anything I’ve read before and will find its way to many a readers list of top fiction. Although curiously it’s a blend of fiction and fact, dealing with a few historical figures of note in a way one feels they are old acquaintances.

It won’t come as a spoiler to know much of the novel deals with H. G. Wells, in more clarity and detail than perhaps the most exhaustive biography ever has. Biographies after all tel More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 13, 2011

Mo rated it:

From ReadingWithMo: http://www.readingwithmo.com/2011/07/rev...

What would you do if you suddenly found out time travel was possible? For Andrew Harrington this question was easy. He would go back in time and stop Jack the Ripper from killing Marie Kelly, the prostitute he had fallen in love with. What sort of events might have to line up for such a thing to be possible. The Map of Time may provide you with the answers.

I was not quite sure what this one was going to be ab More...

0 comments like

Aug 31, 2011

Angela rated it:

I was drawn into The Map of Time by the brief description I read; to me, it sounded like a wonderful book that blended time travel and well-known figures such as Jack the Ripper and H. G. Wells. Once I began the book, I was further lured in by Palma's writing style and the voice--the narrator. I must say that the narration is incredibly eloquent and descriptive, without ever being boring or extraneous. It was the narrator's voice that kept me turning the pages as I found myself constantly wonder More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 27, 2011

Laurie rated it:

To finish this 600 page book, I had to do something unusual: take a break in the middle and read something else before going back to finish it. I’ve never done that before, but I had to get away from the all seeing, all knowing, all talking narrator who goes on like a garrulous guest at a party who traps you in the corner with an unending story. The story seems interesting, so you don’t flee outright, but you do keep an eye on potential escape routes.

I grabbed this book because it was More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2011

Nick rated it:

Check out more reviews and SciFi/Fantasy fun at Lions and Men.

The Map of Time, by Felix J. Palma, is one of the more recent novels to be welcomed into the genre of time travel. I love anything that has to do with time travel, so I quickly picked this one up to read during the summer. The front cover says that it is “a brilliant and breathtaking trip”, unfortunately, this reviewer doesn’t believe that the Map lives up to the hype.

The Map of Time is broken up into three parts, More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Cortney rated it:

This book was a big disappointment to me. The cover, the synopses, the reviews all had me ready to read a book about the mysteries of time travel. Instead, set in late Victorian era London "The Map of Time" gives readers a bit of a love story, a bit of mystery, a bit of science fiction, even a bit of biography, but it fails to fully develop any of these aspects and left me feeling cheated on all fronts.

Palma does a fine job of setting the Victorian stage. Historical fiction l More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2011

Sean rated it:

"That is why I need you to take into account the elasticity of time, its ability to expand or contract like an accordion regardless of clocks. I am sure this is something you will have experienced frequently in your own lives, depending on which side of the bathroom door you found yourselves."

This gem of a novel, found through a monthly Goodreads newsletter, is certainly something very different. I'm in admiration of the language - Victorian England is perfectly captured, e More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

Tammy rated it:

The Map of Time presents three separate stories set in Victorian England. In the first, Andrew Harrington seeks to travel through time to save Jack the Ripper’s last victim, with whom Andrew was in love despite the differences in their social class. The second centers on Claire Haggerty’s desires to find a world where she belongs; she settles on the year 2000 when England has been overrun by robots. The final section has H.G. Wells determining which universe is real and which is merely a paralle More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

Megan rated it:

This is a weird, weird, weird book... and I really liked it. I've never read anything else quite like it. If you're a fan of Victorian literature, time travel, science fiction, history, H.G. Wells, or love stories (strange combination, right?), there's probably something in this novel that you'd like. It's a hard book to explain because it doesn't really fit into a single genre and everything is too interconnected for a brief summary to do it justice. The novel is split into three parts; the fir More...

1 comment like

Jul 10, 2011

nancy rated it:

I will be the first to admit that the cover is what drew me to this novel. Then I read the synopsis and I knew that it was a book that I could devour and loose myself with it's pages, and I am happy to admit that I was not disappointed.

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma is epic read comprising of three mini stories with H.G. Wells at their epicenter. The first story centers on a young man set on committing suicide over the murder of his beloved who was the last victim of Jack the Ripp More...

0 comments like

Jul 09, 2011

Abish rated it:

I decided to read this book because I heard it was a hit in the UK and the cover looked cool. I thought it would be a change from what I normally read (women's fiction). I ended up being disappointed. The book had some promise when it talked about time travel and Jack the Ripper but most of the book was slow and somewhat boring. I found myself skimming a lot to get through the 600 pages without wasting too much of my time.

The book starts out telling the tale of a miserable young man, A More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)