"The Map of Chaos" by Felix J. Palma
The first question arising from a reasonable reader in the phrase "the final part of the trilogy," - "is it worth taking, if not read the previous two?" In the case of the Victorian trilogy of the Spaniard Félix J. Palma, the answer will be "definitely yes." Even if you read "The Map of Time" and "The Map of The Sky", it still does not help you: it is impossible to keep countless plot intricacies and multistage allusions that Palma is so generous in your head. In addition, "The Map of Chaos" is a completely separate story (or rather, a story system), associated with earlier ones rather stylistically and conceptually than compositionally or meaningfully. Another thing is that, with the new Palma book, you are more likely to want to read - or reread - the other two.
Retelling "The Map of Chaos" is as meaningless as the previous ones. The number of storylines, inconspicuous at first forks, deceptively innocent traps for the reader, witty references to the classics and its merry remakes are still so great here that even a simple list of them would take a couple of pages. Perhaps it is important to stipulate the following: the writer Herbert George Wells is still at the center of the story, and this time Palma used his novel "The Invisible Man" (The Map of Time and The Map of The Sky was based on "The Time Machine" and "The War of the Worlds", respectively.
As for the main collision, it is built around a rather trivial assumption: our universe is a multiverse consisting of worlds both subtle and frighteningly different, and the membranes between them sometimes turn out to be dangerously permeable. And at that moment, when a variety of aliens and aliens begin to seep from the neighboring world that is doomed to a quick death, a time of testing begins for people, but at the same time completely unexpected possibilities are opening up. Thus, the beloved, separated by death, gain a chance for a new meeting, and an unlucky writer who does not know how to complete the novel can hope for the help of another muse.
The key feature of the trilogy of Félix J. Palma, distinguishing it in a series of exquisite postmodern amusement novels, is truly unthinkable author's generosity. Material that a different, more eager writer would have sufficed for a dozen books, Palma frivolously spends on only one, giving the impression of an almost obscene, flashy literary luxury.
The story of a female wolf and her unfortunate lover (a real novel in the novel) here is adjacent to the original rethinking of the book Arthur Conan Doyle "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and is reflected in it in an odd way. Arguments about the nature of spiritualism are elegantly intertwined with reflections on the relationship of the creator and his creation (Herbert George Wells is again forced to deal with the materialized fruits of his own irrepressible fantasy). For the time being, a detective pretends to be a mystic and then it turns out to be her, but only in order to finally set up an inconceivable turn and return to rational soil again. In addition, the theme of love, which is stronger than death, here acquires a completely different - much more ambitious, tragic and pathetic - sound.
The Palma trilogy is not exactly the type of text in which you will seriously seek out the alter ego of the author among the characters. And yet, "The Map of Chaos" has a hero who is amazingly similar to his creator in his manner — this is the fictional friend of Wells, the eccentric millionaire Montgomery Gilmour, ready for anything, for any risk and insanity - for example, to stage a Martian invasion or alone as Orpheus, to go to the next kingdom, in order to earn the beloved smile. Like Gilmour, who managed to achieve reciprocity of capricious beauty, Palma is incredibly effective in his readiness to entertain the reader in a thousand different ways. Of course, it is possible to resist its ingenuity and charm - but resistance will be difficult and, frankly, inexpedient.