As much as I enjoyed The Map of Time, I was not prepared for the brilliance of Felix J. Palma's sequel, The Map of the Sky (2012).Both sci-fi adventure novels revolve around H.G. Wells and his novels, The Time Machine in the first instance and The War of the Worlds in the second. (The Invisible Man lies at the center of the third book in the series, The Map of Chaos.)
While the first novel seemed a bit disjointed, the second, although long (nearly 600 pages) and complex, holds together nicely, returning a few characters from the earlier book and even giving another prominent author, Edgar Allan Poe, a major role.
In Wells's novel, the Martians invade the Earth in terrifying fashion. Now, as if they had read the book, Martians (actually aliens from a far distant planet, although they are called Martians throughout) really do invade in much the same way Wells described. In fact the invasion started many years before, with the invaders taking human form (a tribute to Invasion of the Body Snatchers). Now the Envoy has arrived to signal the start of the campaign to conquer Earth, kill most of its inhabitants and make over the planet, using human slaves, to restructure it and its atmosphere as a new home for the invaders. Like humans, these Martians don't take care of their planet and so have to relocate every few centuries.
Wells discovers he has inadvertently awoken the Envoy from a deep sleep. Now, with help from an interesting assortment of characters, he must find a way to stop the horror he described so well in his novel.
To fully appreciate this novel, it might help to have read Palma's earlier book, as well as the works of both Wells and Poe, but that is hardly necessary. The Map of the Sky can stand on its own.
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